Thursday Evening by Morley Analysis

The excerpt under analysis is taken from a play "Thursday Evening" written by Christopher Morley. He was born in 1890. He is an American author, received unusual recognition early in his career. Among his widely known novels are "Kitty Foyle" and "The Trojan Horse". The subject matter of the excerpt is a quarrel between Laura and Gordon, a married couple, they have to struggle through and a common mother-in-law stereotype, which Christopher Morley opposes the with two very likable and charming women. The plot is developed on the basis of conflict between different set of values, Laura’s and Gordon’s, due to their different social background. The organization of the contents is straight-narrative presentation, because the events are given in their chronological order. As for the type of narration, dialogs of the main characters are interwoven with the author’s remarks, where description of their actions, the way they do something and atmosphere are presented. The excerpt is presented in a 1st person singular, which is typical for a play. It is written in highly emotional, humorous and occasionally ironical key. The author tells us some information about main heroes at the very beginning to let us see that they are just an ordinary family(couple). He uses mostly direct method of characterization ( his remarks), and we easily see what people they are. The text can be divided into 3 logical parts: the quarrel, a treaty peace between 2 mothers and reconciliation. As for the exposition, which is given in author’s note, we learn that the scene is set in the small kitchen of the modest suburban home of Mr and Mrs Gordon Johns. A meal has recently been cooked and Laura has served a dinner for four as both the grandmothers are visiting. Both husband and wife are washing up. They are in good humor at first but every time one or the other refers to his or her mother the atmosphere becomes tense. A fierce conflict breaks out between Laura and Gordon when he begins hunting