In Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates explores the lives and secret desires of April and Frank Wheeler. Though both initially want to buy into the suburban experience along with their peers, they eventually realize that life holds more in store for them. The overall tapestry of their marriage is more or less intact, but over time, more and more threads are pulled loose so that it falls apart and lies in disarray. The production of The Petrified Forest that April takes part in symbolizes the dichotomy between positive hopes and a negative reality not only concerning Frank and April, but also their peers.
The disastrous performance of The Petrified Forest is the most crucial moment because it outlines the contrasting elements of positive appearances and negative realities that so pervade the lives of the novel’s main characters. There are occasional glimmers of hope that the play might end up on the brighter side. For a while it seems that the play will really be a success. However, reality sets in, and everyone realizes that the director’s well-meant words of wisdom were only for show. They know that the play will fail miserably, and although they will all do their best to act out their roles and recite their lines well, the play is a disaster waiting to happen. Come opening night, various technical mishaps and ill-prepared actors plague the entire production.
The Petrified Forest is relevant to the lives of April and Frank because their past hopes and dreams and current attempts to fit in with society are thwarted by even stronger internal desires for individuality and personal autonomy.
On the one hand, April had dreams of making it big on the stage. Likewise, it was predicted by Frank’s neighbors that he would make a name for himself. He even received a lot of romantic attention from women. However, he ends up working a mundane, meaningless job at the Knox building marketing office supplies. Even though their past dreams do not entirely work out, they do try to make a happy home in suburban Connecticut. Much like the imperfect, obviously artificial set of The Petrified Forest, April wants to arrange her house to make it look like a suburban home, to convince herself and Frank that they fit in with this lifestyle. Just as in the play, April and Frank are only putting up a front, but not a convincing one. Like the audience, the Campbells could have left the Wheelers’ house that night, but only stay out of politeness. Frank and April feel the frustration with the negative reality of their lives, but adopt the same kinds of frozen smiles that April does at the curtain call.
Mrs. Givings’s complete absorption of suburbia portrays her as a very false kind of character. Her heavy, everyday makeup resembles artificial stage makeup, as if she is trying to cover up her true appearance. Her clothes are always prim and proper, and her voice is always that of a shrill, fluttering type of a busybody neighbor. Although Mrs. Givings does her very best to maintain her flawless appearance, perpetually cheery attitude, and lovely home, the one dark spot of her life is John. When she is not showing houses to new families, she is having conferences with John’s doctors at the Greenacres mental asylum. After such scarring incidents, she breaks down in tears. Mrs. Givings’s perfect life that is perfectly acted out deteriorates like the production of The Petrified Forest. The plot of her life starts out on the rise, but she crumbles underneath the pressures of trying to maintain her suburban perfection while caring for an “insane” son.
As the novel progresses, it is increasingly apparent that John was hospitalized because he refuses to conform to the life his mother covets. When he arrives at the Wheelers’ house for the first dinner party, his appearance is certainly unconventional and a little bit sloppy. He also asks Frank why he works at his boring job even though he hates it. John’s question is so bold that it angers Frank, but Frank knows that John is speaking the truth. John is clearly disgusted with Frank’s resignation to a mundane work life and even more horrified with the couple’s average lifestyle.
In Richard Yates’s novel, the idea of the world as a stage rings true. Little do Frank and April know that The Petrified Forest is an alarming metaphor for the course their married life that is to be cut short.
