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speech or behavior in which someone is very eager to avoid being criticized(Cambridge Dictionary)

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"Why do you feel it necessary to insult me?"(Letts 1789)

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This quote occurs after Violet refers to Ivy as resembling a "magicians assistant"(Letts 1789).  As the only daughter who stayed in the house with her addictive parents Beverly and Violet Weston, Ivy has endured years of verbal abuse by her mother, who seems to criticize her every move.  Knowing this and the fact that these feelings have been bottling up inside Ivy for some time, it is no surprise that Ivy would be fed up with the repetitive criticism she has been subject to, leading to her asking Violet why she feels the need to bring her down all the time. Rather than continuing to take the criticism and bite her tongue, Ivy began to exude defensiveness as she voiced the question that was probably pervading through her head for a while before Ivy actually expressed it to Violet.

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Is there a reason for defensive behavior?

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Is there a reason for defensive behavior?

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Often, people get defensive not because they believe someone is attacking all judgements they make as a person. Defensiveness stems from a bigger issue, rooted in personal insecurity.  Ivy resorted to defensiveness because she believes her mother is not just attacking an outfit she is wearing, but rather the deeper issues such as her life choices and her ability to make decisions.

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the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another(Dictionary.com)

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"Charles.  His name is Charles." (Letts 1799)

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This quote occurs during the climactic dinner scene after Mattie Fae refers to Little Charles as Charlie's "project" (Letts 1799) when Little Charles tells the family he forgot to set the alarm clock for Beverly's funeral. This moment is significant because it demonstrates Ivy's compassion for the family's, but particularly Mattie Fae's mistreatment of Little Charles. Just as Ivy has been continuously humiliated and degraded by Violet, Little Charles has the same relationship with his mother, so in this moment ivy is empathetic as she identify's herself with Little Charles' struggle for respect and affirmation by their mothers. By Ivy correcting Little Charles' name, it affirms his identity as a person, thus giving Little Charles the validation that Ivy is also longing for.

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Empathy frequently gets misunderstood with sympathy, however empathy fuels connection through putting yourself in the shoes of a person while sympathy drives disconnection by distinguishing yourself as a detached party from a situation. Ivy shows empathy towards Little Charles because both parties are present in the same house and are experiencing the same situation regarding their mothers' harrassment and their desire to validate their identities.

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In Act 3 Scene 1 on page 1802, Ivy exudes empathy towards her deceased father Beverly Weston, through the quote "He's accountable to himself.  If he's better off now, and I don't doubt he is, who are we to berudge him of that?"(Letts 1802).  Ivy grapples with gaining independence and a sense of control over her existence throughout the whole play.  In this moment, instead of believing her father's decision to commit suicide was selfish like her sisters, Ivy believes that he did what was best for him, gaining dignity in the process.  This mindset is potentially indicative of why Ivy was her father's supposed favorite, as they both believed in gaining a sense of agency and shared the same thoughts.

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to cause someone to experience something, usually an emotion or a pain, less strongly than before

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“ It wouldn’t have done any good, Dr. Burke’s part of the same generation”(Letts 1800)

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Analysis of Quote from Act 3 Scene 1 Page 1800

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Analysis of Quote from Act 3 Scene 1 Page 1800

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Analysis of Quote from Act 3 Scene 1 Page 1800

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Analysis of Quote from Act 3 Scene 1 Page 1800

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Ivy makes this statement during her conversation with her sister Barbara regarding Violet's ability to manipulate doctors into getting multiple prescriptions.  Ivy shrugged when Barbara asked if she knew her mother was continuing to use those methods and believed Barbara's attempts to provoke her mother were pointless.  Since the doctor is part of the same generation as Violet was speaking about, the likelihood of him to go against Violet is slim. Ivy's exposure to Violet's addictive and conniving behavior over the years has led Ivy to possess a level of apathy towards her mother.  Ivy's sisters were surprised at the methods her mother used to get the pills, however Ivy was not because she is used to her mother's tendencies and knows she is too far gone into her addiction to be saved or to feel guilty for what she has done.

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-Detachment: a feeling of not being emotionally involved(Cambridge Dictionary)
-Independence:not requiring or relying on something else : not contingent (Merriam-Webster)

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“ We’re all just people, some of us accidentally connected by genetics, a random selection of cells.  Nothing more.”(Letts 1801)

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Analysis of Quote from Act 3 Scene 1 Page 1801

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Analysis of Quote from Act 3 Scene 1 Page 1801

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In this moment, Ivy does not seem to feel the familial connection that her sister's feel.  Having been the only sister in the house for so long, Ivy has had to operate by herself, and has become an extremely self-reliant person, not needing help from them.  Due to experience, Ivy believes that since her sisters were not there to provide assistance in the hardest moments when dealing with her parents' addictions, there is no need for them to act as if they want to help now that Beverly committed suicide and Violet is all alone.  Although she was the only sibling to have resided in the house, she feels the most like an outsider out of Karen and Barbara because both of them were leading their own lives, causing Ivy to feel detachment.  From that detachment, ivy has sprouted into an independent woman who eventually decides to leave the Plains and pursue her own life.

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Interesting Opinion Piece: Being Detached or Being Independent, which is the Right Way of Living?

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Interesting Opinion Piece: Being Detached or Being Independent, which is the Right Way of Living?

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The most interesting thing I took from this article was the fact that when we start attaching to others, we in turn attach and entangle our chains of deception. Ivy is smart enough to realize at this point that caring so much about her mother's mental state does not bode well for her well-being, therefore the best way for her to remain sane is to be detached from her family. Ivy was forced to be self-reliant as she was deserted from her two sisters who neglected to help out during the dark years of her parent's addiction, therefore that is the character trait she ultimately adopted.

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feeling or showing anger because of something unjust or unworthy; similar to resentment (Merriam-Webster)

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“Maybe my cynicism flowered with the realization that the obligation of caring for our parents was mine alone.”
(Letts 1801)

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Analysis of Quote from Act 3 Scene 1 Page 1801

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Analysis of Quote from Act 3 Scene 1 Page 1801

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This moment demonstrates Ivy's frustration with her sisters for abandoning her and leaving her at home to deal with her parent's addiction.  While Barbara was in Colorado with her daughter and cheating husband Bill, Karen was in Florida with her new fiance Steve.  While this was going on, Ivy was alone.  With being alone, Ivy had to carry all of the burdens that came with taking care of her parents, causing her to feel indignation and basically resentment towards them for preventing her from having the life she always wanted.

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Interesting Article about the Difference between Resent and Indignance

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Interesting Article about the Difference between Resent and Indignance

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The difference between resentment and indignance is that resentment pertains to personal injustice while indignance pertains to social injustice. I believe Ivy exudes more indignance because as their home is isolated and is basically their own society, Ivy feels as though in that society she is being mistreated. Not just by one person, but the majority of her family.

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The feeling when you are treated unfairly. You got less than you deserve, or someone else got more than they deserve.

You feel resentment when you feel something unfair happened to you - you felt you deserved something, but didn't get it, or someone else got something that you feel they did not deserve. For example, when you did not get your fair portion of a shared pizza, when you have something important to tell but no one is listening, or when you feel that you deserve a certain promotion, but your colleague got it instead.

