Ruined by Lynn Nottage

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Ruined by Lynn Nottage
Ruined is a famous and world-renowned playwright written by Lynn Nottage. It received many awards and recognition for its both content and portrayal. The play gave its audience the feeling of survival and violence as the play continued to present. It was a heart-breaking and thrilling play that gave moral value to the image of survival and violence. It brings the audience to Congo, where Mama Nadi's brothel tries to save herself and her girls from imminent danger during that time.
The play written by Lynn Nottage started with the representation of the setting, which the small mining town in Congo. There lived Madam Nadi, who lived through managing a brothel of girls for all men. It was stated that the girls in the story were all raped due to the war happening in the Republic of Congo. It showed the women's struggles in the brothel and the fight between the government and the rebel. Nottage portrayed the discrimination in women in showing the empowerment of men through rape and sexual violence. In the playwright, the lead characters in Mama Nadi's brothel were Sophie, Josephine, and Salima. The three were all presented as “ruined” or faced the danger of rape and sexual violence. In the story, when Sophie stated:
“Is that what you think? While I’m singing, I’m praying the pain will be gone, but what those men did to me lives inside of my body. Every step I take I feel them in me. Punishing me. And it will be that way for the rest of my life (61).”
This showed the pain she has continuously felt after the devastating event that had happened to her. In that scene, Salima praised Sophie as a bird that was singing happily but was immediately contrasted by Sophie and told her pain. This showed that even though she is in pain, she still struggles to live. On the other hand, Salima said, “Mention them again, and I swear to God I’ll beat your ass (67).” In this scene, she was talking with Josephine. It represents her courage and bravery towards other people and not letting herself be stepped on in the brothel. Lastly, Josephine stated, “Hey, hey. At least I have somebody, I take care of him good. And he comes back (93).” wherein she showed her confidence as a woman. Her power was her confidence despite the things that happened to her. The three of them were emphasized as characters who struggle but want to survive.
Nevertheless, the most interesting character was Christian, who has...