The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: David Rabe
- First Published: 1973
- Type of Plot: Expressionist
- Time of Work: 1965-1967
- Setting: Georgia, New York, and Vietnam
- Principal Characters: Pavlo Hummel, Yen, Ardell, First Sergeant Tower, Sergeant Wall
- Genres: Drama, Psychological drama, Expressionist literature
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Values, 1960’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, New York City, Vietnam War, Death or dying, Ethics, Military life or service, Indochina
- Locales: New York, Georgia, Vietnam
The Play
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel opens in a Vietnamese bar. American pop music blares from the radio while Pavlo Hummel, a young soldier dressed in army fatigues and wearing sunglasses, boasts of his fighting ability and of his girlfriend Joanna back home. Yen, a prostitute, and her Mamasan watch as a grenade is tossed into the bar, and Pavlo picks it up just before it explodes onstage.
In the aftermath of the explosion, a black soldier named Ardell abruptly appears upstage and calls Hummel to attention, questioning him in military style about his...
[The entire page is 2665 words long]
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