Yes, it can sometimes be difficult to work out a message
from just a small part of a play! However, if I were you, I would want to approach this
question by thinking about how the first scene of this excellent drama introduces the
characters and also indicates some of the central conflicts that are going on. One of
the major characters you can talk about is Amanda, who, with her much-repeated story of
having "seventeen gentleman callers" and the futures of the men that she could have
married clearly indicates that she is a character who is living in the past and can't
really move on. Note what she says:
That Fitzhugh boy went North and made a
fortune--came to be known as the Wolf of Wall Street! He had the Midas touch, whatever
he touched turned to gold! And I could have been Mrs. Duncan J. Fitzhugh, mind you!
But--I picked your father!
If
there is one message to be taken from Amanda's character, it is that of regret and
missed opportunities. She is unable to accept her present reality, and still acts as the
young girl that had so many gentleman callers. Tom is planning to make opportunities for
himself, whereas Laura is never going to even have the opportunity to experience such
attention because of her crippling shyness.
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