In Bel Kaufman's "Sunday in the Park," there are probably
several universal truths or themes. Literature speaks to different people in many ways,
depending upon each person's individual experiences.
Common
themes might be that everyone is different. Another might be that children learn from
their parents. However, the universal truth (or theme) that resonates most with me is
"there are no perfect solutions in an imperfect world."
A
woman sits in the park with her family—her husband Morton and their son Larry. Another
boy is aggressive, throwing sand at Larry. At first Larry (like his father) takes no
notice. The mother corrects the other little boy. Despite her warning, the other child
throws sand again, and this time a dispute develops between the other child's father and
the mother. The stranger announces that the park is a public place; therefore, his son
can do as he pleases. The mother, frustrated because reason does not change the man's
mind, turns to her husband who has been reading the paper. Morton stands up to speak to
the other father finding—as his wife had before him—that not only will the other
man not be reasoned with, but that now he is
ready to settle the argument with a physical
fight.
The mother becomes fearful, trying to find a way
avert what seems to be an impending altercation of fists. As Morton tries to deal with
the man in a reasonable manner one more time, "I must ask you...," the other responds
with a bully's cliché:
You and
who else?
Words will
obviously not work, as Morton sees it, so instead of standing his ground (because he
does not want to get into a fist fight), he packs things up, gathers together his wife
and child, and walks away.
The mother, who had originally
despaired that the men might start beating each other, is now
disappointed in her husband, and angry. She is thankful that there was no fight, but she
is bothered because her husband backed down.
Always before she has been proud of her husband's
and her son's sensitivity and
delicateness.
At this point
in time—and we cannot be certain why—her husband's peaceful resolution to the problem
does not satisfy her but leaves her feeling "beaten" or "defeated."
The mother does value peace: the peace of the day in the
park, as well as the wish for a peaceful resolution between the two men over the other
child's behavior. At the same time, however, the mother is not satisfied with her
husband's benign behavior. Perhaps she is upset as a mother because her son was bullied
and her husband did nothing. Perhaps she realizes that a peaceful resolution is
attainable only under certain circumstances—not when her child's comfort or safety is at
stake.
However, what most upsets the mother is that
Morton's frustration with the confrontation causes him to turn on
his son in anger, threatening the same violence toward the little
boy for crying, that the stranger threatened him with. He tells his
wife that if she cannot successfully "control" Larry, he will do it for her. His wife
turns to him and says:
Indeed?...You and who
else?
There is a time for
peace. However, as the mother learns by watching her husband wrestle with his sense of
impotence, and then by experiencing a need to fight back personally, she realizes that
not all conflicts respond to peaceful negotiation. The ideals we hope and work for
sometimes have no place in the real world. At the end, her anger
makes her threaten her husband for her child's sake.
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