Many social interactions can be seen as transactions, in which tangible things like money and material goods are exchanged, but also intangible things like attention, love, pleasure, influence, appreciation, and respect. Each of us has an internal, often implicit sense of how much of these things we are entitled to, and from whom we should get them. People want to receive love from their family members, attention from their friends, appreciation from their boss, and respect from their subordinates. When people feel that they are not getting their fair share of these social resources, they will feel resentment.

Interestingly, resentment also works the other way around: if you feel that someone else is getting more than their fair share. For example, you can resent the fact that the CEO of your company is getting a bonus of ten million. However, resentment can always (at least in part) be lead back to personal entitlement: you find it unfair that someone else is getting it, instead of you. You compare your own efforts for the company with that of the CEO, and wonder what warrants the difference in pay.

There is also a sense of pettiness involved in resentment. While other emotions concern themselves with serious wrongdoings (e.g., anger), or moral injustices (e.g., indignation), resentment can be triggered by relatively benign and more selfish motives of entitlement. For this reason, resentment is often minimally expressed in most cultures.

People who feel that life in general is treating them unfairly, because they don't have the material possessions, attention or influence they feel they deserve, can develop a kind of general resentment against the world.

In the comic, Murphy has just proposed a new idea for his company, when his colleague runs off with it.

Movie clips

Typical expressions

"I should have gotten that..."

"This is not fair!"

Murphy's bad day
Read the whole story
Comparisons with other emotions

Resentment & Indignation

Resentment and indignation are both anger-type emotions that respond to injustice. For example, if someone swindles you out of your savings, you will probably feel both indignation and resentment. The difference between the emotions is that indignation responds to social injustice, while resentment responds to personal injustice. For example, you may feel indignation when you read that a CEO of some company is making a million times more than the lowest paid employee, but feel resentment when you find out that your colleague, who is doing the same work as you are, is making 25% more than you. In the resentment case the pay difference is a lot smaller, but it involves a direct comparison with yourself. A consequence is that people who feel indignation tend to speak out about the injustice, as it concerns everyone, whereas people who feel resentful tend to keep their feelings to themselves, as the injustice is strictly personal, and your concerns are perhaps more selfish.

Resentment & Envy

Resentment and envy are both emotions about what you have in relation to what other people have. Envy can be divided in benign envy and malicious envy (see envy explanation). Benign envy simply means "I wish I had what you have". There are no judgments involved whether this situation is fair or deserved. Resentment, on the other hand, concerns itself specifically with this judgment: "You don't deserve this" and/or "I do deserve this". Malicious envy is subsequently a combination of these two feelings: "I wish I had what you have, because I deserve it and you don't". Compare three situations in which a colleague gets a job promotion. In situation 1, you were also interested in the better job and you consider the colleague a competent worker and a friend. In this situation, you may feel benign envy: "I wish I had the better job, but I also think you deserve it". In situation 2, you are not interested in the job, and you dislike the colleague and consider him incompetent. In this situation, you are more likely to feel resentment: "You don't deserve this job". In situation 3, you are interested in the job, and you dislike the colleague and consider him incompetent. In this situation, you are most likely to feel malicious envy: "I should have gotten this job instead of you'.

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The feeling when you are treated unfairly. You got less than you deserve, or someone else got more than they deserve. You feel resentment when you feel something unfair happened to you - you felt you deserved something, but didn't get it, or someone else got something that you feel they did not deserve.

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have something held tightly by something so that it cannot move or be freed(Dictionary.com)

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“I won’t let you change my story!”(Letts 1810)

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Analysis of a Quote from Act 3 Scene 5 Page 1810

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Analysis of a Quote from Act 3 Scene 5 Page 1810

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In this moment, Ivy is shocked to learn that Little Charles was actually her half-brother rather than her cousin. During a conversation with Barbara and Violet, the secret comes our and Ivy cries this statement as one of desperation, due to the fact that her plans to go to New York with Little Charles was her big ticket out of the Plains. Now knowing this fact, Ivy does not want to acknowledge that it is the truth, because that would mean that her plans to build a new life for herself would fall apart.

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Interesting take on the Caregiving Trap Caregiver Burden

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Interesting take on the Caregiving Trap Caregiver Burden

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Not only has Ivy been the prime caregiver for her parents, this responsibility has led to a mental breakdown of sorts for Ivy, as rather than focusing on herself and her life goals, she has been tied down to making her parents' lives more comfortable. As this article states, it is important as a caregiver to be surrounded by a good support system to vent your frustrations with, and to help alleviate any extra burdens on the caregiver, however Ivy lacked that. Ivy did not know how to escape the situation as the rest of her sisters just left, therefore she was stuck there.

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By Pamela D. Wilson, CSA, MS, BS/BA, CG

Caregiver burden represents the emotional, physical, and financial aspects and responsibilities of providing care and support for an ailing family member. This is a subject rarely discussed because most caregivers would be embarrassed to show feelings of exhaustion, frustration, or anxiety; believing that caregiving is something that one is obligated to do for a loved one. The idea of the caregiving trap is also controversial, especially among caregivers who are filled with guilt. What "good" caregiver would ever admit feeling trapped by caregiving for a loved one?

Many caregivers and care receivers-if they are honest- admit to feeling trapped. Caregivers are trapped by real-life example that include meal preparation, medication reminding, bathing, dressing, housekeeping, grocery shopping, changing bed linens, laundry, maintaining the household, sorting mail, paying bills-the list of caregiving tasks is endless. For a short period of time providing a great amount of care is sustainable. For longer periods, realistic discussions and plans are necessary in order for caregivers to maintain physical and psychological well-being.

Care receivers also feel trapped by the idea of needing care. Many do not wish to burden family but have no other choice especially when finances cannot support the private payment of care, whether at home or in a care community. Caregiver burden extends to both sides of caregiving.

In situations of crises, when there are limited options, parents readily accept help and support from children. Many adult children begin by committing small amounts of time and quickly realize that any free time that existed has disappeared and been replaced with a long list of projects for parents. Parents experience no significant changes in their lives except that their lives are easier and more comfortable; projects and activities they were previously unable to complete are finally being accomplished by helpful adult children.

What a relief that groceries are in the refrigerator, the house is clean, bills are paid, and medications are placed in daily reminder boxes. The lawn is mowed, and snow is shoveled. Life could not be better for parents who exert minimal effort to manage their daily lives. Having the help of adult children in caregiving situations is like receiving assisted living support without leaving home, and better yet, the help is free. This situation represents the caregiving trap.

Adult children who allow their lives to become unbalanced in favor of nonstop caregiving activity rarely stop until experiencing some sort of physical or emotional breakdown. It is easy for caregivers to become over involved. Most important is to find balance between becoming over involved or detached, as these extremes result in the dysfunctional relationships experienced in many caregiving families.

Important if you are a caregiver is to listen and to hear the concerns of others regarding your well-being. Many caregivers are trapped in a self-created situation of providing care and later realize that this arrangement cannot continue, yet the caregiver has no idea how to change the situation without conflict or disagreement, so the caregiver delays and delays and delays having a conversation with a parent. Not until the role of caregiving has become physically and emotionally draining, when family relationships are suffering, when projects at work are uncompleted and supervisors are commenting about poor job performance do caregivers realize that change is not optional but mandatory. A discussion must occur.

