The Caterpillar Essay

385 Words2 Pages
The Caterpillar Rod Sterling’s screenplay The Caterpillar represents the desperation of companionship, position as “the high monarchy”, and the insipid way of living far from the cold war between communism and capitalism. The episode was produced in the 1970’s but based on the early 1900’s, a time of cold war and the end of the Victorian era which were far from the British colonials. Even though they lived in the tropical oppressive mood in Borneo, the British colonials Steven Macy and John Warwick presented the clashes between communism and capitalism. Macy wanting the role as the high monarchy is put into action by “falling in love” with Mrs. Warwick. Macy automatically charmed with Mrs. Warwick’s relaxed animated tone conjures up a cruel audacious way of thinking. The music playing in the background and Mrs. Warwick knitting composes a harmonious imagery blocking out the loud rainfall that’s considered to be irritating to Macy. Noticing how Mrs. Warwick’s calm, right-minded reaction to everything sets off his lonesome mood to worsen. Macy’s daily routine talking about tobacco crops and the annoying rainfall causes him to be incredibly bored and looks for an exciting thing to do, which in this case he “falls in love.” The high monarchy creates a respectful, royal, untouchable role that one imagines, evoking the rest to bow down and follow one’s action. Similar to colonialism, Macy considers this as the lifestyle that he desires with a bonus which is having a wife like Rhona. The desperation is represented in the episode by the dim light and the light concentrating only on his eyes, demonstrating suspense and a cruel tone. Macy doesn’t want to compete with Mr. Warwick, he decides to take the easy way out and commit an assassination with the help of Mr. Robinson. The rival between Macy and Warwick is only visible to Macy but can be seen as the battle
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