The Happy Journey

-          Thornton Wilder (1897-1975)

Everything in this play is theatrical. Only a little stage settings or scenery has been used by the playwright. So, the audience or the reader is expected to use as much of their imagination as they can. The scenes depicted in this play move from one place to another like in cinema.

            There are four members in Kirby family: Kate (mother), Elmer (father), Arthur (son), 13, and Caroline (daughter), 15. The eldest daughter, Beulah, 22, has already been married to a telephone clerk. She lives with her husband in Camden. This play depicts the Kirbys’ journey from Newark to Camden, the city where Beulah lives.

            At the beginning of the play, Arthur, Ma and Caroline are getting ready for the Journey. Arthur is playing marbles, Caroline is talking to some girls and Ma Kirby is anxiously putting on her hat before a mirror. After some time, when they are ready, Ma talks to her neighbours. She has kept a sweet relationship with her neighbours. She requests them to look after her house and her cat in her absence. She also teaches her daughter how to greet their neighbours. Her neighbours are also careful not to be a nuisance to her. They are also faithful to her.

            They find a funeral procession on the way. Elmer puts off his hat. Ma tells Arthur to put off his hat, too. They wait until the procession has passed by. Ma becomes a bit emotional and says that she wants to die before anybody else in her family.

            While going forward along the way, they see hoarding boards with various advertisements. So, they talk or discuss about the advertisements. When Arthur tries to make fun of his mother’s respect for God, Ma becomes very angry and tries to make him get off the car. When Arthur says sorry to her, she immediately forgives him. She seems to have a deep respect for God.  She also loves her husband and children very much. She is a bossy wife and mother in her family. She is also quite talkative and sociable.

            They reach Beulah’s house in the late evening. Beulah receives them happily. All of them become very happy at their reunion to each other. Beulah has recently gone through an operation in the hospital. She had given birth to a baby which died shortly after its birth. She was also hardly saved. She is happy to be alive and reunited again with her parents and siblings.