The Price of Everything, the Value of Nothing

Hope all the Americans had a nice holiday! Not only did I manage not to participate in Black Friday, but I was able to exercise two of the three days I was at my Mom's house, so I don't feel a bit guilty for my extra indulgences of pie and starches. Upon my return to Baltimore, Sunday afternoon I worked Arthur Miller's "The Price" over at Center Stage.

A bit of background on the play: two brothers, one a cop, one a doctor, have to sell off their family's possessions because the building they've been stored in for years is going to be torn down. The cop has been resentful of the doctor for thirty years because while the cop gave up his college dreams to work and support their ailing father, the doctor went off and achieved his dreams. Can the doctor ever repay this moral failing, or did this moral failing exist only in the eyes of the cop?

I wasn't in the mood to see Arthur Miller particularly, but I came away impressed with the depth of his writing ideas in this piece. Don't worry; I'm not going to write about the communist-capitalist undertones that embed most of Miller's writing. I was struck instead on how clearly this play sums up the missus' family, who share a surname with our dear Arthur. However, for confidentiality's sake, let's call them the Joneses. ;)

The Jones have a lot of money--millions, to be exact, in their family. That being said, everyone mistrusts everyone else because of money. Money is a motive for everything. If someone is nice to someone in the family with more money, well, that person just wants a cut of their money. To the someone wanting a cut of the money, well, the money owners are cheap and petty and base all their decisions on their money. Everyone wants the money but no one will be happy with it when it is obtained--they'll just have to protect it from other greedy members of the family who think they are cheap and petty.

As a result, a great deal of emotional stinginess has invaded the Joneses. No one wants to help or empathize with any member of the family because they feel they are owed some greater emotional debt. Well, no one is giving any love and attention, but everyone is wanting love and attention. No one will take the first step and give love and attention on the assumption that love and attention will be returned to them. Well, you see what a quandry the Jonese have. And the money? Well, it's just green and smelly and will be around long after they've died unloved and unloving.

What was I saying? Oh, that is was a good play. Didn't get much attention when it premiered in 1968, but I guess we had more on our minds at that time beside family neuroses. They've only plagued us for centuries and are decidedly old hat, you know. If I had a dollar for every happy family I knew, hmm...well, I'd still be rich in love.