Identifying thein a literary work depends
largely on two factors. The first is establishing whether there is a central conflict and, if
so, what type it is. The second is identifying the . Once we know what kind of conflict we are
examining and how it affects the protagonist, we can see what relationships the protagonist has
with other characters.
The effectiveness of Marsha Normans play depends
precisely on the difficulty of identifying one antagonist. Arlies life before being incarcerated
was filled with conflicts; existing in opposition to many people in her life and to society at
large, she became a criminal. All three types of conflict involving a person are present in the
play. Arlie has strong internal conflicts, which exemplify "person versus self." In
her limited support network, her relatives and friends often seem to encourage negative
behavior. As she tries to change her life, she experiences conflicts with them, often as
individuals: "person versus person" conflicts. As a recently released ex-prisoner, she
is still tightly controlled by numerous social institutions, so we can also identify
"person versus society" as a strong conflict.
Ultimately, Arlene
must take responsibility for changing her own life to the extent possible. She finds support
from her neighbor, Ruby. Although we can identify specific characters who made things difficult
for her, and continue to do so, none of them individually constitutes a primary antagonist. The
way Norman structures her play and the kind of development she shows Arlene undergoing suggest
that Arlie, her former self, is the antagonist.
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