Sainte-Carmen of the Main

After reading several short stories and a few novels it was time to delve into the world of Canadian plays. For this class I read Sainte-Carmen of the Main by Michel Tremblay, originally written and performed in joual the language of the people of the Main (a form of French). Michel Tremblay is well known for writing French separatist fables in order to give a voice to the suppressed people of Quebec prior to French becoming Canada's second official language and the Parti Québécois forming or coming into power.

Sainte-Carmen of the Main – Michel Tremblay (Act1)

I always find it a bit awkward reading a play all by myself, I much prefer reading it aloud amongst classmates or going to see a show put on of it, so that it took me a little bit to find my stride. Once I did I found I enjoyed the many quirks in Sainte-Carmen of the Main. I found the names Tremblay had given his characters like Harelip, Toothpick, and Rose Beef amusing, adding intrigue and diversity to the cast of characters. I think the social criticism Tremblay was trying to display in the first act was about how as Canadians we do not have a well defined genre of music associated with Canada so that artists find themselves imitating other genres (like Carmen going to Nashville to learn more about country music and Gloria with her Argentine tango music).Which leads me to say I find Tremblay’s use of music very effective in portraying his characters. When Gloria exits on page 29 “She goes out like a tornado, followed by her Argentine tango music,” I think this plays to the showiness and over the top character that Gloria has. Whereas Gloria performs country music which would suggest her character is more laid back and concerned with heartaches like many country songs croon on about. I can relate to Carmen’s reluctance to go on stage near the end of the act because Toothpick and Gloria are sitting in the front row. Sometimes just that one person who you know is going to try to put you down no matter how much everybody else praises you can ruin your confidence in yourself and your ability to perform. Throughout my childhood, adolescence, and now adulthood I have found ways to tune out those naysayers whenever I need to perform in front of a crowd, and no I do not picture everyone in their underpants!

Sainte-Carmen of the Main – Michel Tremblay (Act 2)

I found Act 2 much easier to understand, having a better flow, and overall more enjoyable. A social criticism I found can best be described by this quote from Carmen: “Maybe, little by little, I’ll be able to shake off the Country and Western and find my own style! My own style! I started out with other people’s words and music, but maybe one day, I’ll have my own words and my own music.” I feel it refers to Canadians as a whole constantly searching for their own, separate identity from Americans and British as well as to Quebeckers who feel that their French culture is being suppressed by the remainder of Anglophone Canada. Tremblay’s criticism of Quebecois not being represented enough is also much clearer in this half of the play. Although I found the end to the play unsatisfactory, I did not see the need for Carmen’s death or for Toothpick blaming Harelip for her Carmen’s murder. Even though I understand why Carmen died I do not find it gives enough of a message of hope which subsequently would discourage Quebecois from “waking up” etc. if they thought they would be silenced similarly to Carmen. Conversely it does “wake up” people because it showcases how they can be better through Carmen’s last song, which unfortunately is not performed in the play only mentioned. Tremblay also touches on the inherent greed of humans with how Maurice is willing to have Toothpick kill off Carmen and then use his own malformed sister, Harelip, as a scapegoat for the situation all so that he is able to continue making good money off of his club. Maurice’s character really does the best job of “waking up” people because he is so suppressant of his own culture that can be considered worse than being suppressed by others.

Sainte-Carmen of the Main - by Michel Tremblay - Opinion Paper

Plays can instill in audiences an understanding of concepts in a different format than novels, often in a shorter period. Michel Tremblay’s use of a chorus, traditionally found in Greek Tragedies, is effective in getting across his ideas in Sainte-Carmen of the Main. He is able to express a social criticism of us versus them between the bar owners and pimps versus the prostitutes and various other residents of the Main which corresponds to the difficulties of the time between English speaking Canadians and their oppressed Joual speaking counterparts. The characters Tremblay uses also fall into the victim categories that Margaret Atwood discusses in Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. Furthermore, Tremblay highlights the lack of Canadian identity in the music industry.

