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The Hope For A Better Future

When imagining a feminist play, a strong female character conquering the world on her

own and confronting the injustices in society comes to mind. However, ​The Heidi Chronicles is a

play that instead depicts a female character who is still trying to find herself in a changing

society. It documents Heidi Holland’s journey from the 1960s to the 1980s during the different

feminist movements. Gerald Weales, the writer of ​Prize Problems​, weighs in on the debate of

whether ​The Heidi Chronicles can be considered a feminist play or not in his critical essay.

While Weales argues that ​The Heidi Chronicles is not a strong feminist play due to the static

nature of Heidi and her constant disappointments in life (Weales), I contend that ​The Heidi

Chronicles is a feminist play to the extent that it portrays Heidi’s significant growth and allows

her to find happiness in her life through her symbolic daughter who represents a future free of

judgement for women.

Weales begins his critical essay with the argument, “Heidi remains pretty much the same

throughout the fifteen years” (Weales). He claims that Heidi’s character does not change as she

remains “a little cold, a little distant, her involvement tinged with self-irony” (Weales). While

there is some validity to Weales’ claim, Heidi does not remain a static character in the play as the

critic suggests. In fact, Heidi does make progress and significantly change. During the McCarthy

mixer in 1968, Heidi meets Scoop for the first time. Heidi is passive and timid in front of Scoop.

Scoop even goes on to ask Heidi, “Why are you so afraid to speak up?” (Wasserstein 16).

However, around 20 years later, in 1986, Heidi is invited to give a speech at her alma mater,

Miss Crain’s school. Instead of preparing a speech, Heidi chooses to express her thoughts and

feelings about being left behind in society because of the changing times and a new generation of
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women. ​Thus, in the span of 20 years Heidi goes from not speaking up for herself in front of

Scoop to publicly expressing her views. ​Even though Heidi remains “cold” and distant” through

the years, it is her personality. Although her personality does not change, her character does

grow and mature. Therefore, one can say that Heidi is a dynamic character as opposed to the

critic’s view that she is a static character.

Weales continues with his critic to argue that Heidi faces a series of constant

disappointments in her life (Weales). He continues to say that, “Nothing in the play or the

character makes motherhood look like anything but an occasion for Heidi’s next disappointment”

(Weales). However, Weales’s claim lacks a firm foundation. He does not include what instances

in the play or what about Heidi’s character leads him to believe that motherhood would be a

disappointment for Heidi. In fact, according to the play, motherhood did not turn out to be a

disappointment for Heidi. In the last scene when Scoop meets Heidi’s daughter, Heidi refers to

her daughter, Judy, as a “heroine for the twenty first!” (75). Her daughter symbolizes hope and

the promise of a better future. Heidi references the “twenty first” century to express her hope for

a more supportive generation for women. She explains to Scoop that she hopes that her daughter

does not have to go through the same judgement that she went through with Scoop in the future.

Thus, rather than being a disappointment, Judy is a beacon of hope for Heidi. Heidi fondly sings

to her daughter when Scoop leaves; “her own spirited high and low harmonies” (75) represent

her happiness at the thought of women progressing and achieving their goals in the near future.

Even though Weales argues that ​The Heidi Chronicles can not be considered a feminist

play due to the static nature of the main character and her negative outlook (Weales), instances

from the play prove that Heidi is, in fact, a dynamic character who gains a positive outlook on
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the future due to her daughter. Thus, the play can be considered feminist because it encourages

women to hope for a better future and make progressive changes. ​The Heidi Chronicles

challenges the traditional idea that a feminist play needs to have a strong female lead who can

accomplish everything alongside making the right decisions. The main character in ​The Heidi

Chronicles is vulnerable and makes the wrong choices from time to time. However, she learns

from these mistakes and grows as a character. Wendy Wasserstein is sharing that a woman does

not always have to be perfect and strong. The media usually portrays a woman having it all and

being successful. In contrast, ​The Heidi Chronicles shows that it is okay for a woman to be

flawed and confused at times. A feminist play does not necessarily always have to have a strong

female character. It can have a vulnerable female character that learns from her own experiences

and causes the readers to reflect on their own decisions.

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Works Cited

Wasserstein, Wendy. ​The Heidi Chronicles​. Dramatists Play Service, 1990.

Weales, Gerard. “Prize Problems.” Review of ​The Heidi Chronicles​,​ ​written by Wendy

Wasserstein. ​Commonweal​, 5 May 1989, p. 279-280.