Sexual Perversity in Chicago: Analysis of Major Characters
"Sexual Perversity in Chicago" is a play that explores the complexities of human relationships and sexual dynamics through its major characters: Danny, Bernie, Deborah, and Joan. Danny is a young man navigating his insecurities while seeking acceptance and belonging, often engaging in conversations that reinforce his friend Bernie’s exaggerated masculine identity. Bernie embodies a stereotypical 1970s heterosexual male, characterized by his obsession with sexual prowess and a troubling attitude towards women, revealing his own vulnerabilities beneath a facade of bravado. Deborah, a professional illustrator, longs for love and emotional security but struggles with her feelings of being misunderstood, leading to a tumultuous relationship with Danny. Joan, Deborah's roommate, provides a contrasting perspective as a kindergarten teacher who has retreated from intimacy, harboring bitterness towards men and viewing sexual relationships through a lens of mutual destruction. Together, these characters illustrate the interplay of desire, insecurity, and the quest for connection, highlighting both the challenges and contradictions present in contemporary sexual relationships. The play prompts reflection on how societal norms shape personal identities and intimate connections.
Sexual Perversity in Chicago: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: David Mamet
First published: 1977
Genre: Play
Locale: Chicago, Illinois
Plot: Comedy
Time: The 1970's
Danny Shapiro, an insecure twenty-year-old assistant office manager who seeks the acceptance of others. He simply wants to belong. Toward that end, Danny listens with awe to Bernie's tales of sexual prowess and asks questions that feed Bernie's ego. To please Bernie, his replies are generally nondirective reflections of Bernie's statements. Danny is a loyal friend to both Bernie and Deb. He defends Bernie against their coworkers'verbal assaults, and he refuses to discuss the details of his relationship with Deborah. Danny is unable to open himself to others, however, and retreats from his own emotions into the safety of patterned communication. Consequently, he rejects Deb when she wants to know more about his inner being, and he returns to Bernie. Danny is sensitive enough to recognize the one point at which Bernie appears to have lost himself as well as to accept Bernie's hurried masking of that one vulnerable moment.
Bernard (Bernie) Litko, Danny's friend and coworker, a 1970's heterosexual American male stereotype locked into exaggerating his sexual prowess to validate his masculine identity and desirability. He is homophobic. Bernie showers his speech with obscenities to prove his superiority and believes that females should be subordinated and mistreated. He, too, is insecure. Bernie lies about his occupation to attract women, deals ineffectively with a confrontive female, and is envious of Danny and Deb's relationship. He has centered his life on genitalia, female seductiveness and willingness, and male size and endurance. Bernie focuses on appearance and blames women both for his sexual arousal and for his sexual rejections. Although he once questions the meaning of his words, Bernie immediately reverts to the security of his ritualistic behaviors.
Deborah (Deb) Soloman, an attractive, twenty-three-year-old professional illustrator who wants to be loved but habitually feels misunderstood. She enters into a sexual, then cohabitative, relationship with Danny in an effort to establish emotional security but alternates a desire for closeness with alienating behaviors to protect herself. Deb blames herself for their eventual dissolution and uses her friend Joan as her primary psychological support. Deborah is a dependent person in conflict between what she believes that she wants and what she is willing to risk.
Joan Webber, a kindergarten teacher who lives with Deb. She is a bitter woman who views sexual intercourse as mutually destructive behavior from which she has withdrawn. She is predominantly hostile toward men (for example, she sees premature ejaculation as a consequence of the man's desire to punish her). As a dramatic foil for Bernie, Joan could be described as a 1970's American castrating female stereotype. Intelligent and witty, Joan uses negative philosophical patter (that she herself interrupts for practical considerations) to fuel her own sense of depression, alienation, and helplessness.