How many of us find ourselves in this situation of being trapped but in other parts of our lives. We believe that we want something-a new house, a new job, stuff-and then feel trapped by the financial support required to maintain or fund the stuff. Traps are common in life. Looking in from the outside, the solutions are easy. Stop or change aspects of life that are creating the trap. From the inside we feel frozen, stuck, or immobilized because our brains fail to see a way out of the trap that we created for ourselves. Fear of changing the dynamic results in this great unknown. Interestingly, the same unknown faced by the care recipient who also resists any type of change in the caregiving situation.

Caregivers attempt to discuss the situation with loved ones through vague mentions of concern, hoping that parents will intuitively pick up on stated concerns; they do not. One day out of frustration, the caregiver's mouth engages before the brain and words are said that cannot be retracted. The parent responds with a verbal volcanic eruption, expressing a lack of appreciation for all that has been done, and turns the tables by saying, "I don't need your help. I'm fine living here by myself. I'll take care of myself." The caregiver feels rejected, angry and unappreciated.

Parallels exist in our approach to managing daily life as well as the responsibilities of caregiving situations. Challenges become a matter of perspective and attitude, often becoming overwhelming to caregivers who experience high levels of stress but have no idea how to resolve the situation. Surprising to caregivers is that care recipients experience the same range of emotions.

Caregiving is a revolving door where those involved become disgruntled with aspects of providing care because of repeated yet failed attempts to change unfavorable aspects: for example, an inability to receive appropriate treatment from a physician who seems never to listen to concerns or receipt of denial letters from an insurance company refusing to approve a long-term care insurance claim in spite of multiple requests for documented information.

These are events frequently experienced by over involved or frustrated caregivers whose behaviors or lack of detailed follow- through make situations more challenging because of a loss of objectivity and patience. Stubbornness and a lack of introspection occur on the part of the caregiver, resulting in an inability to see that the caregiver's own actions may be contributing to problems.

How does one avoid the burdens of the caregiving trap by achieving middle ground and the right balance? One suggestion is to gain awareness of the tug-of-war of emotions that occurs between the caregiver and the care recipient. This insight may provide a better understanding of the aspects common to aging not yet experienced by caregivers who are able and healthy.

[/wlm_private_Family Caregiver Free]
Pamela D. Wilson, MS, BS/BA, CG, CSA, Certified Senior Advisor specializes in working with family and professional caregivers to navigate healthcare and aging concerns. Wilson, an expert in the field of caregiving, has personally helped thousands of family and professional caregivers since 2000 in her career as an advocate, a care navigator, and an educator. Through her company, The Care Navigator, she is an advocate and service provider in the roles of guardian, power of attorney, care manager, and transition specialist. She was producer and host of The Caring Generation®, from 2009 to 2011, an educational radio program for caregivers on 630 KHOW-AM. In addition to her work at the Care Navigator, Pamela gives back to the community by serving as chairperson of the Community Ethics Committee in Denver, Colorado.
Her new book, The Caregiving Trap: Solutions for Life's Unexpected Changes, is available through all major bookstores as well as on PamelaDWilson.com. You can find her on , , and Linked In.
Return to the Caregiver Burden and Guilt Category Page Return to the Family All Category Page

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By Pamela D. Wilson, CSA, MS, BS/BA, CG Caregiver burden represents the emotional, physical, and financial aspects and responsibilities of providing care and support for an ailing family member. This is a subject rarely discussed because most caregivers would be embarrassed to show feelings of exhaustion, frustration, or anxiety; believing that caregiving is something that one is obligated to do for a loved one.

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Inside Ivy's Psyche: Her Fascination and Admiration for Little Charles

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Inside Ivy's Psyche: Her Fascination and Admiration for Little Charles

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Based on a quick glance, Little Charles may be portrayed as overly sensitive, unmotivated, and pathetic character.  However, Little Charles is perceived as a hero in Ivy's eyes because he represents everything that Karen and Barbara's significant others are not. Unlike Steve and Bill, Little Charles has no interest in dating younger women and philandering among several different women. Little Charles lacks the "grass is greener" mindset and has not moved out of the Plains, so he acts as a support system for Ivy. Little Charles and Ivy also have built their relationship on compassion and understanding, thus making them closer to each other given they could relate to the treatment they have been receiving.

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My thoughts on Ivy's perception of Little Charles as a hero/ the evolving "hero's archetype"

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My thoughts on Ivy's perception of Little Charles as a hero/ the evolving "hero's archetype"

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In my opinion, I feel as though the archetype of a hero is ever-changing based on the situation you are in. Although certain acts could be thought of as heroic, like saving someone from a burning building or pushing someone out of the way of an incoming car, being a hero in a situation could mean more psychological acts of heroism such as saving someone from mental insanity or from a horrific home life like Ivy. Little Charles is perceived as a hero because him and Ivy were able to weather the repetitive abuse that their families' were so prone to imposing on them, and Little Charles was just what Ivy needed; a soundboard and someone to validate her identity.

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Inside Ivy's Psyche: Her Internal Struggle and her relationship with Violet

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Inside Ivy's Psyche: Her Internal Struggle and her relationship with Violet

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Ivy puts on a front that she she is a strong person who seems to be numb to Violet's mental state, however, in reality she is actually a very vulnerable human being who yearns for her mother's approval. Knowing that she was not her mother's favorite and ultimately living her whole life in the shadow of her sister Barbara who was still the favorite even though she wasn't present for multiple years has sculpted the way Ivy perceives the world. Not only is she constantly trying to do something to warrant her mother's praise rather than criticism, but she also realizes that this praise will not come, causing her to become disinterested in having large ties to her family. This also explains ivy's relationship with Little Charles, to whom she went to for support during her cancer scare. Little Charles provided Ivy with everything that Violet did not provide for her, giving Ivy more confidence and provoking her search for an independent identity away from Violet.

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The Tragedy of ivy Weston-Inability to Reach Self-Actualization

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The Tragedy of ivy Weston-Inability to Reach Self-Actualization

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The greatest tragedy of Ivy Weston was that the situation she was placed in has prevented her from attaining self-actualization. In order to attain self-actualization, a person must first possess the needs of every category on the pyramid. An individual cannot move up the pyramid unless they have fulfilled all of the needs in the row beneath the following one. From the visual below via the article, it is apparent that other than the physiological needs, Ivy does not have any other ones. Ivy's only job was to take care of her parents, but she is not getting paid for that. Her home life contributes to her inability to get love and belonging and esteem needs, as she is constantly belittled and has no one to confide in, therefore she is prevented from living to her truest potential as her home life limits her from doing so.

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By Dr. Saul McLeod, published 2007, updated December 29, 2020

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.

From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological (food and clothing), safety (job security), love and belonging needs (friendship), esteem, and self-actualization.

Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up.

Deficiency needs vs. growth needs

This five-stage model can be divided into deficiency needs and growth needs. The first four levels are often referred to as deficiency needs ( D-needs), and the top level is known as growth or being needs ( B-needs).

Deficiency needs arise due to deprivation and are said to motivate people when they are unmet. Also, the motivation to fulfill such needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. For example, the longer a person goes without food, the more hungry they will become.

Maslow (1943) initially stated that individuals must satisfy lower level deficit needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. However, he later clarified that satisfaction of a needs is not an "all-or-none" phenomenon, admitting that his earlier statements may have given "the false impression that a need must be satisfied 100 percent before the next need emerges" (1987, p. 69).

When a deficit need has been 'more or less' satisfied it will go away, and our activities become habitually directed towards meeting the next set of needs that we have yet to satisfy. These then become our salient needs. However, growth needs continue to be felt and may even become stronger once they have been engaged.

