 Press Room:
The Kentucky Cycle
(Parts I & II)
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Themes of The Kentucky Cycle
Violence
Violence looms large in the text of The Kentucky Cycle. Every play
contains physical and emotional violence, or the threat of that violence.
Schenkkan wants to explore the role of violence in the shaping of American
history. Michael Rowen murdered, stole, and raped his way to a family
legacy. That legacy was continued with Patrick’s violence, Jed’s murdering
of the Talbert men, and finally the way the Blue Star Mining Company raped
the earth and the lives of its workers. Violence becomes an inescapable part
of American life in these plays, although Schenkkan suggests that when
violence is used to protect the land, as when Joshua threatens to shoot
James and Franklin, or for the benefit of others, as was the case with the
unionizing miners, it can be productive. However, in most respects, violence
simply breeds more violence and revenge in an almost never-ending cycle.
The American Dream
The idea of the American Dream, a land where anyone can come from nothing
and become someone, is a powerful theme in American literature. All of the
characters in the first half of Schenkkan’s cycle want the American Dream,
but they rarely find it. Michael Rowen is killed by his own son before he
can realize his dream of “owning” all the mountains, while both Patrick and
Jed see their portion of the dream legally stolen out from under them. Yet,
through it all, the dream remains alive, as it does in real life when it is
battered by reality. The characters in the second part of the cycle have all
given up, except for Mary Anne and Scotty. Mary Anne is able to forge a
better life for her son, but Scotty’s idealism dies at the hands of his
father’s cynicism.
Rewriting American History
In one of his speaking tours after winning the Pulitzer Prize, Schenkkan
suggested that this cycle of plays is the American history that remains
unwritten, a cultural “dirty little secret.” In this sense, The Kentucky
Cycle is a mirror for America and its blood-spattered past. No one likes
to think about how the settlers moved the native peoples out of the way. It
was done through murder and disease. No one wants to think about slavery or
the treatment of women, or the way some Americans swindled other Americans
out of their homes and farms. Yet everyone likes the stories of the wild
frontier, brave mountain men living by their wits, gun in hand. Everyone
likes to hear the rags-to-riches story of successful Americans like John
Paul Getty and Andrew Carnegie, but no one talks about the workers who were
underpaid, underfed, and overworked as the means for these men to attain the
wealth they did. Schenkkan wants his audiences to realize exactly how much
pain, heartache, sorrow, and bloodshed went into making the America of
today.
Personal Integrity vs. Greed
The characters in The Kentucky Cycle have problems with personal
integrity. Except for Mary Anne and Scotty, virtually all of them place
personal greed above morality. Michael does not care that he killed dozens
of people as long as he has his land and family. Morning Star does not care
about her child except to see him broken and begging. Patrick, Zeke, and Jed
live only for revenge and murder, while Joshua thinks only about the art of
the deal. The only character who succeeds is Mary Anne, because she puts the
needs of her community above her personal needs. Scotty tries, but gets
caught in his father’s lies and pays the ultimate price. Joshua is redeemed
by his connection to the land and the ghost of his ancestor when he refuses
to give into the greed consuming James and Franklin. Ultimately, Schenkkan
seems to be saying that personal integrity is more successful and rewarding
than greed can ever be.
Style of The Kentucky Cycle
Classical Greek Structure
Schenkkan uses a traditional plot structure, borrowed from classical Greek
tragedy, which combines climactic structure on the level of the individual
plays with episodic structure for the entire cycle of plays. Each play
focuses on individual characters, involving them in a series of ever-greater
complications and bringing them to a startling climax. Together these plays
function as a series of episodes in the entwined family histories of the
Rowens and the Talberts. Each family is bound up in the fate of the others,
yet each generation follows the path of the previous ones. The Talberts are
generally always in control while the Rowens are always fighting to reclaim
something that they had stolen in the first place. Like the chorus of a
Greek tragedy, the Biggses live on the fringes of the action, providing both
labor and an audience for the feud between the Talberts and the Rowens. The
use of classical Greek tragic elements includes the character flaws that run
through all the major characters: violence and greed. The long hard fall of
the Rowens from landowners to sharecroppers to day laborers is also a
familiar trait of Classical Greek Tragedy.
Dramatic Irony and Cycling
The characters in The Kentucky Cycle are caught in a never-ending
circle of murder, betrayal, and revenge. Schenkkan uses the repetition of
situation and events to build dramatic irony and tension. The struggle seems
pointless since the next generation is just going to do the exact same thing
that the previous generation did. However, this cycling builds the dramatic
irony to its highest point in The War on Poverty. In this play, the
audience knows, although Joshua does not, that he is standing on the land of
his forefathers and that the found body is that of Patrick’s sister killed
so long ago by her own father. Here is the irony. All Michael, Patrick,
Zeke, Jed, and Mary Anne ever wanted was to carry on the family name, but
they were completely cut off from their strength -- the land. Yet, Joshua,
whose only child is dead, and with whom the Rowen line will die out,
realizes his connection to the land and his responsibility toward it. This
last member of a dying family rejoices in the sight of a wolf in the wild.
