This Wednesday, we met to discuss a controversial
play Fucking A (2000) by Suzan-Lori
Parks who decided to claim Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel: “I’m going to write a
play, a riff on The Scarlet Letter,
and I’m going to call it Fucking A!
Ha, ha, ha!” * At
that time, Parks was joking, as she hadn’t read the novel. Nevertheless, this
idea was preying on her mind for a very long time and, finally, the play saw
the light of day.
Parks completely distorts the
original story belonging to the American Canon. Nathaniel Hawthorne created
strong, likeable protagonists and showed the complexity of the human psyche,
namely, a constant battle between good and evil. Suzan-Lori Parks, in turn, portrays
the underworld full of corrupted, repulsive and deployable characters unable to
get out of the misfortune loop. In this crime-ridden world there is absolutely no
hope, no love and no light. The ending offers no catharsis, no redemption and
leaves a reader in complete shock. The contemporary Hester, an abortionist, is
devoid of feelings. She returns unflinchingly to her “bloody” obligations once
she’s murdered her son, the Monster, and performed an abortion on her own
grandchild. In this world, men are passive and laughable. Only Hester and
Canary seem to have some kind of agency. But appearances can be deceptive... In
the play, women are physically and mentally abused, partially of their own
accord (Canary). Finally, in Scarlet
Letter, the “A” is open to interpretations and may be interpreted not only
as “adultery” but also “art”; in fact, the symbol changes its meaning with
Hester’s life. Fucking “A” branded on the protagonist’s breast stands only for
“abortion.”
Suzan-Lori Parks performs a
literary abortion and puts an end to the Puritan mythology present in Scarlet Letter. Her play fits perfectly
into the atmosphere of the Theater of Absurd, the characters are grotesque and the
world they live in – fantastical. The feeling of absurdity and estrangement is further
strengthen by the bizarre singing and the special language women use to talk
about abortion, motherhood and vaginas.
During our discussion, a number of
questions arose: What was Park’s intention in deconstructing Puritan myths? What
kind of intertextuality is there between Fucking
A and Scarlet Letter? Is it a
good, or an overdone play? Is it deep, or maybe, is it a prank on the readers? And,
finally, is there any logic behind this absurd?
* source: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par1int-6
by Marta Makoś