            Throughout the play Carmen is trying to wake up the people of the Main. She is trying to get them to realize their situation and take a stand against those who are controlling their lives. As discussed in the NAC’s study guide on Sainte-Carmen of the Main “rebellion against a system designed to keep people in their place,” is a major theme of the play. In this case Maurice, Toothpick, and to an extent Gloria are those who are trying to keep Carmen, Harelip, and the other residents of the Main in check. At the beginning of Act 2 Maurice tries to discourage Carmen waking up the people of the Main by telling her “if you wake them up, you’ll only lose them, ‘cause I tell you, they’ll split so they can go back to sleep elsewhere,” (Tremblay, 2007, 53) essentially telling Carmen that she is fighting a losing battle. Maurice, as a bar owner and man of money on the Main, is very much used to control and is afraid of losing his power. This repression can especially be seen at the end of the play where one can assume Maurice has teamed with Toothpick to plot and follow-through with Carmen’s murder, which is followed by Toothpick’s monologue on p. 65-67 where he convinces the people of the Main that Carmen never really cared for them at all and that things should carry on as they were. Maurice, Toothpick, and Gloria versus Carmen, Harelip, Rose Beef, Sandra, and the Choruses is analogous to the domination Québécois felt from English speaking people in Montreal at the time.

There are several groups of characters that fall into different victim positions as described by Atwood. Position two “to acknowledge the fact that you are a victim, but to explain this as an ac of Fate, the Will of God, the dictates of Biology (in the case of women, for instance), the necessity decreed by History, or Economics, or the Unconscious, or any other larger general powerful idea,” (Atwood, 1972, p. 37) is exemplified by the people of the Main (i.e. Harelip, Rose Beef, Sandra, and the Choruses). They know they are victims but choose to live as if “the explanation displaces the cause from the real source of oppression to something else,” (Atwood, 1972, p. 37) practically ignorant to the fact that their real oppressors are Maurice and Toothpick.

            Whereas Carmen can be seen in position three “to acknowledge the fact that you are a victim but to refuse to accept the assumption that the role is inevitable,” and where “in this position the real cause of oppression is for the first time identified.” (Atwood, 1972, p. 37) Carmen sings to the Main about the Main and tells them who is to blame for their dissatisfactory lives, which they should rise up and take action against. The continuation of the victim pattern identified by Atwood found here in Tremblay’s work is a social criticism of Canadian authors and their writing style.

            There is also a subtle look at the music scene of Montreal at the time, later to become one of Canada’s centres for emerging, innovative musicians. It is said about Gloria in the stage directions that “she goes out like a tornado, followed by her Argentine tango music.” (Tremblay, 2007, p. 29) Gloria was unable to develop her own style of music so sought out that of Argentina to entertain the people of the Main. We also see this lack of creativity as well with Carmen who yodels Country and Western songs, which is why she went to Nashville. Yet by Act 2 of the play Carmen has begun to transform her yodelling into something more unique to the Main and her people as Harelip describes “Carmen talked about me! In her songs, Carmen said things that come from my life!” (Tremblay, 2007, p. 43) Later Carmen even criticizes her previous music choices and the change she has undergone when she says ”hell, people used to sing my songs like parrots without a thought about what they were saying. Now when they sing them, it’s their own lives they’ll be singing about... the Main needs someone to talk to it about the Main.” (Tremblay, 2007, p. 50) Tremblay is able to reflect upon the burgeoning creativity and multiculturalism of artists in Sainte-Carmen of the Main.

            By writing this play, Michel Tremblay was able to successfully parallel the struggle of the time between Anglophone and French Canadians, continue the trend of characters in Canadian literature being victims as discussed by Margaret Atwood, and discuss the emergence of a Canadian identity in the music scene. Although Sainte-Carmen of the Main was less than a hundred pages in length, the cast of characters and use of a chorus was effective at packing in many themes to be considered.

References

Atwood, M. (1972). Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. Toronto: House of Anansi Press Limited.

Canada's National Arts Centre. (2010). Sainte Carmen of the Maine Themes. Retrieved from National Arts Centre Web Site: http://www3.nac-cna.ca/en/theatre/1011/saint-carmen-of-the-main/studyguide/themes5/

Tremblay, M. (2007). Sainte-Carmen of the Main. Vancouver: Talon Books.

Michel Tremblay