Conduct of Life

One thing I notice is that Fornes doesn’t fully explain the current setting fully. You can tell from the dialogue in the play that there is political and social unrest but it’s never explained in detail. They mention bodies in the street and throughout the play homelessness and hunger are discussed. There is one particular instance when they are discussing someone was killed and who will be replacing him. It obviously sounds like some kind of coup d’état. I think this is done to keep the story focused on the characters themselves. Fornes doesn’t want to distract the audience with outside influences. The audience would gain more interest in what’s going on in the outside setting of the play if more detail were given. Since political oppression and social unrest is a universal theme it wouldn’t be hard for an audience to see how those events would influence the characters themselves. In fact you can see that Orlando is directly influenced by the outside events mentioned. It is mentioned that he has to torture people, most likely for the government. It is also hinted at that because of this that he is as cruel as he is. Fornes didn’t give a name to the oppressor so that you would focus only on how unrest personally influences people. It made Orlando harsh and cruel, but this was not the universal effect. Nena, even though she had been through so many hardships was not broken. She still had hope in people and wanted to help those she cared about. Fornes wrote this during the cold war and most people in the world had been affected by political and social unrest someway. Audiences didn’t need names or details to have an understanding of how oppression affects its populace. Because of this the audience would be able to immerse themselves fully into the characters themselves.