J. B. (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Archibald MacLeish
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Symbolism
- Time of Work: 1940’s to 1950’s
- Genres: Drama, Verse drama
- Subjects: Values, Suffering, United States or Americans, Twentieth century, Religion, Guilt, God, Victims, Bible, biblical imagery, or biblical symbolism, Masks, Banks, bankers, or banking
- Locales: United States
Places Discussed
Heaven. Place where God and Satan dispute about the character of people on earth. The simple setting of this play symbolizes the ancient and timeless nature of this drama. Heaven is presented as a flat set of planks set six or seven feet off the floor of the main stage. As the vendors, Mr. Zuss, who sells balloons, and Garrick Nickles, who sells popcorn, search the upper stage, they discover two masks. The mask for God resembles the face of Michelangelo’s Night sculpture with its closed eyes, and the mask for Satan has eyes “wrinkled with...
[The entire page is 662 words long]
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