Maturing

Oftentimes, one finds themselves trying to blend in with others, to conform. Some people, often young adults, are trying to find their place in the world. When they come into a new group of friends or schoolmates, they fib their stories in order to fit in. Every human knows that one lie may easily lead into another. A righteous person would not mean for it to snowball up, but sometimes a story may get away from us. I remember fibbing when I was little, "Oh no, that's not my bike with a banana seat. I'm just borrowing it from the little girl down the street." Often, it's the shy, timid youth that haven't found their right place in society yet that feel the need to be embarrassed about what they're doing or who they really are. My memory was just embarrassment about a bike, but many others, I remember and still see today, were embarrassed, or even upset, at how unique, how smart, how shy, how poor, etc they were.

All of these memories of my own experiences, as well as my experiences of others growing up, were a sudden reality and hit when I read The Playboy of the Western World. It was a fantastic play to read and hits a lot of elements in society, good and bad. For example, the fact that the village and in the shebeen were happy to hear a story, because it seemed like a good story, when Christy killed his father. This disrupted me greatly; I was so confused at how so many people would be okay with Christy killing anybody, let alone his own father. This can be compared with the end of the play. Yes readers, I am going to spoil it for you...but please read it anyway! When the town sees Christy attempt to actually kill his father, they are going to hang him. It became reality because they saw it and thus it was wrong; however, it was okay before because it was just a good story.

Going right along with my experiences of people maturing and coming into terms with who they are and who they want to be as they find their own place in the world, The Playboy of the Western World showed the same reality. Christy built his own story up and it snowballed until it spun out of control and became lies that were eventually unraveled until he was left where he began, with nothing. In his head, telling the fib made him get the girl, center of attention for the crowds, and gain self-dignity and confidence. However, it was all torn away from him because of the lies.

This story has multiple aspects of it and many messages can be taken away. However, the biggest one, which many won't grasp until they are mature and old enough to look back upon experiences, is that to be yourself is the best possible way to find your place in the world. By pretending "it's not your bike" or that you killed someone, you're just digging yourself a hole that will need climbing out of. It is better and easier to be who you really are...inside and out.