Act 2 of Reasons to Be Pretty

Act 2 of Reasons to Be Pretty Reasons to Be Pretty is a hard-edged comedy written by Neil LaBute. It is the third and final installment of a trilogy. The trio of plays (which also include The Shape of Things and Fat Pig) are connected not by characters or plot but by the recurring theme of body image within American society. Reasons to Be Pretty premiered on Broadway in 2008. It was nominated for three Tony Awards (Best Play, Best Leading Actress, and Best Leading Actor). The following is a summary and analysis of the events in Act Two. Read the synopsis and character outline of Act One. Scene One - After the Break Up Act Two of Reasons to Be Pretty begins in the lobby of a restaurant. Steph and Greg unexpectedly encounter each other. Steph is on a date, and the former couple awkwardly make small talk, attempting to be pleasant. The conversation segues to nostalgia for their good times together, which then transitions into the familiar argument about body image and their break up. She smacks him, then just as suddenly tries to apologize. However, Greg has had enough. He tells her that her date will eventually hurt her feelings too, and that he wont be there to help her. Somehow, they cool down and wish each other well on their lives without one another. Scene Two Carly visits Greg (who is yet again reading some classic literature). He comments that has not seen Kent lately. After trying to flatter him, Carly then wants to ask him an important question about Kent. Before the question, Carly reveals that she is three months pregnant. She suspects that Kent is cheating on her. At first, Greg contends that he does not believe that Kent is unfaithful. Carly continues to pressure him, asking Greg to look her in the eye and say he doesnt know anything. She asks if Greg was out with Kent and girls, but Greg lies and says that it was just guys from work. This relieves Carly for the time being. She tells him: I dont know why God made it so hard for us to trust you guys but he did, and it sucks. Scene Three Greg and Kent prepare for work-related softball game. Kent says that he expects Carly to hit the gym the day after the baby is born. He thanks Greg for covering up his affair, and begins to recount his recent sexual exploits with Crystal, the hot girl from the office. Greg tries to explain that he no longer lie about Kents affair. This irks Kent, who feels that Greg is being judgmental. He repeatedly calls Greg a pussy. Greg tries to get the upper hand, hinting that he might tell Carly the truth, but Kent believes that he is bluffing. He claims that Greg would never tell because he is afraid of people disliking him. Kent bullies him, wrestles him to the ground, and then calls his ex-girlfriend ugly. Greg finally stands up to Kent, not just because he is obnoxious, not just because he is an adulterer, and not just because of his comments about Steph. Before he beats Kent up, Greg explains that he is doing it Because you need it, okay? For who you are and what you have done, and for all the sh*t you will no doubt perpetrate for the rest of your life. After over-powering his ex-friend, Greg leaves Kent, who fumes in rage. Scene Four Carly and Greg are hanging out in the break room. She chats about her pregnancy. In hopes of showing Carly the truth about her husband, Greg strongly suggests that she takes the evening off and go home to her husband. She follows his advice. Although we never see the confrontation between Carly and Kent, it is implied that Carly will discover the truth about her husbands affair, and will move onto a new chapter in her life. Immediately after Carly leaves, Stephanie stops by to share the news: she is engaged to be married. Steph has become a manager at her hair salon. Greg has plans to go to college, realizing that he doesnt want to work at a warehouse for the rest of his life. Steph admits that she cannot stop thinking about Greg, yet at the same time believes that she will be much happier with her soon-to-be husband. Greg apologizes and is very understanding. He emphasizes that she has a pretty face, making her feel better. He also admits that he is simply drifting, and that their four years together may never have turned into marriage. She leaves, but not before kissing him good bye one last time. Although they do not rekindle the relationship, the characters in Reasons to Be Pretty represent a rather optimistic view on relationships and young, middle class Americans. In comparison to the protagonist in Fat Pig, Greg exhibits both courage and selflessness by the end of the play.

The Concept of Collective Consciousness, Defined

The Concept of Collective Consciousness, Defined Collective consciousness (sometimes collective conscience or conscious) is a fundamental sociological concept that refers to the set of shared beliefs, ideas, attitudes, and knowledge that are common to a social group or society. The collective consciousness informs our sense of belonging and identity, and our behavior. Founding sociologist Émile Durkheim developed this concept to explain how unique individuals are bound together into collective units like social groups and societies. How Collective Consciousness Holds Society Together What is it that holds society together? This was the central question that preoccupied Durkheim as he wrote about the new industrial societies of the 19th century. By considering the documented habits, customs, and beliefs of traditional and primitive societies, and comparing those to what he saw around him in his own life, Durkheim crafted some of the most important theories in sociology. He concluded that society exists because unique individuals feel a sense of solidarity with each other. This is why we can form collectives and work together to achieve community and functional societies. The collective consciousness, or  conscience collective  as he wrote it in French, is the source of this solidarity. Durkheim first introduced his theory of the collective consciousness in his 1893 book The Division of Labor in Society. (Later, he would also rely on the concept in other books, including Rules of the Sociological Method, Suicide, and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.)  In this text, he explains that the phenomenon is the totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society. Durkheim observed that in traditional or primitive societies,  religious symbols, discourse, beliefs, and rituals fostered the collective consciousness. In such cases, where social groups were quite homogenous (not distinct by race or class, for example), the collective consciousness resulted in what Durkheim termed a mechanical solidarity - in effect an automatic binding together of people into a collective through their shared values, beliefs, and practices. Durkheim observed that in the modern, industrialized societies that characterized Western Europe and the young United States when he wrote, which functioned via a division of labor, an organic solidarity emerged based on the mutual reliance individuals and groups had on others in order to allow for a society to function. In cases such as these, religion still played an important role in producing collective consciousness among groups of people affiliated with various religions, but other social institutions and structures would also work to produce the collective consciousness necessary for this more complex form of solidarity, and rituals outside of religion would play important roles in reaffirming it. Social Institutions Produce Collective Consciousness These other institutions include the state (which fosters patriotism and nationalism), news and popular media (which spreads all kinds of ideas and practices, from how to dress, to who to vote for, to how to date and be married), education (which molds us into compliant citizens and workers), and the police and judiciary (which shape our notions of right and wrong, and direct our behavior through threat of or actual physical force), among others. Rituals that serve to reaffirm the collective conscious range from parades and holiday celebrations to sporting events, weddings, grooming ourselves according to gender norms, and even shopping (think Black Friday). In either case - primitive or modern societies - collective consciousness is something common to the whole of society, as Durkheim put it. It is not an individual condition or phenomenon, but a social one. As a social phenomenon, it is diffused across society as a whole, and has a life of its own. It is through collective consciousness that values, beliefs, and traditions can be passed down through generations. Though individual people live and die, this collection of intangible things, including the social norms connected to them, are cemented in our social institutions and thus exist independent of individual people. Most important to understand is that collective consciousness is the result of social forces that are external to the individual, that course through society, and that work together to create the social phenomenon of the shared set of beliefs, values, and ideas that compose it. We, as individuals, internalize these and  make the collective consciousness a reality by doing so, and we reaffirm and reproduce it by living in ways that reflect it.