An Enemy of the People

The play was sensational! I truthfully went in there not knowing anything about the characters or the play. The people playing the part pulled off the characters very well. I had several friends involved in the production and I couldn't be more proud of them!

I have to speak about one character that I found completely fascinating and that was Peter Stockmann, played by Micah Buckley. Peter Stockmann is the older brother of Dr. Stockmann. In the story Peter is the mayor and is somewhat corrupted by society's views on right and wrong. His morality comes from himself and therefore has no real basis for a truth in life. He happens to tower his brother in most decisions and when his brother Dr. Stockmann rises up with a discovery that the town's springs are poisoned, Peter works fast to hush the problem. That creates a stir among friends, family, media and the whole town. Eventually Peter turns the entire town/friends against Dr. Stockmann and Peter seems to be the victor. Except Peter towards the end realizes that he's totally ruined his brother and tries to ratify the situation just a tad, but offering him his job back only if he retracts everything and says it was a big misunderstanding. Well, Dr. Stockmann doesn't retract anything, he goes against the majority and is ruined by the public. No one ever truly knows the ending.

I most closely relate to Petra. Not because she's a young woman, but because she is stuck between a rock and a hard place, but yet finds herself on solid ground as far as her beliefs are concerned. She still is kind-hearted and meaningful in all that she does, but she also is very stern and gives an "evil eye" when necessary. I do all of those things. Just not within a 2 hour spand of time, ha! I don't see my life as that dramatic, but I certainly am in for the ride of a lifetime with some of the hardships I face.

I would never want to be in the position that the Stockmanns made on that fateful day in Norway. I also wouldn't want to walk away from the truth either. I would probably do what they did and stick together in the midst of trouble and trust God. What else can you do when the majority is against you, and you know you are doing right--You turn the other cheek and speak softly. Give others grace in their misunderstanding and forgive them when they finally come to the realization that the truth has been there all along.