Week 8 Blog Entry

 How do you interpret the fact that the most awarded musical at the 2005 Tony Awards for excellence in theater was based on Elizabeth Spencer's The Light in the Piazza, a work in which Italy represents a place where a developmentally disabled young woman may lead a full life? 


Elizabeth Spencer's The Light in the Piazza well deserves the most awarded musical at the 2005 Tony Awards for excellence in theater. The story draws attention to the development of a mentally challenged woman named Clara, whose own mother has ceased to believe that Clara can live a normal life. In America, which is depicted as a country where people act responsibly and reasonably, Clara has no hope of being accepted by society. However, Clara's hope of becoming a normal individual is rekindled when she travels in Florence. Elizabeth Spencer constantly compares Italy to American and Italian to American throughout the story, showing how Italy is a land where dreams come true and Italians are able to find humor tragedies as severe as death of a family member. Italy in The Light in the Piazza is similar to Italy in Death in Venice, for in both works Italy is represented as a land where impossible things happen.


Works Cited

Spencer, Elizabeth. The Light in the Piazza. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960. Print. 

Week 7 Assignment

How does Mann characterize the city of Venice?  What effects do his travels in Venice have on the character Aschenbach?


Mann characterizes the city of Venice as a place that is different and exotic. In Death in Venice, there is a part where Aschenbach realizes that "if you wanted to reach someplace overnight that was incomparable different as a fairy tale," the obvious solution would be to go to Venice (Mann, 12). He believes that Venice is like a whole new fantastic world compared to Germany where he previously lived.

Travelling in this fairy-tale city leads Aschenbach to act differently as he did in Germany. He is willing to be adventurous and explore new sensations. This explains how Aschenbach, a prestigious and sensible gentleman back in Germany, hopelessly falls in love with a boy despite trying to restrain himself.