SOURCE: Brown, Linda Ginter. “A Place at the Table: Hunger as Metaphor in Lillian Hellman's Days to Come and Marsha Norman's 'night, Mother.” In Modern Dramatists: A Casebook of Major British, Irish, and American Playwrights, edited by Kimball King, pp. 177-95. New York and London: Routledge, 2001.

In the following essay, Brown explores how hunger is treated as a metaphor for the psychological needs of the characters in Lillian Hellman's Days to Come and Norman's 'night, Mother.

Food is my drug of choice.

—Oprah Winfrey

One does not have to search far to find examples showcasing contemporary society's love affair with food. Store shelves contain abundant supplies for those with the wherewithal to purchase. Restaurants cater to clientele all along the economic spectrum. Bookstores report continually increasing cookbook sales even in shaky financial times. Television shows featuring cooking segments garner large audiences.

At the same time, more than ever...