English 115 Letter to Author

September 10, 2012
Dear Mr. Pomerance,
    I read your play, The Elephant Man, which I enjoyed. I am writing to you with my thoughts regarding the play. One factor of the play that caught my attention was that it is a mix of fiction and non-fiction, as opposed to a biography, which relies entirely upon facts and history. In my opinion, the fact that your play is mix of fiction and non-fiction makes it challenging to create historically accurate characters. I was also surprised to find a disclaimer before the play, which states that, “No one with any history of back trouble should attempt the part of Merrick as contorted. Anyone playing the part of Merrick should be advised to consult a physician about the problems of sustaining any unnatural or twisted position.” It is not very common to see an author’s disclaimer at the beginning of a play, but then again, it is not very common for the main character of a play to be physically disabled. Another aspect of the play that caught my attention is the fact that it is written in the grammatical style of the 1880s, despite the fact that your play was published almost a century after the events in it occurred. Since I am very interested in history and politics, I noted that jingoism and racism are quite prevalent in the play’s earlier scenes. However, my observations about the play are not limited to these aspects.
    I also noticed that some of your characters don’t have first or last names that are revealed to the audience. One example is that Ross does not seem to have a last name, while Mrs. Kendal and Miss Sandwich don’t seem to have a first name. I think that Mrs. Kendal was able to relate to John Merrick, in part because of her skills as an actress. In her mind, the world is a stage and everybody else is her audience. In addition, I wonder what motivated her to take off her clothes for John Merrick. Perhaps she sees it as doing a favor for a friend, or perhaps she is emotionally attracted to him. Last but not least, I wonder whether John Merrick died from complications related to his physical disability, or whether he committed suicide. It is possible that he believed his life was no longer worth living, perhaps due to depression.
Thank you very much for your time.

Sincerely,
Joshua Steele