Many Americans express a great fondness for Mayberry RFD. To them
it is the most idyllic town imaginable; almost no crime, no
drugs, everybody goes to church, and as free from major stress
and problems as possible. Dr. Cook's
Garden takes place in a town that is very similar,
Greenfield Center, Vermont.
The name of the town sort of fits with the title of the play. This place is the center of greenness. This is where growing things receive as much nourishment as possible. Occasionally, there are weeds that must be pulled.
Greenfield Center is a very fortunate town. There are no mean people in this town. And the residents seem to enjoy exceptional good health. The local populace attribute this to God's ever watchful eye and benevolent stewardship of their little hamlet.
Jim Tennyson grew up here. After his father died his new male role-model was Dr. Leonard Cook. If you were to ask the people of Greenfield Center who the most respected citizen in their town was, every last one of them would reply that it was Dr. Cook.
It was Dr. Cook who inspired young Jim Tennyson to leave town and go to medical school. The story deals with Dr. Jim Tennyson's first visit home after graduating medical school.
The play takes place in Dr. Cook's home, which also serves as his office. Jim is now almost the equal of Dr. Cook in medical knowledge, but that might not be a good thing. He begins to wonder if the man he has idolized might actually have a villainous side to him that the locals can not see.
We often hear people speak of the virtues of living in a small town. But almost all small towns have their dirty little secrets. Have you ever noticed there are no black people, no hispanic people, no Jewish people, no Arabic people, no Oriental people, and no atheists in Mayberry? Its sort like W.A.S.P. heaven. Maybe these people aren't as nice as they appear to be.
The first thing any type of animal does is form groups for purposes of task-sharing, procreation, and protection. The second thing they do is to start excluding anyone who doesn't look and behave like the rest of the group.
There are those who would say that Levin offers us only entertainment, but in this story he lifts the mask from an idyllic little community and asks us to analyze what perfection really is, who should decide what perfection is, and what price are we willing to pay for it. He provides us with no 'pat' answers, but he makes us think, and is that not the goal of all truly great writing?
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LEVIN DIRECTORY |
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