Growth needs do not stem from a lack of something, but rather from a desire to grow as a person. Once these growth needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to reach the highest level called self-actualization.

Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by a failure to meet lower level needs. Life experiences, including divorce and loss of a job, may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy.

Therefore, not everyone will move through the hierarchy in a uni-directional manner but may move back and forth between the different types of needs.

The original hierarchy of needs five-stage model includes:

Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others.

Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us, and so on.

1. Physiological needs - these are biological requirements for human survival, e.g. air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sex, sleep.

If these needs are not satisfied the human body cannot function optimally. Maslow considered physiological needs the most important as all the other needs become secondary until these needs are met.

2. Safety needs - once an individual's physiological needs are satisfied, the needs for security and safety become salient. People want to experience order, predictability and control in their lives. These needs can be fulfilled by the family and society (e.g. police, schools, business and medical care).

For example, emotional security, financial security (e.g. employment, social welfare), law and order, freedom from fear, social stability, property, health and wellbeing (e.g. safety against accidents and injury).

3. Love and belongingness needs - after physiological and safety needs have been fulfilled, the third level of human needs is social and involves feelings of belongingness. Belongingness, refers to a human emotional need for interpersonal relationships, affiliating, connectedness, and being part of a group.

Examples of belongingness needs include friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance, receiving and giving affection, and love.

4. Esteem needs are the fourth level in Maslow's hierarchy and include self-worth, accomplishement and respect. Maslow classified esteem needs into two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii) the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige).

Maslow indicated that the need for respect or reputation is most important for children and adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or dignity.

5. Self-actualization needs are the highest level in Maslow's hierarchy, and refer to the realization of a person's potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. Maslow (1943) describes this level as the desire to accomplish everything that one can, to become the most that one can be.

Individuals may perceive or focus on this need very specifically. For example, one individual may have a strong desire to become an ideal parent. In another, the desire may be expressed economically, academically or athletically. For others, it may be expressed creatively, in paintings, pictures, or inventions.

Maslow posited that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy:

"It is quite true that man lives by bread alone - when there is no bread. But what happens to man's desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled?

At once other (and "higher") needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still "higher") needs emerge and so on. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency" (Maslow, 1943, p. 375).

Maslow continued to refine his theory based on the concept of a hierarchy of needs over several decades (Maslow, 1943, 1962, 1987).

Regarding the structure of his hierarchy, Maslow (1987) proposed that the order in the hierarchy "is not nearly as rigid" (p. 68) as he may have implied in his earlier description.

Maslow noted that the order of needs might be flexible based on external circumstances or individual differences. For example, he notes that for some individuals, the need for self-esteem is more important than the need for love. For others, the need for creative fulfillment may supersede even the most basic needs.

Maslow (1987) also pointed out that most behavior is multi-motivated and noted that "any behavior tends to be determined by several or all of the basic needs simultaneously rather than by only one of them" (p. 71).

Hierarchy of needs summary

(a) human beings are motivated by a hierarchy of needs.

(b) needs are organized in a hierarchy of prepotency in which more basic needs must be more or less met (rather than all or none) prior to higher needs.

(c) the order of needs is not rigid but instead may be flexible based on external circumstances or individual differences.

(d) most behavior is multi-motivated, that is, simultaneously determined by more than one basic need.

The expanded hierarchy of needs

It is important to note that Maslow's (1943, 1954) five-stage model has been expanded to include cognitive and aesthetic needs (Maslow, 1970a) and later transcendence needs (Maslow, 1970b).

Changes to the original five-stage model are highlighted and include a seven-stage model and an eight-stage model; both developed during the 1960s and 1970s.

1. Biological and physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.

3. Love and belongingness needs - friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love. Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).

4. Esteem needs - which Maslow classified into two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii) the need to be accepted and valued by others (e.g., status, prestige).

5. Cognitive needs - knowledge and understanding, curiosity, exploration, need for meaning and predictability.

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. A desire "to become everything one is capable of becoming"(Maslow, 1987, p. 64).

8. Transcendence needs - A person is motivated by values which transcend beyond the personal self (e.g., mystical experiences and certain experiences with nature, aesthetic experiences, sexual experiences, service to others, the pursuit of science, religious faith, etc.).

Self-actualization

Instead of focusing on psychopathology and what goes wrong with people, Maslow (1943) formulated a more positive account of human behavior which focused on what goes right. He was interested in human potential, and how we fulfill that potential.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that human motivation is based on people seeking fulfillment and change through personal growth. Self-actualized people are those who were fulfilled and doing all they were capable of.

The growth of self-actualization (Maslow, 1962) refers to the need for personal growth and discovery that is present throughout a person's life. For Maslow, a person is always 'becoming' and never remains static in these terms. In self-actualization, a person comes to find a meaning to life that is important to them.

As each individual is unique, the motivation for self-actualization leads people in different directions (Kenrick et al., 2010). For some people self-actualization can be achieved through creating works of art or literature, for others through sport, in the classroom, or within a corporate setting.

Maslow (1962) believed self-actualization could be measured through the concept of peak experiences. This occurs when a person experiences the world totally for what it is, and there are feelings of euphoria, joy, and wonder.

It is important to note that self-actualization is a continual process of becoming rather than a perfect state one reaches of a 'happy ever after' (Hoffman, 1988).

Maslow offers the following description of self-actualization:

'It refers to the person's desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially.

The specific form that these needs will take will of course vary greatly from person to person. In one individual it may take the form of the desire to be an ideal mother, in another it may be expressed athletically, and in still another it may be expressed in painting pictures or in inventions' (Maslow, 1943, p. 382-383).

Characteristics of self-actualized people

Although we are all, theoretically, capable of self-actualizing, most of us will not do so, or only to a limited degree. Maslow (1970) estimated that only two percent of people would reach the state of self-actualization.

He was especially interested in the characteristics of people whom he considered to have achieved their potential as individuals.

By studying 18 people he considered to be self-actualized (including Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein) Maslow (1970) identified 15 characteristics of a self-actualized person.

Characteristics of self-actualizers:

1. They perceive reality efficiently and can tolerate uncertainty;

2. Accept themselves and others for what they are;

3. Spontaneous in thought and action;

4. Problem-centered (not self-centered);

5. Unusual sense of humor;

6. Able to look at life objectively;

7. Highly creative;

8. Resistant to enculturation, but not purposely unconventional;

9. Concerned for the welfare of humanity;

10. Capable of deep appreciation of basic life-experience;

11. Establish deep satisfying interpersonal relationships with a few people;

12. Peak experiences;

13. Need for privacy;

14. Democratic attitudes;

15. Strong moral/ethical standards.

Behavior leading to self-actualization:

(a) Experiencing life like a child, with full absorption and concentration;

(b) Trying new things instead of sticking to safe paths;

(c) Listening to your own feelings in evaluating experiences instead of the voice of tradition, authority or the majority;

(d) Avoiding pretense ('game playing') and being honest;

(e) Being prepared to be unpopular if your views do not coincide with those of the majority;

(f) Taking responsibility and working hard;

(g) Trying to identify your defenses and having the courage to give them up.

The characteristics of self-actualizers and the behaviors leading to self-actualization are shown in the list above. Although people achieve self-actualization in their own unique way, they tend to share certain characteristics. However, self-actualization is a matter of degree, 'There are no perfect human beings' (Maslow,1970a, p. 176).

