No one in the
play is very psychologically oriented or astute, and that includes the town doctor, Doc Gibbs.
That's as it should be, considering when the play takes place. No one knew much about the
various forms and sources of depression, or about bi-polar disorder, or the myriad mental
problems that we have so many names for (and pills for) these days. Doc Gibbs says that Simon
has seen "a peck of troubles," and he leaves it at that.
In the
last act, a dead Simon reveals how negative he still is about life. He says that people, in
their ignorance, trample on the feelings of others. Simon has been scarred by life and the
outward sign of his pain was the drinking he did while he tried to escape his tortured
existence. His final escape was suicide.
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