著者

伊藤 ゆかり

出版者

山梨県立大学

雑誌

山梨国際研究 : 山梨県立大学国際政策学部紀要 (ISSN:18806767)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, pp.47-56, 2009-03-06

---

Automobiles are one of the most significant inventions not only in society but also in cultures in the United States. We can often find its symbolic use in the works of American writers, and Paula Vogel is no exception. This paper examines how she depicts cars in The Long Christmas Ride Home and How I Learned to Drive. The Long Christmas Ride Home tells a story of seemingly typical American family.All the characters are played by puppets and performers. The puppets make it easier for the audience to imagine their invisible cars, which confines the family within its small space; the family cannot escape from the car. The car is sometimes regarded as their home, and other times it is like a human being, one of the family members who share their mortality. On the other hand, How I Learned to Drive focuses on the relationship between the niece and the uncle who teachers her how to drive as well as sexually abuses her in the car. Here Vogel makes the best use of the sexual images of automobiles in American society. Furthermore Vogel show the similarities between cars and human bodies; they both offer the joy of gratifying any deadly impulse and of controlling everything. Thus, these two plays theatrically reveal the close connection between a human body and car.