It is not necessary to display all 15 characteristics to become self-actualized, and not only self-actualized people will display them.

Maslow did not equate self-actualization with perfection. Self-actualization merely involves achieving one's potential. Thus, someone can be silly, wasteful, vain and impolite, and still self-actualize. Less than two percent of the population achieve self-actualization.

Educational applications

Maslow's (1962) hierarchy of needs theory has made a major contribution to teaching and classroom management in schools. Rather than reducing behavior to a response in the environment, Maslow (1970a) adopts a holistic approach to education and learning.

Maslow looks at the complete physical, emotional, social, and intellectual qualities of an individual and how they impact on learning.

Applications of Maslow's hierarchy theory to the work of the classroom teacher are obvious. Before a student's cognitive needs can be met, they must first fulfill their basic physiological needs.

For example, a tired and hungry student will find it difficult to focus on learning. Students need to feel emotionally and physically safe and accepted within the classroom to progress and reach their full potential.

Maslow suggests students must be shown that they are valued and respected in the classroom, and the teacher should create a supportive environment. Students with a low self-esteem will not progress academically at an optimum rate until their self-esteem is strengthened.

Maslow (1971, p. 195) argued that a humanistic educational approach would develop people who are "stronger, healthier, and would take their own lives into their hands to a greater extent. With increased personal responsibility for one's personal life, and with a rational set of values to guide one's choosing, people would begin to actively change the society in which they lived".

Critical evaluation

The most significant limitation of Maslow's theory concerns his methodology. Maslow formulated the characteristics of self-actualized individuals from undertaking a qualitative method called biographical analysis.

He looked at the biographies and writings of 18 people he identified as being self-actualized. From these sources, he developed a list of qualities that seemed characteristic of this specific group of people, as opposed to humanity in general.

From a scientific perspective, there are numerous problems with this particular approach. First, it could be argued that biographical analysis as a method is extremely subjective as it is based entirely on the opinion of the researcher. Personal opinion is always prone to bias, which reduces the validity of any data obtained. Therefore Maslow's operational definition of self-actualization must not be blindly accepted as scientific fact.

Furthermore, Maslow's biographical analysis focused on a biased sample of self-actualized individuals, prominently limited to highly educated white males (such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, William James, Aldous Huxley, Beethoven).

Although Maslow (1970) did study self-actualized females, such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Mother Teresa, they comprised a small proportion of his sample. This makes it difficult to generalize his theory to females and individuals from lower social classes or different ethnicity. Thus questioning the population validity of Maslow's findings.

Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to empirically test Maslow's concept of self-actualization in a way that causal relationships can be established.

Another criticism concerns Maslow's assumption that the lower needs must be satisfied before a person can achieve their potential and self-actualize. This is not always the case, and therefore Maslow's hierarchy of needs in some aspects has been falsified.

Through examining cultures in which large numbers of people live in poverty (such as India), it is clear that people are still capable of higher order needs such as love and belongingness. However, this should not occur, as according to Maslow, people who have difficulty achieving very basic physiological needs (such as food, shelter, etc.) are not capable of meeting higher growth needs.

Also, many creative people, such as authors and artists (e.g., Rembrandt and Van Gogh) lived in poverty throughout their lifetime, yet it could be argued that they achieved self-actualization.

by higher growth needs at the same time as lower level deficiency needs (Wahba & Bridwell, 1973).

Contemporary research by Tay and Diener (2011) has tested Maslow's theory by analyzing the data of 60,865 participants from 123 countries, representing every major region of the world. The survey was conducted from 2005 to 2010.

Respondents answered questions about six needs that closely resemble those in Maslow's model: basic needs (food, shelter); safety; social needs (love, support); respect; mastery; and autonomy. They also rated their well-being across three discrete measures: life evaluation (a person's view of his or her life as a whole), positive feelings (day-to-day instances of joy or pleasure), and negative feelings (everyday experiences of sorrow, anger, or stress).

The results of the study support the view that universal human needs appear to exist regardless of cultural differences. However, the ordering of the needs within the hierarchy was not correct.

"Although the most basic needs might get the most attention when you don't have them," Diener explains, "you don't need to fulfill them in order to get benefits [from the others]." Even when we are hungry, for instance, we can be happy with our friends. "They're like vitamins," Diener says about how the needs work independently. "We need them all."

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APA (6th) Style References

Hoffman, E. (1988). The right to be human: A biography of Abraham Maslow. Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy P. Tarcher.

Kenrick, D. T., Neuberg, S. L., Griskevicius, V., Becker, D. V., & Schaller, M. (2010). Goal-driven cognition and functional behavior: The fundamental-motives framework. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(1), 63-67.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-96.

Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper and Row.

Maslow, A. H. (1962). Toward a psychology of being. Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Company.

Maslow, A. H. (1970a). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row.

Maslow, A. H. (1970b). Religions, values, and peak experiences. New York: Penguin. (Original work published 1966)

Maslow, A. H. (1987). Motivation and personality (3rd ed.). Delhi, India: Pearson Education.

Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective well-being around the world. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 354-356.

Wahba, M. A., & Bridwell, L. G. (1976). Maslow reconsidered: A review of research on the need hierarchy theory. Organizational behavior and human performance, 15(2), 212-240.

Wulff, D. M., & Maslow, A. H. (1965). Religions, values, and peak-experiences. The Journal of Higher Education, 36(4), 235.

Hierarchy of Needs and Nursing

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Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulifil the next one, and so on. Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization.

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Ivy Weston's Coping Mechanisms to her Stressful Enviornment

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Ivy Weston's Coping Mechanisms to her Stressful Enviornment

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Some coping mechanisms Ivy notably uses based on the article:
-Aim inhibition:lowering sights to what seems more achievable
-Dissociation:Separating oneself from parts of your life, Ivy does not want to deal with her mother's addiction battle any longer, wants to relieve herself of all her obligations to take care of her mother.
-Distancing:Moving away, Ivy makes the choice to move to New York with Little Charles to escape her harmful domestic life.
-Idealization:Playing up the good points and ignoring limitations of things desired, Ivy believes that going to New York is the best decision, but did not determine how her mother will be taken care of.
-Intellectualization: Avoiding emotion by focusing on facts and logic, When Ivy believes that her family are only connected by cells, might seem harsh but it is the reality. This mindset indicates that Ivy strove for the connection for so long but lost hope, having a more cynical attitude.

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Explanations > Behaviors > Coping Mechanisms

We are complex animals living complex lives in which we are not always able to cope with the difficulties that we face. As a result, we are subject to feelings of tension and stress, for example the cognitive dissonance and potential shame of doing something outside our values. To handle this discomfort we use various coping methods.

Here are coping mechanisms by type:

Here is a full list of coping mechanisms:

Other articles on coping:

To help people cope, find ways to let them safely let go of the stress that they experience or gain a greater understanding of the situation.

Remember that coping actions are usually symptoms of deeper problems and addressing them directly can be ineffective or even counter-productive. The best approach is to discover the deeper cause and address this, which will hopefully then result in the coping mechanism disappearing.

Be aware of your own coping mechanisms and move to more functional means of managing stress.

If you are using deliberate theatrical methods during persuasion, feigning a coping mechanism makes it harder for the other person to broach an apparently stressful situation for you.

