First Paragraph/Outline

In Archibald MacLeish’s novel, J.B., the main protagonist JB is described in scene one as a loving husband and father, enjoying a lovely meal with his family, all laughing and cheerful. The story of J.B. is a more effective story in order to interpret the message of God compared to the Book of Job because audience members can feel more sympathy for JB’s character due to the was MacLeish creates a loving bond between him and his family, portrays JB emotions more clearly for the audience, and chooses the format of a play so people can feel more emotionally connected with the characters because of their ability to watch the story in person. The Book of Job, although incredibly similar to J.B., is more straight forward and does not integrate human emotions into the story, making it less relatable and doesn’t allow for readers to feel an emotional bond to the story.

Three Sections:

1. Creating a stronger bond between JB and his family:
   1. Allows the audience to connect more with the family because they can relate it to their own family
   2. The death of the children hurt more because because they will understand JB’s pain if they have children (more so than Job)
   3. JB’s family is more relatable than Job’s because of their lifestyle, Job “owned” his family, JB was a part of his family
2. JB’s emotions are portrayed more in the story
   1. This makes the story much more relatable with audiences because they would react the same way
   2. JB’s pain would also force them to question God’s actions more
   3. Seeing JB’s pain, but not seeing him reject God is more powerful than not seeing his pain and seeing he didn’t reject God
3. Choosing the format of a play
   1. Audiences become more connected to characters when they can physically see them
   2. Would be able to see JB’s pain, not just read the description of his pain
   3. Ending scene would be more joyful because audience watches JB get a new family and become happy again (In book of Job, ending is very short and not detailed)

Sources:

1. MacLeish, Archibald, et al. Archibald Macleish : Reflections. University of Massachusetts Press, 1986. WorldCat
2. Sanders, Paul S. Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job : A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice-Hall, 1968.
3. French, Warren G. The Fifties: Fiction, Poetry, Drama. Everett/Edwards, 1970.