Rivera 1
David Rivera
Professor Richard Diaz-Rodriguez
ENG 102
01/27/18
Between Riverside and Crazy
As human beings, love is one thing we can never get enough of. For most people, when love
is not felt, they feel this detachment and proceed down a negative path. In his play, “Between
Riverside and Crazy”, Stephen Adly Guirgis shows how lack of love can become someone’s
weakness. The characters in this story reach for love from others, but do not get the full
satisfaction of feeling like they matter to the next. I feel this is the main conflict in this story
because everyone’s problems in the book refer to the lack of love from someone else.
One character who felt this detachment was Oswaldo. He did not have a close relationship
with his father. At the beginning of the play, Oswaldo had come out of jail and joined a
rehabilitation program in which he had not drank for a long time which meant progress to him.
Pops, one of the main characters in the play took on the fatherly role for him and gave him the
satisfaction of feeling like son. During the middle of the play, Oswaldo went to visit his
biological father which did not go so well. His father did not acknowledge his presence which
drove Oswaldo back to drinking. Since he was drunk, he couldn’t control himself and assaulted
Pops resulting him getting a black eye. Oswaldo’s lashing i...
