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The Effect of Gamma Rays on ManintheMoon Marigolds Paul Zindel Books

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The Effect of Gamma Rays on ManintheMoon Marigolds Paul Zindel Books

One of my favorite plays and one of the few that won the Pulitzer that deserved it. A heart-rending and funny tale about a child growing up in psychological isolation, it hits all the right notes. It's particularly timely now that so many of our young people are increasingly isolation via the Internet and devices. I'm using this play as a model with one of my MA students in playwriting at the MA/MFA Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University and find that it is also a great teaching tool for dramatizing character and subtle conflict.


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The Effect of Gamma Rays on ManintheMoon Marigolds Paul Zindel Books Reviews

Beatrice and her two daughters, Ruth and Tillie, live in cheap accommodation in a converted shop. The store's front display window is still there, but covered in newspapers. All three females struggle, in their various ways, with the toxicity of life, with the fact that 'fairness' is for them a distant hope far beyond their grasp. For Beatrice the struggle takes the form of 'get-rich-quick' schemes as a way of escaping 'failure'. For Ruth the hard facts of life, particularly the reality of death, lead to a kind of epileptic fit, a retreat into unconsciousness. For Tillie the answer is in learning and especially science. Together these three people hurt and encourage one another as they engage in the 'struggle for life'.

This play won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and that is certainly an indication of its quality. It has had a successful run Off Broadway and has been made into a television drama. This is certainly not Shakespeare, but is definitely far above the ho-hum plotting of, for example, most TV plays. The creative use of lighting and symbolism are the best features, which combine to generate a psychologically poignant ambiance. This is only a two act play, so be warned, if you are looking for searching character analysis and deep philosophy you will not find it here. The play would do admirably as the subject of a school essay, and Gale has indeed released a study book for such purposes (Paul Zindel's "The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" A Study Guide from Gale's "Drama for Students" (Volume 12, Chapter 3)).
One of my favorite plays and one of the few that won the Pulitzer that deserved it. A heart-rending and funny tale about a child growing up in psychological isolation, it hits all the right notes. It's particularly timely now that so many of our young people are increasingly isolation via the Internet and devices. I'm using this play as a model with one of my MA students in playwriting at the MA/MFA Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University and find that it is also a great teaching tool for dramatizing character and subtle conflict.