¶ … Soap Opera" by David Ives Soap operas on television are melodramatic and stereotypically over-the-top storyline.

Soap operas got their name because in the days of radio, the dramas were predominantly sponsored by soap companies and the story itself deals with soap and washing.

Ives uses the multiple meanings of "soap opera" to put the audience into a frame of mind when watching. There are many stereotypes of the daytime drama which the audience would come in with and Ives uses these preconceptions as a base for knowledge

Spoofed Features: In soap opera, one of the basic plot points is the seemingly endless line-up of revolving romantic pairings. Female characters on soaps often marry more than five times. Instead of the complex reality of male-female interactions, soaps tend to make these pairing completely random and the end of these relationships is usually equally random. There is little truth or even a semblance of reality on these programs. So what Ives is doing is spoofing something that...

However, each time there is a danger of a relationship failing, the writers treat it as a horrible dilemma. In Ives' version of a soap, a washing-machine repairman is in love with his girlfriend Mabel. That is until he encounters the perfect washing machine. All the while, the washer may be cheating on him with a dryer. This ridiculousness makes fun of soap opera treatment of human relationships. Many women and even men watch these programs and try to emulate the behavior. Ives's play shows exactly how ridiculous such emulation is. Real life is so much more complex than anything you see on television.
"The Sound of a Voice" by David Henry Hwang

Flowers: Flowers in the play symbolize love and life and how each is fragile. This sentiment is echoed in other parts of the play, like the man's meditation upon the sword. One of the first things that attract…