4000 Miles

            I think the ultimate motif of 4000 Miles is to open up and share the story of these characters at this particular point in time. The main characters Leo, Bec, and Vera are all going through same situation, but their perspective and the way it has affected their lives is different. They are also at a point in their lives where they are going through changes so I think Amy Herzog’s motif is to portray how a situation doesn’t just affect one person and one moment or decision can change the path of several relationships. The pattern that caught my eye the most is how Leo’s demeanor changes when his mother and his family is mentioned. Its obvious that the relationship with his family is very strained. For a bulk of the play there is hardly any talk about why the relationship is the way it is. Herzog withholds a lot of information about what has happened between the characters and allows us to just observe their demeanor and the affects of what happened which was very interesting to me. The characters often interrupted and talked over each other which also kept me interested in finding out what they were trying to hide or just what was so uncomfortable for them to talk about. I was also curious about Leo’s real reason for coming to visit and in his vulnerable state the truth cam out that he really didn’t know where else to be since his best friend died on their cross country trip. The characters also change as the play progresses. I think that Leo finds his way while he took a moment to acknowledge the loss of his friend, Bec seems to forgive Leo at the end, and Vera’s forgetfulness gets worse to the point where she is very accusatory. All in all my observation of the motive was to display the affects of life on a group of people to show how they deal with situations and progress.