Wolves were supposed to be extinct in most of the United States in 1975,
save for Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota. The cycle of life, like
The Kentucky Cycle itself, comes full circle and the play ends where it
began: a futureless individual in the wilderness.
Historical Context
There is a greater difference than is often
thought between the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s, on the one hand, and
the later 1990s, on the other. The 1980s saw the creation of huge personal
wealth for some; but this was contrasted with the widespread problems of
unemployment, homelessness, and lack of universal healthcare, as well as the
expansion of the national debt to grotesque proportions. To many, the
Reagan-Bush era in American politics seemed meaner than those of the 1970s;
the policies of “trickle-down economics” and bankrupting the Soviet-bloc
countries seemed harsh and expensive. Cast against this political
background, there was a growing “green” or environmental movement pushing
for stricter enforcement of air pollution laws, automobile exhaust emissions
standards, and awareness of the devastating effects of strip-mining and
coal-burning factories on the environment.
By the late 1980s, America was again involved in
foreign wars that did not seem to serve any real American interests or
obligations. The economy was in recession, federal money for social programs
was being used to make interest payments on the national debt, and people
were ready for a change and a new beginning. Issues like race relations,
women’s rights, and the state of the environment became less urgent, not
because they were solved, but because people got tired of talking and
thinking about them. In this atmosphere, Robert Schenkkan wrote The
Kentucky Cycle as a way to force people to re-examine these issues.
This cycle of plays specifically took on the
issues that were dying in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Schenkkan wanted
to force people to explore treatment of and attitudes toward women, African-
Americans, and the poor in America. He wanted to exploit the righteous anger
many people felt at seeing the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains by
strip-mining and turn it into action to reclaim the land for the people of
the area. He wanted people to recognize the inherent violence in our
history, in an America based on conquest and blood rather than community and
cooperation.
1700s–1800s: Women do not have any rights under the
law. Women can be raped by their husbands, have no rights to the property or
money they may have earned, and their children belong to their husbands.
1920: The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives
women the right to vote in local, county, state, and federal elections.
Today: While women today still earn less than their male
counterparts for equal work, the gap is narrowing and laws against sexual
harassment and gender discrimination are being enforced.
1700s: Slavery is common in the early years of the
United States. Kentucky is a “slave state,” but it does not secede from the
Union during the Civil War. Owners routinely father children by their female
slaves and consider those offspring slaves as well. Families are often
broken up and sold to different people, especially as punishment for
misbehavior.
1960s: Lead by men like Martin Luther King Jr. and
Malcolm X, and women like Fannie Mae Johnson and Rosa Parks,
African-Americans demand an equal share in the glory and goods that are
America during the Civil Rights Movement. Although both Dr. King and Malcolm
X are assassinated, their desire for unity and harmony among the races lives
on.
Today: Relations between the white and black peoples of
the United States are better in some ways, but still do not approach the
color-blind society that Dr. King envisioned. African-Americans are
financially better off now than in the 1960s, but they still earn less than
whites, have less access to healthcare, and are more likely to smoke and
abuse alcohol.
1700s–1800s: Land is seen as a possession and a
never-ending resource. After the Revolution, settlers are encouraged to move
west in order to stake America’s claim to the land, to drive out the native
population, and turn the country into farmland.
1900s: The idea of an endless frontier becomes part of
the American Myth. The Homestead Act of 1882 and the purchase of Alaska from
Russia in the 1870s help fuel the western expansion and the illogical and
wasteful use of land. When the Census Board closed the frontier in 1890,
Americans had to find new ones. Hawaii is conquered in 1892; her last queen
arrested, tried, and executed by an American court. Alaska becomes the “New
Frontier” with the gold rushes of the 1900s and 1910s. American culture does
not believe in conserving or protecting land or its ecosystems.
Today: The environment is an important political issue.
April 22 is celebrated as Earth Day and most major cities have recycling
programs to reduce waste going to landfills. Politicians in Washington are
re-examining the ways land is used in the western states in an attempt to
improve the health of the environment. Major spills and chemical leaks are
also being cleaned up.
1700s–1800s: In a young America, particularly in its
frontier, violence is just a part of life. Native peoples are often hostile
(with good reason) as are other settlers when supplies run low. Men and
women both learn to shoot and defend themselves.
1800s–1900s: While violence has not changed, the type
of violence has. It is no longer customary for civilized people to carry
firearms. Violence becomes more socialized and more civilized.
Today: Violence ranks as the most pressing social
problem in the United States. However, violent crimes have been on the
decrease since 1992, with the murder rate by firearms falling fastest. Most
major cities have restricted gun ownership, required trigger locks on new
guns, and outlawed guns for children. While the number of real guns has
fallen across the country, the level of real and pretend violence is just as
much a part of our national identity as it was in 1775.
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