Theme: Loneliness

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The other theme is loneliness. It is as if almost all the key characters in the play are lonely people. Let us start with Maxine. She admits in the beginning of the play that she has always been lonely, even when Frank was alive because even when they were still together they grew tired of one another, seeming that he was some decade of two older than she was. With this, Maxine takes out her loneliness on the hands of Shannon.

Contrary to her need of him, he is the loneliest character in the play. He has lost his church and the trust of his people, Blake Tours is “the bottom of the bottom” of jobs, and he probably does not talk to his family at all, and most importantly, he does not know where he stands with God. He has been committing sins after sins- drinking alcohol until he was no longer in his rightful mind, and committing adultery with Charlotte just so he can feel someone there for him and to connect even if it meant that way. There is a part in the play where Hannah tells him that “there is too much suffering in” his eyes. He has no one to fill up the empty heart of his, and his actions prove that he is in fact, lonely and craves any attention.

This brings us to the very young Charlotte. After Shannon harshly told her he does not love her even the slightest, she goes down the verandah to a little bar by the beach with Pedro and gets drunk. When the owner no longer wants her there, Hank steps in and before you know it, she is attached to him like glue. She just revealed that her constant need of affection is what she craves the most and it seems like she will let anyone fulfill that desire, just so she will not feel the terrible loneliness she feels inside.

Hannah too is lonely. She says that, “one can be youth and not truly experience what it is like to be truly young”. She describes that this is the way she took on life. She had no adventures and now that she is much older, she feels empty with only two lovers from her past.