The shifting heart

Have you ever been involved in a family feud where you are divided between your own opinions and your families clash? I was reading a play called “The Shifting Heart” and I was shocked about the different themes which were presented as it is quite different to what you would expect in our modern society between different cultures and religions.

 Conflict

The Bianchi family seemed to be filled with conflict but you don’t really understand how all the conflict ties together until the audience is presented with the death of Gino at the dance during the later scenes. Gino was denied entry into the dance due to his ‘wog’ heritage which provided conflict in the Bianchi family. Before the death occurred, Gino fought for his own entry into the dance as he held a citizenship for 8 years; therefore he should be accepted in society. Poppa never stood up for himself, which was shown when he didn’t say anything when the fish was thrown over the fence as he ‘don’t want no trouble’ (p9). These are completely different to the characteristics which Momma portrays as she is often seen to fight for what she believes and doesn’t let people walk over her which are portrayed in the fish scene where Momma is disgraced at their neighbours about the dead fish in the garden. This is continued after the death of Gino where she fights for her son’s acceptance. Don’t get me started on the relationship of Poppa’s daughter, Maria, with her husband Clarry! Married couples are supposed to get along, but that seems to be the last thing of their minds. They are complete opposites – no wonder they don’t get along! Maria doesn’t hold back, everyone knows exactly what she thinks, she’s not afraid of anyone where Clarry makes excuses which lead to self-destruction. Poor little Gino, he’s seen as the ‘little boy’ by everyone but all he really wants is to be allowed to grow up. Although this is sad, it shows the audience to fighting for what they want, but issues arise with this as others should have already let him be himself and seen him as the young, intelligent man he is. Neither conflict which involved Gino or Poppa is any good, as it eventually lead to the death of Gino, which for readers of today’s modern society, makes them feel guilty.

Family roles

Family is a big importance in my own personal life and I was able to see many similarities in the play which could potentially relate to many groups in the modern society. Poppa is the father of both Maria and Gino and a father-in-law to Clarry, Maria’s husband but as Clarry states “The number of times Iv’e been with him…When he’s introduced Gino to people, but never did he call him his brother-in-law’ (p47). This relationship between all characters and Poppa is strange as the first difference between Poppa and Clarry is that Poppa is proud of his Italian heritage whereas Clarry is ashamed that he married into the Italian heritage.  It’s strange how his son-in-law doesn’t want to help his new family, showing Poppa that he will always look after Maria and her family. This also intervenes with the death of Gino as the death occurred due to Gino being ‘wog’. This is the first time which we see that Clarry is devastated at what happened, and begins to accept his new heritage rather than judge others. I love how Momma is so caring towards her family and looks out for them, but then you can’t help but feel sorry for Gino, having someone always looking out for you, allowing little freedom, at his age. As you would imagine, any mother would be devastated about the death of her son, Gino. This is where we see the characteristic that she fights for what she wants. Poppa and Momma display such a loving relationship to other family members, but much to their disadvantage, their daughter’s marriage does not display this and it would break their heart knowing their daughter is unhappy, I mean, wouldn’t you? In everyone’s family, different members have roles, but you can never seem to find Gino’s role in the script. The poor guy try’s to find his own identity and be an individual person but his becomes harder when no one allows him to which leads to his death as others weren’t aware of the seriousness of the problem.

Acceptance

I don’t understand why the Bianchi family were seen as different people because they are of an Italian heritage, in our modern society, it’s more common. This affected the family through business more than anything; firstly there was the conflict between Clarry and the Bianchi family as he did not accept the Italian heritage, not allowing Gino to be in partnership with him. This is wrong as they should have accepted the heritage and embraced it to help the business. Although he wants to believe that he loves Maria, he doesn’t accept her for everything she has ‘the way you talk – the way she talks, anyone’d think I married a whole dam race. And all I did was get married like any other bloke’. This clearly shows he is frustrated and doesn’t accept the situation he is in. Don’t you think it is strange that Maria holds back and doesn’t accept here background fully, as when she talks about having children with Clarry, she becomes frightened of what the public will think and is scared that her child won’t be accepted and be treated differently “as long as he’s safe and wanted” (p33). In the beginning of the play we are told that Maria has miscarried three times, doesn’t this show that she’s not really sure if she wants the baby? In every conversation, we are constantly shown that Clarry and Maria are arguing, mostly about how she knows her family will accept her child but she cares about the wider community, seeing what her brother, Gino, goes through.