Main Characters of Ruined, a Stage Play by Lynn Nottage

Ruined Response Paper 1) One of the main, most interesting characters in the play is Sophie. She was brought to Mama Nadi by Christopher as a bar girl. Sophie is Christopher’s Niece. Christopher wants to protect her and knows that Mama Nadi will take care of her. At this point in the play Sophie is extremely shy. It is understandable because she is being brought to some she has never met. Mama and Sophie end up becoming really close and Mama takes great care of Sophie. Later in the story mam even sells her really expensive diamond for Sophie to live. 2) At first I viewed Mama Nadi as a very aggressive, tough, thick-skinned woman. I understood, however, that she was running a business, so she had to “man up” and not take anyone’s shit. I am a business major and completely understand why she acts this way. It is all for the bar. She needs to earn a living and she can’t do that if she is easy on her customers and throws money away easily. Also geographically Mam Nadi is not in a safe place. If people do not respect Mama’s authority then Mama would be in a lot of trouble. Soldiers could easily take over the bar or steal drinks, but they choose not to because Mama Nadi stands up for herself. Once she accepts Sophie, I then realized how loving and compassionate Mama Nadi was. Even though it as going to cost her a lot of money she still let Sophie stay with her because she saw Sophie’s potential. An unloving person would have easily just thrown Sophie out. 3) Mama Nadi reluctantly gave in and allowed Sophie to stay for some odd reasons. Mama Nadi as definitely was set on not letting Sophie stay until she started talking to her. One reason I believe Mama let Sophie stay was because Christian had told her that Sophie was his sister’s only daughter. To me family is extremely important and maybe it is the same for Mama as well. Also Mama found out Sophie was well educated for a woman of her status. This probably impressed Mama, making her not want to waste a