Abstract
This paper analyzes why James Lawrence and Robert E. Lee give Edward a role of a Drummer Boy in Henry’s nightmare. The model of this Edward is Edward Waldo Emerson, who loves Thoreau dearly, and the drama depicts the close relationship of Edward and Henry. Edward plays the drum for command of soldiers in Henry’s nightmare. This role doesn’t suit Edward’s character. Why does Edward,who seems the last person likely to join the army, have to accept this unsuitable function?
This paper pays attention to the two times that this drama is related to. One is the time when this drama was written, and the other is the time in which this drama is situated. Furthermore, this paper pays attention to the evaluation and popularity of Henry David Thoreau in the 1960s and 1970s, when many young people participated in the anti-war movements against the Vietnam War. Jail asks its audience the meaning of identity and disobedience. And the problems of the Vietnam War can be found in contradiction of the role of Edward as a drummer, or the spirit of the different drummer, of which Walden explains. In a satirical way, Jail insists that the spirit of the different drummer should revive again in the mind of people who stand up against the violence of the Vietnam War. Jail, which has been performed in Universities and nonprofit theaters since the Vietnam War, can be seen as another way to call for “Civil Disobedience.”
Lawrence and Lee produced the opportunity for people today to encounter Henry again and recognize
his discussion as their own issue.
