Ghost Light :: essays research papers

Ghost light refers to the superstition that one small light bulb should always be left on so that no theater of operations is ever totally dark--and thus vulnerable to "ghosts." A reader of blunt inscrutables memoir Ghost Light is likely to conclude, however, that the title refers to the authors attempt to chuck out his miserable childhood.The son of Frank Rich Sr., whose family had been in the shoe blood in Washington since the Civil War, and Helene Rich, a teacher, was born in 1949. Members of the family take seemingly ordinary lives in Somerset, Md. There, according to Rich, all the houses looked alike, dads went to work, moms stayed home and goggle box perpetuated the myth that all families were happy. While he was in grade school, Richs parents discontinue up, making him the first kid on the block to bear the print of coming from "a broken home."Both parents subsequently remarried, and, in a telling detail, neither Rich nor his younger sister, Polly, w as invited to either parents second wedding. Rich is venomous on the subject of his stepfather--a crude and violent man with a vicious temper--but acknowledges that thanks to his affluence the family went to the theater often.The protagonist in Richs keep is his mother (described as a Judy Holliday, not physically but emotionally) her ending was tragic. The driver of the car in which she was killed was Richs much-loathed stepfather.Rich, writes freely of having been a lousy athlete, an sleepless person and a loner. What pleasures he had in childhood came from theater--listening to recordings of musicals ("South Pacific," "The Most apt Fella" and, while in bed with measles, "Peter Pan") and reenacting shows in the miniature theaters he created out of shoe boxes from his fathers shop. For lighting, a desk lamp was put into operate pillowcases became curtains. He saved playbills (even ones found in trash cans for shows he had not seen), analyzed album covers and memorized lyrics. For his third-grade talent show, Rich sang "You Gotta Have Heart." enlightened in public schools, where he claims classes were undemanding, Rich was blessed with teachers, librarians and friends who abetted his passion for theater, for recitation and for writing. At the age of 8, he published a neighborhood bulletin that announced the arrival of babies, puppies and new cars. He also wrote a " account book" titled "A World All My Own," about a son who lived in a big box.