Curse of The Starving Class - Character Summaries

Character Summaries

The characters in this piece can be looked upon like stock characters from commedia. They represent something, instead of really being someone. For instance, the father represents the violence and anger of an alcoholic and also shows the destruction of the family. The Tate family is a lower- middle-class, rural California family, trying to hold on to the last shreds of a family bond and traditional living.

Wesley Tate, the son of the family. Feeling strong ties to his family and to the land, Wesley maintains the farm after the others have given up. The prospect of selling the land to real estate developers has a significance far greater than the loss of a mere house, but his family. At times, Wesley loses patience with his family members, as evidenced by his lack of sympathy for his sister’s ruined 4-H project, to which he responds by urinating on her charts and suggesting that his sister do something truly useful with her time.

Ella Tate is the mother of the family. As the play opens, she and Wesley are both looking through the chunks of the broken door that her husband, Weston, broke in a fit of rage. Ella is more or less the logic/presentational figure in the family. She often changes topics when she feels it in her best interest and throughout the play has varying mood swings though acts as if nothing affects her. She tends to ignore the things going on immediately around her. Although she tries to hide her true feelings, it’s very evident through her constant topic changing, that some things really do hit home with her. Ella decides to take matters into her own hands and puts the house up for sale without consulting her husband.

Emma Tate is the daughter of Ella and Weston Tate. She has just started her first period, and has several mood swings during the play. Emma is unhappy with her family and their behavior and announces several times that she is leaving the family. She first tries to run away by taking the family horse, but it throws her off and drags her through the mud, so she comes back. Later, in a fit of anger of Ellis buying their house, she rides the family horse into Ellis' bar and shoots the place full of holes. Once she is arrested she says that she gains her freedom by offering sexual bribes to the sheriff. She then decides to steal her mother's car and take up a life of crime, claiming that it is the only way to make a real living in this world. In her attempt to steal the car, she is blown up with the car by the bomb that Slater puts in it.

Ellis is the owner of the bar the Alibi Club which is where Weston spends his time when he is not at home. Ellis is greedy and often takes advantage of the family through Weston especially when he comes to the house in order to claim it as his own. Ellis represents the greed and controlling nature of business owners and the tendency of these people to take unfair advantage of each other and people below them.

Emerson is a minor character, and represents the men that Weston is in debt to. He and Slater, another minor character, only appear at the end of the production in order to blow up Weston’s car for re-compensation. He is a very wicked man, and can be thought of as a villain.

Weston Tate is the father of the family and an abusive alcoholic. He is controlled by the alcohol that runs in his system. This violent nature of his has a profound effect on the family. His antics are tearing the family apart and have even made his house subject for sale. Also his terrible lifestyle habits cause others to take advantage of him and when his debts are not paid, it can take an even more terrifying toll on the family.

Sergeant Malcom is the police officer who arrives at the house to inform Ella that Emma has been arrested for riding a horse into the “Alibi Club” and shooting it up. He is uninterested in the other crimes that Wesley and Ella accuse Taylor and Ellis of, stating that he is only there to tell Ella about Emma.

Taylor is a lawyer who is involved in real estate and is looking to buy the property from Ella. He is the representative for several large corporations that are looking to buy up land. He is also the same man who swindled Weston into buying the useless desert property.

Slater is Emerson’s accomplice. He is the one who actually put the bomb in the car that kills Emma. He and Emerson represent the men that Weston owes money to¸ and have come to serve as a warning. Slater also brings the dead lamb’s carcass into the house.