See also

Defense Mechanisms, Theories about how we handle discomfort, Theories about resistance, Concepts in psychoanalysis, The K?ler-Ross grief cycle, Games, Resisting persuasion, Personality Disorders, Blame, Lying

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Explanations > Behaviors > Coping Mechanisms We are complex animals living complex lives in which we are not always able to cope with the difficulties that we face. As a result, we are subject to feelings of tension and stress, for example the cognitive dissonance and potential shame of doing something outside our values.

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Broadway.com's  August Osage County: (Ivy Weston)

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Broadway.com's  August Osage County: (Ivy Weston)

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-Important Points I took from the video:
-Ivy Weston was the strongest in the family, endured Violet's wrath by herself
-In her heart of hearts wants to be in love and loved in return
-Never developed a sense of self
-"still water runs deep":a quiet manner may conceal a more passionate nature

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Ivy Weston's unexpected parallels with Jean Fordham

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Ivy Weston's unexpected parallels with Jean Fordham

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Two characters you would not initially believe have a link would be Jean and Ivy.   One parallel is that they both take care of their mothers, who are abusive to them.  Both Barbara and Violet have been guilty of degrading their kids and making them feel less than, like Jean's meat fear talk during the dinner scene and Violet ragging on Ivy's natural face.  Another parallel is that Ivy and Jean are both outsiders in their families longing for credibility and an affirmation of identity.  Jean, wanting to be treated like an adult, does everything she can to relate to the adults, Ivy wanting to build her own identity wants to move away from her mother. An additional parallel you can draw is that Ivy and Jean both have a better relationship with their fathers, Beverly and Bill. Both pairs share similar thoughts, thus making them more likely to get along.

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Julianne Nicholson's On-Set Interview about Playing Ivy

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Julianne Nicholson's On-Set Interview about Playing Ivy

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This video gives the perspective of the actress who played Ivy in the film.  What I took from this video:
-Ivy was the type of character who felt burdened by her responsibilities
-Ivy felt put-upon to take care of her family

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August: Osage County: Julianne Nicholson "Ivy Weston" On Set Movie Interview | ScreenSlam

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- Important points I took away:
-In pain there is humor, pain is not just bleak
-The question brought up in this play, "are we condemned to who who become because of our childhoods, could we change?

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1. August Osage County was the third Letts play to be adapted on the big screen.
2. August Osage County made its Broadway debut in December 2007 with Dennis Letts, Tracy Letts' father playing Beverly.
3. A lot of the play was filmed in the actual Osage County (Pawhuska, Oklahoma),designers redecorated and refurnished everything in the Victorian house used for filming.
4. The cast stayed in the rooms of their respective characters, to get a feel for the enviornment.
5. The cast rented a condo complex in Bartlesville, about 40 minutes east of Pawhuska because Meryl Streep believed it would be beneficial for them to live together while filming.

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The Weinstein Company

No skeleton is left in the closet-and no scenery is left unchewed-in this dish-smashing drama about a dysfunctional family, the Westons, in rural Oklahoma.

When the Weston patriarch (Sam Shepard) goes missing, his three daughters reunite at their childhood home to attend to their cancer-stricken mother, Violet ( Meryl Streep).

Hardly a shrinking Violet, the vitriolic matriarch launches verbal assaults as frequently as she pops Percocet and Xanax. Violet's most contentious battles are with eldest daughter Barbara ( Julia Roberts), who has her own issues with hubby Bill ( Ewan McGregor) and daughter Jean ( Abigail Breslin)-and worries she'll turn into a monster like her mother.

Before hanging with mommy dearest and the whacked-out Weston clan, check out these five facts:

Letts Make a Movie: The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tracy Letts. August is the third Letts play to be adapted for the big screen, following Killer Joe (with Matthew McConaughey as a contract killer) and Bug (with Ashley Judd dating a psycho drifter). Both were directed by The Exorcist's William Friedkin, but August is helmed by former West Wing and ER exec producer John Wells, whose only other feature directorial effort was The Company Men with Ben Affleck.

Stage and Screen: August made its Broadway debut in December 2007 after premiering at Chicago's legendary Steppenwolf Theatre earlier that year. Tracy Letts' late father, Dennis Letts, originated the Weston patriarch role in both productions, and now Shepard (Steppenwolf's most produced playwright) plays the part in the film. Letts is an actor as well - he won a Tony for his portrayal of George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and recently appeared as Andrew Lockhart in Showtime's Homeland.

Old and New Family: Wells reteams with ER alum George Clooney, who serves as one of the film's producers. Wells had also worked with some of his cast before, including Julianne Nicholson (who plays Violet's daughter Ivy) and Chris Cooper (who plays Violet's brother-in-law, Charlie). He wasn't terribly familiar with Benedict Cumberbatch's work, so the actor submitted a videotaped audition that looked like it had been recorded on a cell phone. Wells thought Cumberbatch's reading was moving and funny and cast him-without a meeting-as Charlie's son, Little Charles.

A Hollywood Makeover in the Midwest: Much of August was filmed in Pawhuska, Oklahoma (in the real Osage County), at a five-bedroom Victorian house the production purchased. Designers redecorated and refurnished everything from the wallpaper to the rugs to every piece of cutlery in the drawers and every spice bottle in the cabinets. During the rehearsal process, cast members spent a lot of time in the house and even stayed in their characters' rooms, which-according to Wells-affected the way the actors interacted with their surroundings on film.

The Family That Eats Together... Streep suggested the actors live together during the shoot, so they took up residence at a condo complex in Bartlesville, about 40 minutes east of Pawhuska. Streep and Margo Martindale, who plays Violet's sister, frequently hosted evening potlucks for their costars. (Perhaps Streep prepared some of Julia Child's dishes?) Coincidentally, one of the centerpieces of the August script is a 19-page dinner table scene in which Violet verbally shreds everyone with glee, an act she calls "truth telling." Bon appétit!

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August: Osage County Starring Meryl Streep & Julia Roberts: 5 Things You Should Know - E! Online

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The Weinstein Company No skeleton is left in the closet-and no scenery is left unchewed-in this dish-smashing drama about a dysfunctional family, the Westons, in rural Oklahoma. When the Weston patriarch (Sam Shepard) goes missing, his three daughters reunite at their childhood home to attend to their cancer-stricken mother, Violet ( Meryl Streep).

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Top Critic Comments:
-"It is often hard to know if one is laughing at intentional jokes or bad writing, but the sheer couch-chewing craziness of the enterprise certainly sets it apart"-Donald Clarke(Irish Times)
-"This is a movie about crummy mummies in which everyone looks their age. That will strike many as a downer but I was left wanting more"-Charlotte O'Sullivan(London Evening Standard)
-"As a character-driven drama, the film is largely uneventful and dragging, though the familial complications continue to intensify."-Mike Massie (Gone with the Twins)
-"Minor flaws aside, August: Osage County is uncomfortable and irritating and brash and bold."-Richard Propes (TheIndependentCritic.com)
Top Audience Comments:
-"August: Osage County is a heartbreaking account of the downfall of a family. Based on the play by Tracy Letts', the film is gripping and well-acted, but certainly not everyone's cup of tea"
-"It's all fine until the deep dark secrets (so to speak) begin to come out. If only they were convincing enough. The tragedies keep on mounting, but it's hardly effective as I couldn't care enough for any of the characters. May have been better if they'd cared to execute the plot in a way that the twists and shocks felt genuine. Yet, for what it is, a single viewing shouldn't be fatal. In fact, I found it to be a relatively better means of time pass"

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2013, Drama/Comedy, 1h 59m
206 Reviews 25,000+ Ratings

critics consensus

The sheer amount of acting going on in August: Osage County threatens to overwhelm, but when the actors involved are as talented as Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, it's difficult to complain. Read critic reviews

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Movie Info

The death and funeral of their father brings three sisters to the home of their mother, Violet (Meryl Streep), an acid-tongued, pill-popping cancer patient. Daughters Barbara (Julia Roberts), Karen (Juliette Lewis) and Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) -- along with their significant others and various other kin -- take the full brunt of their dysfunctional matriarch's venom, for Violet tells every one of them exactly what she thinks of them. Based on the play by Tracy Letts.

