The Author's Predicament:
-period piece: how do you make it speak to today's audience
-complex story weave
-making revelations understandable to the audience
-clarifying the ethical exploration
Problem:
1. there is a fight between boss Leo and Johnny, and Leo is acting dumb over Verna
2. Tommy's in debt, getting beat up for money
3. Tommy is sleeping with his boss's girlfriend, Verna
Psychological Need:
-overcome his guilt toward Leo
Moral Need:
-dishonest, hurting his friend
-he must pay his debt
Problem: his moral weakness is slight - maybe he loves Verna himself - and temporary - it will soon pass
there is no deeper source of his dishonesty and hurting his friend
Result: weak basis of moral exploration
Desire: to destroy Johnny for his boss and pay off his debt
Opponent(s):
1. Leo
2. Verna
3. Bernie
4. Johnny
5. The Dane
6. gambling debt guy (Lazan?)
Opponent's values: absolute power, will use any means to win
Hero's values: he has a heart
Plan:
get in with Johnny's organization and get them to kill each other
Strength: detailed and secretive, allows for surprises
Problem: may be too complicated
Middle:
Punch/counter-punch between Tommy and the Dane
Tommy dealing with his personal problem with Leo and Verna
Tommy dealing with Bernie who can blow his cover
Key: almost all characters are given problem, need, desire and plan of their own: gives rich plot with many surprises
Moral argument:
Johnny says stealing from his fix is unethical
Tommy is sleeping with the boss's girlfriend
Tommy tells Johnny the Dane is double crossing, which gets the Dane killed
Tommy gets Johnny killed
Tommy kills Bernie: Tommy is the avenging angel of death
Problem: the moral right or wrong of this not explored
Battle: the Dane chokes Tommy, Johnny kills the Dane
This is followed by Johnny's death and Tommy killing Bernie
Self-Revelation: none
he's conscious of his moral flaw early on
and
doesn't seem concerned with anything deeper as to why
Tommy remains an opaque character
Strengths:
-detailed world
-unique main character
-strong personal conections set up among all characters
-excellent story weave
-some great individual scenes
Weaknesses:
-no sense of larger world or history
-no sense this is a uniquely American story
-weak moral and psychological need that doesn't support the rest of story
-moral elements are not explored
-no self-revelation
-larger theme doesn't come through
-period piece: how do you make it speak to today's audience
-complex story weave
-making revelations understandable to the audience
-clarifying the ethical exploration
Problem:
1. there is a fight between boss Leo and Johnny, and Leo is acting dumb over Verna
2. Tommy's in debt, getting beat up for money
3. Tommy is sleeping with his boss's girlfriend, Verna
Psychological Need:
-overcome his guilt toward Leo
Moral Need:
-dishonest, hurting his friend
-he must pay his debt
Problem: his moral weakness is slight - maybe he loves Verna himself - and temporary - it will soon pass
there is no deeper source of his dishonesty and hurting his friend
Result: weak basis of moral exploration
Desire: to destroy Johnny for his boss and pay off his debt
Opponent(s):
1. Leo
2. Verna
3. Bernie
4. Johnny
5. The Dane
6. gambling debt guy (Lazan?)
Opponent's values: absolute power, will use any means to win
Hero's values: he has a heart
Plan:
get in with Johnny's organization and get them to kill each other
Strength: detailed and secretive, allows for surprises
Problem: may be too complicated
Middle:
Punch/counter-punch between Tommy and the Dane
Tommy dealing with his personal problem with Leo and Verna
Tommy dealing with Bernie who can blow his cover
Key: almost all characters are given problem, need, desire and plan of their own: gives rich plot with many surprises
Moral argument:
Johnny says stealing from his fix is unethical
Tommy is sleeping with the boss's girlfriend
Tommy tells Johnny the Dane is double crossing, which gets the Dane killed
Tommy gets Johnny killed
Tommy kills Bernie: Tommy is the avenging angel of death
Problem: the moral right or wrong of this not explored
Battle: the Dane chokes Tommy, Johnny kills the Dane
This is followed by Johnny's death and Tommy killing Bernie
Self-Revelation: none
he's conscious of his moral flaw early on
and
doesn't seem concerned with anything deeper as to why
Tommy remains an opaque character
Strengths:
-detailed world
-unique main character
-strong personal conections set up among all characters
-excellent story weave
-some great individual scenes
Weaknesses:
-no sense of larger world or history
-no sense this is a uniquely American story
-weak moral and psychological need that doesn't support the rest of story
-moral elements are not explored
-no self-revelation
-larger theme doesn't come through
