Critical Essay on Click by Brighde Mullins

Introduction

Click is a play by Brighde Mullins that has only two characters. Two characters, a woman and a man two thousand miles away, are telling the story. The climax point of the story comes in when the man asks the woman about the clicking sound he hears through the phone. Instead of answering him, the woman tells the man of the different possible causes of the clicking sound. The falling action came when he realized that the clicking sound comes from the beer, which the woman was drinking. The man is in a recovery process in rehab for alcohol addiction, and the woman has to wait for him. He gets upset to realize that the woman is drinking beer while talking to him when she is aware of his situation. The nature of the play and the storyline evoked the following reactions from me.

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The play seems to raise some questions about the characters. The problem of the nature of the relationship between the woman and the man is. From the play, the woman says, "You used to like my turns of phrase," (p. 1027). That phrase gave me the first clue about the relationship between the man and the woman. For starters, they are close, but the nature of their relationship is not clear, and that may be what the author may have intended. They could be having an intimate relationship or simply friendship. Alternatively, they could be family members. However, there is the second phrase, "That's all we have right now, isn't it? You're two thousand miles away, and you're reduced to Words, Right?" (p. 1027). That phrase by the woman provided me with the second clue about the relationship that exists between the two characters. There is the nature in which the word 'Words' in the phrase is written. By using the upper case letter on the first letter of the word, the author is communicating a change of tone. That means that she is emotionally invested in that relationship. There is the reference to their distance, which meant that she required his physical presence. However, these clues are not enough to provide the reader with enough information about the characters' relationship status. However, based on the tone of the play and the choice of words, I got the feeling that they are intimate partners.

There is also a question of the man's expectation from the woman. The man is undoubtedly having a hard time in his effort to get himself clean. His conversations with the woman suggest that the two are avid lovers of poetry. Poetry or wordplay seems to be a bonding point for the two characters. However, the distance and rehab seem to be taking a toll on the man such that he is no longer interested in poetry. The woman expects that their relationship remains the same even after the man's visit to rehab. She does not expect the man to change his preferences when it comes to her. On the other hand, the man expects that the woman would support his rehabilitation efforts by stopping her habit or at least trying to conceal it from him. The man says, "You're drinking beer? You're drinking beer while I am calling you from rehab?" (p.1028). Her, consumption of beer while on the phone with him gave me an idea that she is also getting tired of the whole process and she seems to be losing focus of why the man went to rehab in the first place.

The play managed to elicit adverse reactions from me especially in regards to my perception of rehab. Rehab is supposed to be a place that gives people a second chance to work on everything, including their relationship. From the play, the man seems to be gaining ground on his drug addiction but at the expense of his connections as evidenced by how he responds to the woman. The woman asks him if their relationship has been reduced to just words, and his response was 'Yes' (pg. 1028). It seems the rehab is not helping the man in his relationship with the woman. That exchange between the man and the woman gave me the idea that his being in rehab is doing more damage than good to his relationship. However, I was shocked to find out that he does not even realize what is happening to his relationship with the woman and is not concerned about their relationship turning to words.

Generally, I found the length of the play quite surprising. The play is only two pages long, which is shorter than expected. The play starts with the question, "what are you doing?" (p. 1027). I expected a series of brief exchanges between the characters before one of them could delve into long paragraph explanation such as the given by the woman about the possible causes of the click sound. However, even more, surprising was the nature in which their conversation ended. I got the sense that the man was upset when he found out that the woman was drinking beer while speaking to him at rehab (p.1028). I was expecting a series of more exchanges between the two characters before one of them decides to hang up. I expected the man to pause to listen to the woman's side of the story. His decision to hang up caught me off guard. Also, I was also surprised by how the man found out that the woman is drinking beer. Obviously, as a person trying to clean himself from drug addiction, I expected him to be familiar with the sound of beer bottles. However, his level of accuracy despite the woman's effort to conceal it reveals excellent listening skills.

Despite its unpredictable storyline, the thing that I liked most about the play was its simplicity. The author took a simple topic such as click and made a whole storyline out of it. When I read the subject of the play, I did not expect it to be about a beer bottle. On top of that, the early stages of the play do not give the reader any as a clue as to what may be producing the clicks. However, what I even found interesting about the text was the number of characters. The play has only two characters, which makes it a two-hander. The simple storyline combined with the number of characters made it easy for me to follow the storyline. The simplicity of the play makes it suitable for young readers because they can keep up with the events in the literary work. I also like the fact that despite having two characters, the author made a point of concealing every form of the characters' identity, starting from their names. The reader is not able to decipher any personal information of the characters from the play. It seems like the author wanted the readers to focus on the storyline rather than the characters.

Conclusion

The play Click is an exciting read, especially for literature students. The author does not try to do much within a short play. Instead, she is trying to do much with a short play. The story revolves around two characters whose exact relationship remains a mystery to the reader. The author intended for the reader to concentrate on the story of which she succeeded. I was intrigued by the simplicity of the play. The author's decision to keep the play short surprised me. I was expecting an argument, but the author decided to end the play right at the climax point, hence keeping me in suspense while allowing me to conclude for myself.