The Shoe Horn Play Analysis

A unique visual message is the use of varied techniques to convey individual experiences such as those of women in the play ‘The Shoe Horn’, who were captured by Japanese during the World War II. In the play, the experiences of survival and power are conveyed through sound, symbols, projecting image, lighting, body language, and dialogue. Some of these distinctive experiences are outlined below.

Distinctive experiences of loss of power and control:

In scene eight of the play, there is the use of sound to portray the Japanese influence. Shiela states that they could hear them scream even as far as when by the fence and it was clear that it was not a human reverberation by them. The use of imagery and sound here has been put in place to show the mental image of Bridie blaring which unrests the audience. The screams reveal her increased suffering and the brutality of her kidnappers in not offering

In the scene, the soldiers are heard yelling out when they say “jump and go for it, jump and go for it.” This portrays the feeling of fear and urgency of what is being done by the Japanese if the prisoners fail to listen. It clears conveys the theme of power and survival that the soldiers possess. The sound technique is used to aid this when the loud yelling of a woman who jumps into the water is heard and impacts on the understanding of the audience of what is happening and how they have to react to this. Later, Bridie crowns the scene with irony when she states that “the women who had jumped floated quiet well-but the floating was because they had all died.” Visually, the use of irony here indicates the experience of survival as seen from Bridie and Sheila as the two had refused to jump. It also reveals the element of truth that prevailed as the character’s survival was one of living in fear, struggle, and