"J. B." by Archibald Macleish [Theater program]

Abstract

The hero of the play is called J .B., after the current fashion in business address, and is a modern-day prototype of the Biblical Job. At the beginning of the play he is prosperous, powerful , possessed of a lovely wife, fine children; everything the heart of a man can desire . He is aware , as he could hardly help being , that God has made "an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side." This man is no better prepared than the Biblical Job was for the sudden inexplicable loss of everything. And this man must ask, as our time does ask, Job's repeated question . Job wants justice of the universe . He needs to know the reason for his wretchedness. It is in these repeated cries of his that we hear most clearly our own voices. (p. 9 program).