Paula Vogel: Give me More!

In her intriguing works, How I Learned to Drive, and The Mineola Twins, Paula Vogel has seized our attention and intrigued a group of high school English students to the point where they pleaded with thier teacher to read more. I have never heard a collective voice of my peers rave about a book with as much passion as they did for these plays, and I entirely agree with their glowing testimonies.
How I Learned to Drive shocked all the students in our class. What was this perversion? Incest? We all asked the same question at once, “That’s her uncle!?” But Vogel takes what we would consider an antagonist, a villain, an abusive pedophile, and transforms him into a character we all feel sympathy for at the conclusion of the novel, as Lil’ Bit describes his hopeless decline into oblivion. Mr. Lowney originally articulated the idea we all seemed to feel as we were reading. We would hear consistent comments like, “I don’t feel like Uncle Peck is a bad guy,” or, “maybe this is a story about love.”
Either way, the complex characters Paula Vogel molds, in a short 90-some pages, come to life vividly in front of the reader. The play is a dramatic contemplation of human relationships, and uses a common metaphor, relating cars and driving to the intricate life and relationships of protagonist, Lil’ bit. Not were readers initially shocked, they were gripped as Vogel took the reader on a series of hairpin turns through the transformation of Lil’ Bit, from the abused to the abuser. These words are harsh and may be debatable, but the transformation Lil’ Bit undergoes completes the Vogel’s contemplation on relationship and familial obligation (demonstrated in the refrain “family is family”), and shows the destructive power of infatuation.
In The Mineola Twins, Vogel elaborates on the idea of family through another viewpoint: two sisters, a conservative terrorist, and a liberal activist. Vogel again composes a stimulating commentary on the destructive power of human relationship.
Another gripping play, Vogel infuses biting sarcasm through the character of Myra, and not only had us reading the play in one sitting, but had a laughing audience, also. When in conversation, Myra and Jim exchange life stories. Myra, an enlightened, but promiscuous teen, is questioned about her sexual activity:
"Jim: Thanks... Myra? How "many" guys have you-
...Myra: Well, there are all the guys on the first string-and I'm working on the second string who have their letters-
Jim: Whoa! So it's really true about you. You really are the Whore of Babylon!
Myra: Hey! Wait a minute! First of all I happen to really like football."
This humor keeps the reader engaged and enjoying the play's interactions, as much as the themes Vogel presents (here she seems to be rejecting modern conventional theory about sexual restrictions in women's lives).

Vogel’s power to convey her themes and maintain certain characterization or sympathy for her characters through the structure of her plays is captivating, and her writing is superb.