Detroit

In this play, I think a great phrase to describe it is "Detroit is not a city, it's a lifestyle". There is a news article I read online that is entitled "Letters: Life in Detroit--distressed but not beyond hope." It talks about how "this once great city" is dying, that it is a "shell" of it's former glory. The neighborhoods are decrepit and broken down, the once sparkly houses turned to seed. And the city will not or cannot help. This mimics not only the neighborhood that the two couples live in, but the couples themselves, or at least each individual character. Frank, at the end of the play, talks about the former glory of the neighborhood, how everyone knew everyone, and how the houses are falling apart. And even with the "fancified" houses, that he could understand why those in the crumbling houses would be wary of asking for help from the richer people. The neighborhood itself is a Detroit neighborhood, even if it wasn't really in Detroit. And as far as the characters are concerned, it is about the human condition, to be downtrodden but still with hope. It is almost like the characters are Detroit, that they were once good and great, but have been neglected by those around them and are falling into decay, especially Kenny/Roger. His mother moved away, not wanting to be apart of the family, and he got into trouble but it seems no one wanted to help him. So he kept on getting into more and more trouble. But it finally appears that he wanted to try to make a new life. Get a new name, a new place to live, and someone who he can share his new life with. And with Mary and Ben, they were lonely and forgotten, in their little house, when Shannon and Kenny came by and opened their world for them. And while that friendship turned disastrous, the ending was not all that bad. They may have lost their house, but it opened doors for the couple that they probably would not have thought of before. They plan to go to England and start their new life. They are distress...but not beyond hope.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120527/OPINION04/205270482/Letters-Life-in-Detroit-distressed-but-not-beyond-hope