Searching for Meaning in a Chaotic World: An Analysis of Tina Howe’s Birth and After Birth

This paper deals with Tina Howe’s play Birth and After Birth as an absurd work. The aim is to harbor on meaning out of the chaotic life of the characters in the play. Topics like motherhood, archetypes, domestic abuse and social bias are discussed in this paper. The implementations of these topics help in shedding light on the motives behind the characters’ actions and consequently reach out to a better understanding of their behaviors and those of the American people in general. Howe’s work reflects the traditional life of a stereotypical American family during the 1970s, a life that is characterized by deterioration and lack of communication, social and personal dilemmas complicit to create a pessimistic and disintegrated world. Howe proposes two possible remedies to the shattered American life. One is the necessity and importance of keeping good familial ties, and second is love, for one’s self and others. By the end of the play, order is restored by the gathering of the loving family members.