Four Baboons Adoring the Sun by John Guare
"Four Baboons Adoring the Sun" by John Guare explores themes of success, change, and the search for love through the experiences of the McKenzie family. The narrative centers on Philip and Penny McKenzie, who have both left behind their conventional lives—Philip from a successful career as an archaeology professor and Penny from her role as a congressman’s wife. Their quest for deeper meaning reflects a longing for transformation, not just for themselves but also for their children, who are caught between the realities of adult life and the mythic innocence of childhood.
The play intertwines realism and myth, emphasizing the contrast between "Universe A" (facts and reason) and "Universe B" (the mythic world of childhood). This duality is represented through the symbolic presence of Eros, akin to a Greek chorus, and the striking imagery of a granite sculpture depicting four baboons, symbolizing the pursuit of enlightenment at a cost. Central to the plot is the character Wayne, who adopts the name Icarus, representing the dangers of forbidden love and the inevitable fall from grace. As the family grapples with their desires and relationships, the dialogue adopts a ritualistic quality, enhancing the emotional stakes and prompting profound questions about identity and choice. The play concludes with the characters making pivotal decisions about their futures, encapsulating the ongoing struggle between aspiration and reality.
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Four Baboons Adoring the Sun by John Guare
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First produced: 1992 (first published, 1993)
Type of work: Play
The Work
The questioning of the rewards of success in the lives of Ouisa and Flan Kittredge in Six Degrees of Separation are again enacted in Four Baboons Adoring the Sun. Here, however, the couple—Penny and Philip McKenzie—and their children (ranging in age from thirteen to seven) are younger. Philip has left his successful “empire” as an archaeology professor at a California university, and Penny has severed her typical suburban existence “off Exit 4 of the Connecticut Turnpike” as wife of a congressman. Having realized the rewards of the American Dream, both need, more than anything, change and love, and they wish the same for their children.
In Philip’s words, there are two universes—Universe A, which is “all facts and reasons and explanations,” and Universe B, the universe of childhood, which is essentially mythic. It is this mythic level to which the play aspires. In no other play has Guare so richly invested the style and symbols of myth; for example, the family’s children are given mythic names (the most important of which is Wayne’s appellation of Icarus). The mythical ambience is created immediately with the appearance of Eros, Guare’s version of the Greek chorus. As background to the action, Eros is onstage throughout, chanting aspirations and forebodings in the tradition of the chorus. Beyond Eros, there is a replica of a four-thousand-year-old granite Egyptian sculpture of four baboons who have stared at the sun until they are blinded. Wayne (Icarus), in a forbidden love with his new sister Halcy, feels trapped in a labyrinth his father has created. He climbs a nearby mountain and falls to his death.
The exotic myth imagery in the play blends with the poetically framed dialogue, in which realistic American speech is stylized in the manner of the stichomythia of classical drama. Realism and myth are one as the eldest children question the parents in incantatory lines:
Wayne: Did you hate Mom?
Halcy: Did you hate Dad?
Penny: No.
Philip: Yes.
The antiphonal nature of the questions and responses in which parents and children participate transforms the play into a ritual without diluting the realism of their respective situations. The play ends with Eros chanting about choices he offers and with parents and children choosing their futures. Penny, like Philip’s Wayne, chooses to “leap into space.” Philip, like Penny’s Halcy, chooses not to leap, and he will return to his university.
Bibliography
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