Lillian Hellman

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dialogue and a realistic intensity which put her a step above her peers ("Hellman," 1999). Indeed, Hellman wrote with the skill of a professional but the emotions of a child. I feel she was able to capture the innermost fears and thoughts of people, drawing on their most hideous features. In the encyclopedia Hellman is described as an American Dramatist, whose plays are distinguished for the forcefulness of their matter, usually a condemnation of personal and social evil. They are also notable for character development and expert construction (Encarta). These points come through clearly in both The Children's Hour and The Little Foxes. Interestingly, Hellman seemed to entitle these works in an innocuous but mischievous way.
In a variety of works, it appears that Hellman’s themes have all centered around evil and lies. They have drawn on things that, for the most part, people do not like to look at. Her works are truly disturbing, as she forces the audience to dig ...

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and the other half in the south. Hellman loved New Orleans but felt a driving need to succeed in the North. Her final home in this lifetime was even further North. Hellman passed away in 1984 near her home which was by then situated near Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts. I feel moving around the nation gave her a variety of insights into different personalities, something priceless to any writer. When she wrote The Children's Hour, she broached the subject of lesbianism, something much less prevalent then.

The Children's Hour is really not about lesbians. It is rather about a malicious lie told by a child. It helps to remember that homosexuality during the ...

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