Assignment #4

The play “POOF!”, is a one act play so there is only one important scene in the play. An important turning point of this play is when Loureen finally comes to terms with the sudden death of her husband Samuel, after she damned him to Hell and all that was left of him was a big pile of ashes and his pair of glasses. To help Loureen come to terms with her husband death at her own hands, or maybe I should say voice, is Loureen’s best friend Florence that happens to also  leave in the house above her. This scene is significant because both Loureen and Florence  are both victims of domestic violence from their husbands and they have actually talked about murdering their husbands if things ever got too bad, they even joked about how they would do it “Florence: How many times have I heard you talk about being rid of him. How many times have we sat at this very table and laughed about the many ways we could do it...” After it happens to Loureen, however, she can not believe it and is scared as to what the future may hold for her.

The opening  of the play reveals that Loureen, although she gets beat by her husband, did not ever plan on him disappearing. “Samuel? Uh! Don’t fool with me now. I’m not in the mood. Samuel? I didn’t mean it really. I’ll be good if you come back...” This proving that she wasn’t ready for him to just up and disappear on her. It also reveals that Loureen is not good at handling extreme situations like the death of a person as she is portrayed later to have snapped slightly. “She breaks down. Florence moves to console her friend, then realizes that Loureen is actually laughing hysterically.” This is explained through the messages to the actors that the audience would have to see performed to know what is happening. That aside (haha acting joke), most people would have been too much in shock to be laughing at the death of someone that they knew.
The scene also reveals that Florence is a supportive character, by trying to help Florence cope with what just happened. By looking at the previous quote Florence makes the effort of try to console Loureen even though it doesn’t work out like that. She is also depicted similar to Loureen in the aspect that she is also abused by her husband by saying that she wants to get rid of her husband.

Florence: You Bitch!
Loureen: What?
Florence: We made a pact.
Loureen: I know.
Florence: You’ve broken it...We agreed that when things got real bad for both of us we’d... you know... together... Do I have to go upstairs to that?... What next?

This quote not only depicts that she is abused by her husband as well, but that she is also willing to get rid of him as a possible if they are given the chance.

The author of this play depicts the main characters as women who stay with their husbands even though they are being abused by them, irony of it all is that they also wanted to kill their husbands if they ever got “too abusive,” which is weird statement because being abused even a little by your significant other is “too abusive.”