The percentage of Approved Tomatometer Critics who have given this movie a positive review

The percentage of users who rated this 3.5 stars or higher.

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The death and funeral of their father brings three sisters to the home of their mother, Violet (Meryl Streep), an acid-tongued, pill-popping cancer patient. Daughters Barbara (Julia Roberts), Karen (Juliette Lewis) and Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) -- along with their significant others and various other kin -- take the full brunt of their dysfunctional matriarch's venom, for Violet tells every one of them exactly what she thinks of them.

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August Osage County by Zach Theatre Performance Review

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August Osage County by Zach Theatre Performance Review

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-described the play as one " gripping extended battle, a sort of lengthy, determined knife fight"
-The dialogue "pops and cracks like a loose high tension wire"
-"Letts makes you care about each of them, even the most flawed"
-does not necessarily like Letts, believes he is a "nihilist whose message is that our American culture is rotting at its heart.  He's a man of black humors entertaining us in a wasteland."

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Review: August: Osage County by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs

Director Dave Steakley proves that with a first-rate cast and a gifted scenic designer he can turn Tracey Letts' savage misanthropy into a mesmerizing long evening in the theatre.

That's no modest achievement. The last -- and first -- Letts work I saw was Capital T Theatre's Killer Joe, which I found violent and obscene. Not in the sexual sense, but because Letts took such evident pleasure in degrading his working-class characters. Perhaps Letts is easier to stomach in the Westons' modestly affluent middle-class home than in the trailer park setting of Killer Joe.

Things fall apart in both places. Or, abjuring Yeats since in the opening scene Letts has the patriarch, retired literature professor Beverly Weston, ramble to the uncomprehending new housekeeper about T.S. Eliot, each play is set in a wasteland populated with hollow men. And while we're dealing with symbolism, let's get the housekeeper out of the way. Johnna Monevata is a simple, good-hearted full-blooded Indian -- a native American -- so we can see her as the authentic antithesis to the drug- and alcohol-soaked psycho Weston family that symbolizes the contemporary Anglo heartland.

You won't see Michael Holmes again until the curtain call, for patriarch Beverly Weston disappears, causing confusion and alarm. After he has been missing for four days, plain-Jane stay-at-home sister Ivy (Irene White) calls her two sisters as well as Aunt Mattie Fae and Uncle Charlie. All converge on the expansive, bourgeois triple-level set crafted by Zach's Michael Raiford, complete with a mechanical chair on a track by the staircase, allowing tottering mom Violet to get downstairs.

The Zach jocularly calls it "one bitch of a family reunion." I call it a gripping extended battle, a sort of lengthy, determined knife fight, in which drug-dazed Violet (Lana Dieterich) and her embittered sister Mattie Fae (Janelle Buchanan) are the chief protagonists.

I don't mean that they're the protagonists of the action. The Weston clan comprises 11 members in three generations, a cast ample enough for us to thank the Zach for providing a family tree with photographic portraits so that we can understand the relationships as the metaphorical blades flash and the sparks fly. It takes a while for us to sort it out, even so, and to understand that the central character here is eldest daughter Barbara, played with appalled energy by Austin's favorite middle-aged honey blonde, Lauren Lane.

The women in this family are the ones who count, for the men are mostly ciphers or, frankly, negative numbers. Letts inverts the relationships among the female Westons. Mom Vy and Aunt Mattie Fae are mean and as immature as kindergardners, while Lauren Lane as responsible daughter Barbara is obliged to manage the erupting chaos and catastrophe. Her husband Bill (Chris Gibson) has left her for a college student but accompanies her on this family visit, the first return in many years; her daughterJean (Corley Pillsbury) is an adorably pert purple-haired 15-year-old looking for trouble. Sister Ivy is a stay-at-home wallflower, thoroughly under the thumb of her mother Vy, while younger sister Karen (Ellie Archer) is a ditz dating Steve Heidbrecht, a despicable smooth-talking lascivious son of a bitch (Greg Baglia).

These folks are severely centifugal, and only a crisis can bring them momentarily together. As in most family reunions, each has a story to tell or to confess. Shared memories are elicited and old hurts resurrected. Tracy Letts is a fine craftsman here, building the plot and that family edifice for us and furnishing them with some horrific trap doors and hidden rooms. The dialogue pops and cracks like a loose high tension wire. Some is vicious, some is vulgar, some is obscenely funny (for example, the sisters' extended discussion of Vy's propensity to stash her beloved little pills within her private parts).

You don't like these people, but you recognize them as individuals, subject to impossible disadvantages of upbringing, anger or personal weakness. Letts makes you care about each of them, even the most flawed. An additional quick kick is seeing Chris Gibson and Lauren Lane again paired as husband and wife, as they were in Becky's New Car last July. Here the dynamic is completely different, better grounded, presenting a full story in itself.

Director Steakley sets a flashing pace for these three lengthy acts -- starting at 7:30 p.m. and letting out at about 10:45 p.m. -- and wraps you up so tightly that you don't realize that time has passed. There are plenty of disasters on order here, including a long-suppressed secret that whipsaws the two most vulnerable members of the clan. There's only one tragedy: the fact that oldest sister Barbara is, against her will, both forced to assume the worst character traits of her vicious and violent mother and is simultaneously deprived of all support and affection. Again, just as her mother.

How can you be a matriarch if you're out of your head on downers and mind-altering drugs? Lana Dieterich in the role of Violet is de facto now an odds-on favorite for a B. Iden Payne nomination and award for Austin's best actress in a drama. Her glittering eyes, petite frame, foul mouth and disdainful mien constantly shock, and she brings this character through a wrenching series of transformations: euphoria, disregard, aggression, despair, celebration, even eventually a tired dignity that gives way first to indifference, then to panic, and finally to a regression to childhood.

Only two characters here are simple and pure of heart: Johnna the housekeeper (Kendra Perez, in a straightforward performance of great strength) and the eternally put-upon, gentle and whimsical Uncle Charlie (our favorite big Michael Stuart, who has a wonderful moment of transformation toward the end, drawing applause from the audience).

No, I don't like Tracy Letts. It occurred to me that plenty of folks had a similar reaction to Tennessee Williams, a playwright now generally accepted as one of our very best. Both men write about extremes, about characters who are at the ends of their ropes, many of whom are flawed or frankly debauched. I wondered for a moment if I had unknowingly drifted into that reactionary impulse generally assumed to characterize the over-55 crowd.

