Personal Conflicts in Am I Blu
Personal Conflicts in Am I BluPersonal Conflicts in "Am I Blue"
The author of Am I Blue, Beth Henley begins the play with the seventeen-year-old protagonist John Polk sitting alone in a bar. John contemplates on the red and black card in his hand. From the street, a sixteen-year-old girl whose name is Ashbe sits next to him. She hides under his raincoat because she stole two ashtrays from a local inn. Ashbe is a social person and soon begins a conversation with John. Through persistent questioning, Ashbe discovers John is in a fraternity. John admits the fraternity is not solving his problems like his brother told him it would. Ashbe, noticing the red appointment card, asks John why he has an appointment with a prostitute. John responds �Yeah, I like to give myself a treat�(line 50). Ashbe knows the girl John has an appointment with and explains what the girl looks like. John makes a comment that he needs to go to a cheap bar so he can stay drunk. Ashbe says she has a bottle of rum and invites John to her apartment. While at Ashbe�s apartment, she entertains John with a blue rum drink, her voodoo doll, and making him a paper hat. Ashbe asks John about his aspirations in life. John is unsure what he wants to do with his life, but his father is pushing him to help manage the soybean farm. As the conversation continues, Ashbe accuses John of being normal. She says he only acts the way he does because it�s expected and makes everyone happy. She wants him to be himself and not try to fit in with everyone else. John soon after realizes Ashbe is right, and the so called fraternity friends only set him up with the prostitute because it is the cool thing to do. Later, while the two talk about dancing, Ashbe asks John to make love to her. John says he could not even kiss her with a clear conscience. After John�s comment, Ashbe views herself as undesirable. John tells her he likes her too much to make love to her. John decides to break his date with the prostitute and dance all night with someone he cares about, Ashbe. John Polk experiences three personal conflicts in Am I Blue: his difficulty of adjusting to adulthood, his ambitions in life, and his attempt to develop individuality.
John Polk�s first conflict is his difficulty of adjusting to adulthood. John is attending college, and he is involved with a fraternity. John realizes the adult world looms ahead, and he exercises poor judgment. Life on the soybean farm is different from fraternity life. John is overwhelmed with this new fast life �of parties, booze, honking horns�(line 34). John states �Oh, God, I need to get drunk�(line115). John resorts to drinking alcohol when he thinks about his problems. The party life of the fraternity fuels the fire. John drinks alcohol throughout the play to...
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