Two can play

In class we have been reading a play called “Two Can Play” which takes place in a late 70’s Jamaica that has been overwhelmed by the effects of political warfare. In the play we have two main characters; Gloria and Jim, who are two perfect examples of gender roles in that time. Jim presents the typical sexist male role who is afraid of women power and who thinks men should have control of everything even if sometimes women have more courage than them. This behavior in Jim is what causes his bad relationship with his wife. This is shown in the way Jim tells Gloria to do things around the house, like cooking and taking care of Pops. He also needs to feel good about himself and in control even though he is a coward. This is shown when he is afraid of the gunfire outside and he is hesitant to look for Pop’s medicine even though Pop’s was dying. His cowardliness is also emphasized in the fact that Gloria is braver than Jim and is willing to go outside and stay calm about the whole situation. Gloria takes control of all the things Jim can’t man up to do. Constantly Jim acts like he is always right, and that his decisions are the best, but because Gloria is a woman he never takes in consideration Gloria’s thoughts and feelings even though she seems smarter than him. He sees Gloria as his property and not much as his wife, this type of thinking is presented at the end of the play when he directly says that he wouldn’t let Gloria go because he owned her. Throughout the story we see that Jim loves Gloria but his sexist mentality prevents him from sharing his feelings the correct way. For this reason he almost looses Gloria when she decides that she can’t take Jim’s behavior anymore and that Jim is never going to change. Through this we see that Gloria is a strong character and that she represents the revolutionary ways in which women had to take control of situations so they could be respected and taken in consideration. Even though the story presents the reader with a late 70’s Jamaica these situations still happen in our present day.