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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper discusses Cormac McCarthy’s play “The Stonemason” and whether or not Ben is naïve and living in the past. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVstnmsn.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
is the author of several acclaimed works, including No Country for Old Men, which was recently filmed. The Stonemason however has not enjoyed the same success and is rarely performed.
The stage directions for the play may help to illustrate why it is so seldom seen: McCarthy says that on the left of the stage is a podium where Ben
delivers his monologues while Ben (the same character but obviously a different actor) is on a different area of the stage with the other characters, acting out-silently-some of the things
Ben is describing (McCarthy, 1995). This somewhat awkward concept leaves the audience trying to make sense of a play that is part acting, part lecture, and may account for the
lack of success for an author who is otherwise very popular. The play itself revolves around a multi-generational family in Louisville, Kentucky, in the 1970s. The main character Ben is
absolutely devoted to his grandfather Papaw; Bens father Big Ben is apparently less attached to the old man. All three of the men are stonemasons, and Ben has learned the
trade from Papaw, which is one of their bonds. In fact, Ben considers Papaw to be a font of wisdom and is so devoted to him that he swears hed
cling to him like a bride (McCarthy, 1995). He sees value in Papaws ways and honors him for the work hes done all his life. In one beautiful passage, he
talks about working with Papaw in the fields, quarrying the stone: "The keystone that locks the arch is pressed in place by the thumb of God. When the weather is
good we gather the stone ourselves out of the fields ... He talks to me about stone in a different way from my father. Always as a thing of consequence.
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