Reading Response Entry 1 (Week 5)

This is a response to the "West of Stupid" play by Cusi Cram. What Professor Davidson said to focus on was how the dialogue propels the story.
This aspect of the play is absolutely fascinating, because dialogue is what we have been focusing on in class and is the weakest part of most fiction. I know that I am terrible at writing dialogue, so I was reading ravenously, trying to find what I could steal.
I love how in the play Cram uses the character Jeff to keep the story propelled by asking his mother June questions. She just talks and talks and talks about anything on her mind, jumping from subject to subject avoiding the questions, but he keeps at her and ends up getting what he wants. This constant berating is seen in the part on page 90 where June keeps asking why her son is clenching his teeth. As readers, we know that there is something on his mind, but when he responds "Mrs. Franchetti," we know she is just a triggering subject, or excuse for what he really wants his mother to talk about...her fear of dying.
The way that Cram writes June's speech to dance around the question that her son is asking is amazing because the strength that her son was worried about her losing is seen in this stubbornness. I really want to make my dialogue hint at these character traits and feelings as well.