Tennessee Williams created characters suffering great disappointments. Their dreams had been crushed, but they'd had those hopes, those dreams, going up to the mountains and glimpsing the possibilities. Williams was a dour idealist. Letts, in contrast, is a nihilist whose message is that our American culture is rotting at its heart. He's a man of black humors entertaining us in a wasteland.
Review by Georgia Young for austinist.com, April 7 Review by Cate Blouke for the Statesman's Austin360 "Seeing Things" blog, April 8 Review by Avimaan Syam for the Austin Chronicle, April 22 Review by Ryan E. Johnson at examiner.com, April 22 Review by Olin Meadows for AustinOnStage.com, April 27 (with six bite-back commentaries, including notes from UT playwright Johnny Meyers, actress Meredith McCall and actor Tom Parker)
I don't buy that message, but it makes for a hell of an evening in the theatre.

EXTRA

Click to view excerpts from the Zach Theatre's program for August: Osage County

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Review: August: Osage County by Zach Theatre

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Director Dave Steakley proves that with a first-rate cast and a gifted scenic designer he can turn Tracey Letts' savage misanthropy into a mesmerizing long evening in the theatre. That's no modest achievement. The last -- and first -- Letts work I saw was Capital T Theatre's Killer Joe, which I found violent and obscene.

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TheatreinChicago.com August Osage County Performance Review

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TheatreinChicago.com August Osage County Performance Review

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Top Critic Comments:
-"...Tracy Letts' poignant, emotionally raw, autobiographical drama offers much unpredictable laughter, but by the final scene, after the smoke clears away, you will find a few tears have trickled down your cheek. This production should not be missed because it may never come this way again with such force and perfection."-Colin Douglas
-"...If you are a devoted fan, rest assured that this incarnation of your beloved play is not only in great hands but also is a remarkable success in and of itself. If you are a newcomer to this theatrical phenomenon, you will leave the theater completely satiated with the complex, hysterical, emotional catastrophe that is August: Osage County."-Venus Zarris

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August: Osage County

Cadillac Palace Theatre

Average Rating based on 9 reviews

Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended

Chris Jones

Chicago Sun Times- Recommended

Hedy Weiss

Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended

Tony Adler

Centerstage- Highly Recommended

Colin Douglas

Chicago Stage Review- Highly Recommended

Venus Zarris

Time Out Chicago- Highly Recommended

Kris Vire

ChicagoCritic- Highly Recommended

Tom Williams

Chicago Stage Standard- Highly Recommended

Al Bresloff

Chicago Theater Beat- Highly Recommended

Barry Eitel

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August: Osage County Reviews - Theatre In Chicago - Play Reviews

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August: Osage County Cadillac Palace Theatre Average Rating based on 9 reviews Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended Chris Jones Chicago Sun Times- Recommended Hedy Weiss Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended Tony Adler Centerstage- Highly Recommended Colin Douglas Chicago Stage Review- Highly Recommended Venus Zarris Time Out Chicago- Highly Recommended Kris Vire ChicagoCritic- Highly Recommended Tom Williams Chicago Stage Standard- Highly Recommended Al Bresloff Chicago Theater Beat- Highly Recommended Barry Eitel

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NPR.org August Osage County Performance Review

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NPR.org August Osage County Performance Review

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-"peering in on intimate moments that nobody should witness, even if they are part of the conversation"
-"their staginess works, though, because his characters seem trapped within their own dire lives just as much as if they were locked within the limited space of a theater."
-"Theatricality makes sense because every member of this cast is a walking, talking open wound."
-"We don't need intrusively sad music to clue us in about how sad these lives are. We don't need blandly pretty landscape shots to act as contrast to the ugliness elsewhere onscreen. Letts arms his characters with words as weapons, and William Friedkin's prior Letts adaptations let them retain their raw destructive power"

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August: Osage County

"We shouldn't be here."

That's the sense you get watching August: Osage County -- that you're peering in on moments so intimate and painful that no one should witness them, perhaps not even those who are a part of it.

In fact, that's what many characters in the movie - an adaptation of Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning play - decide for themselves. They don't want to be part of it, either. In this story of an uncomfortable family reunion, time is marked by cars pulling out of their dusty Oklahoma driveway at regular intervals, never to be seen again.

The impetus for the gathering is the disappearance of Beverly (Sam Shepard), patriarch, poet and alcoholic. His wife, Violet (Meryl Streep), suffering from oral cancer and perpetually high on a laundry list of sedatives and painkillers, calls on her sister and her three daughters, along with their various significant others, to come to her aid during the developing crisis. And with everyone under one roof, years of family dysfunction come to bloom at the end of her cruel, pill-addled tongue.

Letts reworked his own play for the screen, as he also has done in recent years for adaptations of his plays Bug and Killer Joe, and the dialogue - harsh, blackly comic, filled with exchanges of sulfuric intensity - is of a piece with those works.

Interestingly, the writer doesn't bother making these screen ventures hugely distinct from their stage inspirations; their staginess works, though, because his characters seem trapped within their own dire lives just as much as if they were locked within the limited space of a theater.

And theatricality makes a kind of sense, really; these are lives lived without any letup from the heightened drama. Every member of this cast is a walking, talking open wound.

Eldest daughter Barbara (Julia Roberts) is separated from her philandering husband Bill (Ewan MacGregor), and can't relate to her teenage daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin). Put-upon middle daughter Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) is conducting a secret relationship the family wouldn't approve of, desperately seeking to escape Oklahoma and her mother. Airheaded youngest daughter Karen (Juliette Lewis) is engaged to a Ferrari-driving, thrice-divorced sleazebag (Dermot Mulroney).

Everyone here has pain, everyone has secrets, and while we join these characters for a short time, it's easy to see that the cycles of lies, distrust, and abuse go back for generations, clinging to this family like the hot summer dust of the empty plains that surround them.

Director John Wells, a TV veteran directing his second feature, is at his best when he's invisible. When he steps back and lets this formidable cast act their hearts out, the movie is a deeply affecting - and disturbing - storm of complicated emotions.

Roberts is especially impressive - bitter, broken, relatively restrained until a rage and profanity-filled climax lets out a lifetime of resentment. Chris Cooper is absolutely essential as the audience surrogate, reaching the end of his rope after 38 years of involvement with the family; he delivers perhaps the best monologue in the movie, wondering why there's such a dearth of respect, kindness or basic decency in this house. But everyone here is uniformly exceptional, even if Streep could stand to dial back her swinging-for-the-fences performance just a notch.

Letts' drama is built to leave the viewer uneasy and dissatisfied; don't expect all or even most of those wounds to heal, either during the movie or ever in these characters' lifetimes. But despite the standout performances, the film itself leaves one wanting as well, in ways that Letts likely didn't intend.

When Wells doesn't remain invisible, he steps in mostly to blunt the impact of the nonstop trauma onscreen. Some might welcome a little salve, but it runs counter to the harsh, uncompromising honesty of Letts' work. We don't need intrusively sad music to clue us in about how sad these lives are. We don't need blandly pretty landscape shots to act as contrast to the ugliness elsewhere onscreen. Letts arms his characters with words as weapons, and William Friedkin's prior Letts adaptations let them retain their raw destructive power.

This film, a little too often, feels calculated to dull those verbal blades for awards-season palatability; when things get bad, Wells comes in again with a directorial "There, there, it'll be OK." But in Osage County, Okla., things are very much not OK.

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In 'Osage County,' A Family Consuming Itself

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August: Osage County "We shouldn't be here." That's the sense you get watching August: Osage County -- that you're peering in on moments so intimate and painful that no one should witness them, perhaps not even those who are a part of it.