Stereotypes In The Play A Heart Divided

In the play A Heart Divided it was fairly obvious that the playwrights wanted to make a statement with their work. They managed to cover both sides of the argument concerning the Confederate flag quite well. Symbols have a different meaning to everyone and it's all about the context in which they’re used. My initial reaction to A Heart Divided was that it portrayed people from the South in a very stigmatized way. Characters, such as Mrs. Redford or Jared felt like they fit in perfectly with people’s stereotypes of uptight southern belles or jocks who make bad choices. After thinking it over more, I realize that we have those stereotypes because there are actually people like that. While it isn’t flattering to the general population, it is
important for people to see characters like this portrayed because it reminds us that everyone has different reasons for why we do things. I think that the actors did a great job with portraying the characters in this story.
One very notable performance for me was how quickly the more tame Reverend was able to switch characters and become his hot-tempered son Luke, who wasn’t afraid to do whatever it took to achieve justice. The difference between these two characters was like hot and cold and the actor who played both was able to change between characters fairly quickly so that it was almost difficult to tell that it was the same person playing a different character. I also found the scenes after Portia had been shot to be very moving and I really felt like the actors gave it their all. They were able to embrace the agony of not knowing if your child is going to make it and the difficulty of dealing with people trying to pity you. I really enjoyed how minimalist the set was for this show because while the overall setting of the South was important, the interaction of the characters was made the focal point of the show. It was a good choice because it reinforced the theme of getting to know someone else’s side of the story that the play showcased. It also help aid the fact that the play was told in a flashback, and that all the events had already occurred. It was a good style choice for this
play.
The style of this play is very different compared to what most people are used to because it uses an even mix of the presentational and representational styles. I think that it was a good idea to present it this way because the audience is able to get more involved with the story when the characters are talking directly to them. With this story it was important for the audience to remember that these issues are still very important and relevant in movements such as Black Lives Matter. Overall, I liked what this play had to say. Symbols mean different things to ever person and getting a chance to understand why some people are proud of the Confederate flag was interesting. Personally, I still believe that the flag should be a retired symbol because I view it as something that flew over a part of our country that broke off because they wanted to keep oppressing people, but some people still argue that it holds a meaning to them because people served and died in that war. By the same logic, you could say that symbols of Nazism should still be up in Germany, but there aren’t because there is a very thin line between patriotism and admitting that you were wrong. Regardless, everyone should know both sides before making their judgement on something.