How I Learned to Drive

This was a very interesting play. It was the first play I have read that deals with such a controversial issue like pedophilia. However, as most of us in society condemn pedophilia and think that people who commit this crime should be locked away forever, or maybe even given the death sentence, I feel that Vogel's view makes us feel less sympathetic toward Lil Bit and less condemning of Uncle Peck.

How Vogel accomplishes this is through making Lil Bit and Uncle Peck's relationship seem more like a romantic relationship than an adult man who has a weird fetish of having sex with underage girls. This is shown throughout the play in many ways. First off, Lil Bit and Uncle Peck never actually have sexual intercourse. I feel that if this play wanted to condemn people who committed pedophilia, Vogel would have had Uncle Peck force Lil Bit into having sex with him. However, Uncle Peck consistently tells Lil Bet that he is willing to wait until she is ready, almost like a regular relationship between a boyfriend and girlfriend where the boyfriend is not a virgin while the girlfriend is, and the guy wants to have sex with her but respects her wishes. Another point which makes Uncle Peck seem less like a pedophile is the fact that he is always there for her and seems to truly care about her well being. When Lil Bit has scuffles with her family, Uncle Peck is there to make it all better. He also teaches her how to drive and sticks up for her when she says she wants to go to college and learn something and her family says that she is only good for becoming a wife, having sex, and raising children.

Top Girls

I think that Act 2 Scene 2 is a good example of Churchill trying to achieve critical distance. In this scene there are two girls, Kit and Angie. Kit is only 12 years old and Angie is 16. They are both hanging out in the backyard and are bored with nothing to do. They talk about watching The Exterminator and whether they can get into x rated movies and then Angie talks about being able to move things. Then all of a sudden Angie says "mind my hair you silly cunt" and Kit says "stupid fucking cow, I hate you". This really made me take a step back and ask questions because I was really surprised to see girls this young using such disturbing language. It makes me ask myself what kind of an environment these girls grew up in that they call each other such names. Right after Angie says, "I'm going to kill my mother and you're going to watch". Whoa. That is a pretty weird statement.  If you're going to kill somebody for revenge why would you kill your own mother? Wouldn't you want to murder someone that is close to the person you're trying to get revenge on? Then Angie says that she is a cannibal and that she is going to turn into a vampire right now. Okay, this scene just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I don't even know what to say to that comment. I mean I can understand the vampire part because they are talking about blood but becoming a cannibal? If someone heard you say that I'm sure you would be sent away to receive some sort of therapy.