The Children' S Hour Essay
The Children’s Hour Response Essay
A lie told. A person accused. A life taken. Lies can be extremely harmful and hurtful. They can change a person’s life, especially if the lie is believed by the majority of people around the area. Many people who read The Children’s hour believe that homosexuality is a huge theme, and the reason behind her writing the play. However, I believe the lies told by the young girls, and I say girls because it is more than just the mastermind Mary Tilford, that set the scene for this play, not homosexuality.
The lie of all lies is told by Mary Tilford when she is trying to get out of going back to the school her grandmother has her attending. She makes up a lie so terrible that, how could anyone not believe that lie coming from a child, so therefore it had to be true. In the second act, Mary Tilford decides to run home to her grandmother’s house because she is unhappy with having to attend the school, she then gets the idea to tell her grandmother that Martha and Karen are lovers and make “strange noises” that scare all the girls. She says she has to whisper it in her ear because she doesn’t want to be heard, and feels like it is a secret worth whispering about. As she is whispering in her ear Mrs. Tilford says to Mary, “Do you know what you are saying?” (Page 39) She then proceeds to ask Mary if she is telling her the truth, well Mary the habitual liar of course tells her yes because the only person Mary cares about is Mary. This lie gets passed on to all the parents of girls at the school, and all the girls get taken out of the school without any notice. When Joe goes to Mrs. Tilford’s to have a conversation with her, he is shocked when she says he should not marry Karen, but Mrs. Tilford does not get a chance to tell him why before Karen, and Martha rush in blaming, and asking Mrs. Tilford why she did it. Joe being completely confused asked what happen, and Martha says, “It was a madhouse. People rushing in and out, the children
A lie told. A person accused. A life taken. Lies can be extremely harmful and hurtful. They can change a person’s life, especially if the lie is believed by the majority of people around the area. Many people who read The Children’s hour believe that homosexuality is a huge theme, and the reason behind her writing the play. However, I believe the lies told by the young girls, and I say girls because it is more than just the mastermind Mary Tilford, that set the scene for this play, not homosexuality.
The lie of all lies is told by Mary Tilford when she is trying to get out of going back to the school her grandmother has her attending. She makes up a lie so terrible that, how could anyone not believe that lie coming from a child, so therefore it had to be true. In the second act, Mary Tilford decides to run home to her grandmother’s house because she is unhappy with having to attend the school, she then gets the idea to tell her grandmother that Martha and Karen are lovers and make “strange noises” that scare all the girls. She says she has to whisper it in her ear because she doesn’t want to be heard, and feels like it is a secret worth whispering about. As she is whispering in her ear Mrs. Tilford says to Mary, “Do you know what you are saying?” (Page 39) She then proceeds to ask Mary if she is telling her the truth, well Mary the habitual liar of course tells her yes because the only person Mary cares about is Mary. This lie gets passed on to all the parents of girls at the school, and all the girls get taken out of the school without any notice. When Joe goes to Mrs. Tilford’s to have a conversation with her, he is shocked when she says he should not marry Karen, but Mrs. Tilford does not get a chance to tell him why before Karen, and Martha rush in blaming, and asking Mrs. Tilford why she did it. Joe being completely confused asked what happen, and Martha says, “It was a madhouse. People rushing in and out, the children
Cited: Hellman, Lillian. "The Children 's Hour." Six Plays. New York: Vintage, 1979. 5-78. Print.