Ruined Play Summary

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Ruined is a play about the effects on women, specifically women living in a brothel outside of a small town, from the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Each character in the play has their own objectives that help the story evolve and reach the climax. Elements of good and evil are expressed through the actions of the characters and because of this, the play is considered to be a melodrama. Along with being a melodrama, this play is a story and therefore illustrates multiple purposes of storytelling. These aspects of the play helped to turn the text into a Pulitzer Prize-winning play that is taught in classrooms. The climax of a story is the point in which the plot of the story turns. The climax can occur at any part of a text …show more content…
A melodrama consists of a story between good and evil in which the hero is generally a good person in bad circumstances and a person who does not choose their own destiny. The villain, on the other hand, tends to see the error of their ways by the end of the text. Spectacular events and violence are also characteristics of a melodrama. All of these elements of a melodrama are expressed in this play. There is good, and evil represented in many ways, including the group of rebel soldiers and the group of government soldiers, and the “ruined” women and the men who made them ruined. Both groups of soldiers are good and evil because each is fighting for what they believe in, however they are engaging in war which is not a positive thing. The soldiers engaging in war is an example of a spectacular event and violence that occurs within the play, which supports the idea that this play is a melodrama. Salima, one of Mama Nadi’s girls, and Fortune, Salima’s husband and a government soldier, are another representation of good and evil in Ruined. Salima was raped many times one day while Fortune was at work and when Fortune returned home, he found his wife and practically disowned her. Fortune sent her away from the village with nothing. Towards the end of the play, Fortune realizes that what he did was wrong, and he owes it to Salima to correct his wrongdoing; Fortune should have comforted and consoled Salima instead of pushing her away. Fortune’s role in the play is an example of sentimental conversion, when a villain realizes their wrongdoings, which is a characteristic of melodrama. Along with being a melodrama, Ruined is also a story and throughout the play, the purposes of storytelling are

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