The Last Night of Ballyhoo by Alfred Uhry - Essay Example

Adolf Hitler Nazism began to pose a threat to world civilization. By 1941 United States officially had joined World War II. Against this political background The Last Night of Ballyhoo by Alfred Uhry is set in position. This play is set in the upper class German Jewish society. The background is placed in Atlanta 1939 where Jews comprised a prominent minority group coping in a Christian society. The self or rather the search for the self is exemplified for the lack of a strong sense of a self can be nebulous when ones placed in the current social structure.

As Uhry said, “The Olympics commissioned me to write a play through the Alliance Theatre. It occurred to me the day they asked me that I could write about the last time Atlanta was in the spotlight which, to me, was when Gone with the Wind opened. I realized it was 1939 and I had Scarlett and I had Hitler, and it would be a good way to get at this thing I wanted to do….” (Shewey, 1997) The play opens in the living room of the Freitag/Levy home. The tone and mood is a homely and family centered approach.

Lala is found decorating the Christmas tree as it is the Christmas season. Here the Christmas tree signifies the orthodox of Christianity but for the Freitag/Levy home the Christmas tree stand as a symbol for the season which is devoid of any religious sentiments and the star symbolizing the birth of the Messiah; therefore a Jewish Christmas tree should have no star. As Boo states, “then everybody that drives down Habersham road will think we’re a bunch of Jewish fools pretending we’re Christians” (Uhry, 1997) The two important aspects are the premier of Gone with the wind and the last night of Ballyhoo which dominated the atmosphere of the play.

Lala’s attitude is so apt, instead of arguing about the Christmas tree one should be celebrating the season. But on the contrary, Lala states that one should celebrate because Clark Gable was in town for the premier