Andre's Mother

Andre's Mother Analysis -

By: Terrance McNally

1. What is the genre of this piece of drama? Why do you believe this?

This piece of drama is considered to be a Tragicomedy. I feel this way because it embraces all the pieces of the definition. It focuses on character relationships and shows society in a state of continuous movement. There is a mental flsh back that takes places because it takes you back to a time where gay men were still it hiding and lived in the city together and AIDS was just starting to come about as a really big, killing disease. This piece also embraces a mix of comedy and tragedy side by side. Cal's father and sister find funny things amongst their family, but there is the serious issue of Andre's mother not speaking to them at all and the father that her son died and she never got to see him or know what he was dying of.

2. Identify the spectacle in this piece; this is a tangible item.

The Spectacle in this piece of work is the balloons. They seem to symbolize "letting go" of what was. Letting go of Andre and the anger that Andre's mother had towards him and his partner.

3. Terrance McNally is the author of this piece of drama, and the tile of this piece is "Andre's Mother". Though the tile of the story includes McNally's mother, she is the only character that does not speak. How does this fact affect the meaning, theme, and plot of this piece of drama?

Andre's mother being the only non-speaking character in the piece affects the meaning of

the play because it shows that the mother was not just sad about her loss of her son; she was

mad. Probably furious in the inside, she just chose not to express it outwards. This has affected

the plot of the piece because since she won't say anything Cal is making the story awkwardly

progress without her opinions on anything he is doing or saying. Lastly, this has affected the

theme of the piece because it is centered around her. From the title you would think that the

piece is literally about something that happened directly to the mother, but really its about what

happened to her son, but she was so left out that at the last minute it did kind of become about her

because it was her son ans she nothing about what was going on with him.

This picture made me think of what they would have been, had she had the chance to

truly know what he was going through.