"Autumn Leaves" Analysis

A.    Synopsis

Autumn Leaves writes about three people that have different personality that meet in the last day of autumn in the yard. Actually they bored with their routine activities which make one of them feel ‘cubicled’ and the other feel ‘kitchened’. They realize that they are not as free as like when they were kids, when they can play as long as they want. Autumn leaves remind them to their childhood when autumn come. They miss freedom and their childhood as well. Finally, they decide to do what they miss; back to their childhood, and act like kids by playing with autumn leaves. They want to feel free and forget the world a while.

2. Analysis

Ø  Setting

v  Place

The place of setting of Autumn Leaves is in the yard of Janet Elkin’s old house. There are a lot of autumn leaves fallen and need to be raked. Where the wind of autumn feel so strong in the skin and remind the characters to their childhood when they could play a whole day in the yard.

v  Time

The time of setting of Autumn Leaves in a brisk bright Saturday morning in October. October is usually become the last of autumn season, that why the time setting is in October. It is in Saturday morning because it is weekend, when people do not go to work and just stays at home; do what their interests and hobbies like Janet and Danny do.

Ø  Characters of Autumn Leaves

      Janet Elkin : The owner of the old house

ü  She is fiftyish woman who is still looks middle-aged.

ü  She is relaxed person.

ü  She loves gardening a lot.

ü  She is cheerful and friendly woman.

ü  She is a traditional thinking woman that thinks women do not need any career.

ALICE
How should we be different? We serious ones?

JANET
Oh, I don't know. Spend a little time in useless beauty? Notice nature's seasons as well as the IRS's? Maybe even make safety secondary? But your whole generation--. When I was young, women didn't have careers, they had "interests". Picked up smatters of everything. All superficial, of course. Men were the serious ones-- but Lord, were they boring. Nothing but work, work, work.

ALICE
It's a different world, the new economy. Women especially. We're expected to be totally focused on the job, -- but have one eye out looking for the next one.

      Alice Notsinger : Janet and Danny’s new neighbor

ü     She is a carrier woman.

ü     She is a serious minded woman.

ü  She is flowers’ lover, but doesn’t has enough time to take care of her flowers.

ü     She is an ambitious woman.

JANET
Alice is going to school, too.
ALICE
In the off season.
JANET
Taking what kind of classes?
ALICE
Accounting.
DANNY
But you said you're already--?
ALICE
To get my CPA.

DANNY
That's --uh-- that's the way. To-- uh--.go. Way to go.

ü  She like stability, but actually she feel bored sometime because her tight activities.

ü  She is modern thinking women.

JANET
Oh, I don't know. Spend a little time in useless beauty? Notice nature's seasons as well as the IRS's? Maybe even make safety secondary? But your whole generation--. When I was young, women didn't have careers, they had "interests". Picked up smatters of everything. All superficial, of course. Men were the serious ones-- but Lord, were they boring. Nothing but work, work, work.

ALICE
It's a different world, the new economy. Women especially. We're expected to be totally focused on the job, -- but have one eye out looking for the next one.

      Daniel Reeb : the tenant of Janet’s old house.

ü        He is a handsome young man.

ü        He is relaxed man.

ü        He is a happy go lucky overgrown man.

ü  He is a player that enjoys his life a lot and seems does not care a lot of work or something that serious. 

Ø  Plot

Autumn Leaves is a plot less drama, it is a dialogue development. There is no sequence of events in the play. It is only one act drama, and the play develops by dialogues each characters.

Ø  Theme

Autumn Leaves refers to having freedom beside of busy work. Having a free time to enjoy a beautiful day like the last autumn day of the year by playing with the leaves like kids. The play shows us that age and personality of people do not affect our desire to feel free. Everyone wants to be free, but some of them are too serious so that they forget their own freedom and their own desire. In fact, freedom is the most important part of our life.

Ø  Style

The style of “Trifles” is sharing and suggesting. There are some arguments that find in the play, but actually they are not arguing each other, they are sharing each other, they only try to give their opinion.  

Ø  Function

The play presents two differences personality; the relaxed one and the serious one. Beside their differences, they also have one similarity; the desire to feel free. Even Alice is the serious one but deeply in her heart she also want to play like she did when she was a kid. People have to be serious at their job or their school, but they also need to be relaxed. Actually, life is about balancing harmony; being serious in one part of life and being relaxed in the other part.

So, the function of this play is social critics to the serious-minded people especially in America that is the big country with many employee and employer there. Most of them are serious-minded who often forge their own freedom by working over and over and cannot enjoy their time. They play wants to make people realize that it is okay to forget the busy-world for a while and do what we are really want to.