Susan Glaspell

Question

1Mrs. Patrick resides in an abandoned life-saving station along the beach. Allie Mayo is an employee of Mrs. Patrick. Allie lost her husband in a boating accident two decades ago. Since this time, she has spoken very little. On this day, several lifeguards discover a body in the water. Out of habit, they bring the man to the life-saving station to try to resuscitate him. After failing to revive the man, the lifeguards retreat from the house and Allie addresses her disturbed boss outside the house.

2ALLIE MAYO: I know where you're going! What you'll try to do. Over there (Pointing to the line of woods). Bury it. The life in you…But I'll tell you something! They fight too. The woods! They fight for life the way that Captain fought for life in there (Pointing to the closed door)!

3MRS. PATRICK: And lose the way he lost in there!

4ALLIE MAYO: They don't lose.

5MRS. PATRICK: I've watched the sand slip down on the vines that reach out farthest.

6ALLIE MAYO: Another vine will reach that spot (Under her breath, tenderly). Strange little things that reach out farthest!

7MRS. PATRICK: And will be buried soonest!

8ALLIE MAYO: And hold the sand for things behind them. They save a wood that guards a town.

9MRS. PATRICK: I care nothing about a wood to guard a town. This is the outside—these dunes where only beach grass grows, this outer shore where men can't live. The Outside. You who were born here and who die here have named it that.

10ALLIE MAYO: Woods. Woods to hold the moving hills from Provincetown. Provincetown—where they turn when boats can't live at sea.

11MRS. PATRICK: The edge of life. Where life trails off to dwarfed things not worth a name (Suddenly sits down in the doorway).

12ALLIE MAYO: Not worth a name. And—meeting the Outside!

13MRS. PATRICK: (Lifting sand and letting it drift through her hand) They're what the sand will let them be. They take strange shapes like shapes of blown sand.

14ALLIE MAYO: Meeting the Outside (Moving nearer; speaking more personally). I know why you came here. To this house that had been given up; on this shore where only savers of life try to live. I know what holds you on these dunes, and draws you over there. But, other things are true beside the things you want to see.

15MRS. PATRICK: How do you know they are? Where have you been for twenty years?

16ALLIE MAYO: Outside. Twenty years. That's why I know how brave they are. You'll not find peace there again! Go back and watch them fight!

17MRS. PATRICK: (Swiftly rising) You're a cruel woman—a hard, insolent woman! I knew what I was doing! What do you know about it? About me? I didn't go to the Outside—I was left there. I'm only—trying to get along. Everything that can hurt me I want buried—buried deep. Spring is here; this morning I knew it. Spring—coming through the storm—to take me—take me to hurt me. . . . What would there be for me but the Outside? What was there for you? What did you ever find after you lost the thing you wanted?

18ALLIE MAYO: I found—what I find now I know. The edge of life—to hold life behind me—

19MRS. PATRICK: (Passionately) I have known life. You're like this cape—a line of land way out to sea—land not life.

20ALLIE MAYO: A harbor far at sea. (Raises her arm, curves it in as if around something she loves) Land that encloses and gives shelter from storm.

21MRS. PATRICK: (Facing the sea, as if affirming what will hold all else out) Outside sea. Outer shore. Dunes—land not life.

22ALLIE MAYO: Outside sea—outer shore, dark with the wood that once was ships—dunes, strange land not life—woods, town and harbor. The line! Stunted straggly line that meets the Outside face to face—and fights for what itself can never be. Lonely line. Brave growing.

23MRS. PATRICK: It loses.

24ALLIE MAYO: It wins.
Question

Which best expresses a theme of this play?
Responses

A human beings’ need for friendshiphuman beings’ need for friendship

B society’s lack of compassionsociety’s lack of compassion

C the struggle to survivethe struggle to survive

D a loss of innocence

Answer 1

The theme that best expresses the content of the excerpt from Susan Glaspell's play is C: the struggle to survive.

The dialogue between Allie Mayo and Mrs. Patrick reflects their differing views on life, nature, and the human condition, with a focus on their fight against the inevitability of death and loss. Allie emphasizes the bravery of life and the natural world, while Mrs. Patrick expresses despair and a desire to bury her pain and memories. Their conversation ultimately highlights the struggle for life and meaning in the face of adversity.