Date of Award
5-8-2020
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Matthew Roudané
Second Advisor
Tanya Caldwell
Third Advisor
Jay Rajiva
Abstract
In an early 1998 interview, playwright, Paula Vogel, sat in conversation with Arthur Holmberg to discuss the ambivalent victim-perpetrator power dynamics in her critically-acclaimed play, How I Learned to Drive, explaining that “there are two forgivenesses in the play. . . one forgiveness for Peck, but the most crucial forgiveness would be Li’l Bit’s forgiving Li’l Bit. Li’l Bit as an adult looking at and understanding her complicity.” Since the Holmberg interview, critics have made only passing references to Vogel’s discussion of complicity in play reviews and critical essays. This thesis represents the first sustained engagement with complicity as an ethical subject to argue that Li’l Bit’s dependence upon her uncle for emotional and sometimes physical survival exempts her from moral scrutiny in the course of his abuse.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/17542195
Recommended Citation
Barfield, Mary Ann, "“She’s a Sly One:” Rethinking Complicity and Survival in Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2020.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/17542195
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