Stuck in a Cycle

            In Marina Carr’s Low in the Dark, Curtains' narration throughout the play reflects the cyclical aspect of the characters’ time. In the story, the man uses the bicycle as the means for forward movement; however, he chooses to abandon the bicycle for the woman, which no longer allows him to enjoy the forward movement that the bicycle offered him. The woman is unable to move forward, which ultimately traps the man alongside her in the cyclical time. This can be seen through the characters of Bone, who represents the man, and Binder, who embodies the woman.

            Bone, as the embodiment of the man in the story, particularly struggles with the notion of being trapped. Throughout his relationship with Binder, Bone is hopeful that their relationship will not continue in its cycle. In the beginning stages, he states, “Maybe this time she won’t go” (21). Bone is hopeful that he will be able to get out of the cycle that he and Binder presumably had. However, he begins with the unsure term “maybe,” which suggests that Binder staying is only a possibility and not likely to happen. Their cyclical relationship is echoed in Baxter’s response. He warns:

             She’ll go! You’ll pick a fight with her and she’ll go! And then we’ll run up and down the mountains till the anger is gone. And when the anger is gone we’ll drink until you have forgotten her. And when you’ve forgotten her, we’ll play a few games and then you’ll start all over (21).

Baxter can predict the ending of their relationship as well as the process that Bone will endure after it ending. Because Bone has already begun relations with Binder, he is subjected to her cyclical time; he does not have the opportunity to move forward without her because he previously chose to abandon forward movement when he originally entered into a relationship with Binder.

            Bone expresses his desire to be free when he and Baxter reenact his interaction with Binder. He accuses Baxter, who is acting as Binder, of wanting to trap him. His contempt with this idea is highlighted by his response saying, “I want to be free” (42). Both Bone and the man in the story do not want to be stuck in the trap of cyclical time. Curtains highlights the moment where the man says, “‘Woman[...]I threw my bicycle in the ditch for you, and this is how you repay me!’” (32). This occurs after the woman restarts their conversation after they have walked “a million miles,” as she turns to him and greets him by saying “hello” as if they had not just endured that experience together (27).  The man clearly notices that the woman has restarted their conversation. He is angry because he left his bicycle, his means of forward motion, to be with the woman. Bone did the same with Binder by leaving his single life, his metaphorical bicycle, to begin a relationship with her.

            Bone’s entrapment is reflected by the continuation of Curtains’ narration of the man. After she seemingly ends the story by suggesting that the man and woman would never be together, it begins again in the same way as before.  At the end of the play, Curtains' story restarts with the same plot (99, 26). At this moment, Bone has also ended his relationship with Binder, just as Baxter predicted. This reflects the alignment of the two stories and suggests that Bone will restart his relationship with Binder, just as the man meets the woman again.