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Candles to the Sun
Candles to the Sun is a play written by Tennessee Williams in St. Louis, Missouri, 1936. The one-act play is written in ten scenes and was the first full length play written by Williams. The play covers about ten years in the lives of the Pilcher family. Williams was prompted to write the play by a professor at the University of Missouri while auditing a class in modern drama.

Characters
Bram Pilcher- a gruff, rugged, uneducated miner. He is the father of John, Star, and Joel Pilcher and the husband of Hester Pilcher.

Hester Pilcher- a loving wife to Bram Pilcher and mother to John, Star, and Joel Pilcher. She wants her children to be educated so they can live better lives than herself and her husband.

John Pilcher- the eldest Pilcher child

Star Pilcher- the middle Pilcher child

Joel Pilcher- the youngest Pilcher child.

Fern Pilcher- John Pilcher's wife

Luke Pilcher- Fern and John Pilcher's son

Birmingham Red- A mine worker that rallies for fair working conditions. He is in love with Star Pilcher.

Scene 1
The play begins in the home of Bram and Hester Pilcher in Red Hill, Alabama, early morning. The two talk while Hester makes Bram his breakfast, and it is revealed that Bram is a mine worker. Neither one has a formal education, and their conversation is written in a Southern dialect (is this the correct way of saying what I mean?). In this scene, they talk about their children, and discover that the two have very different dreams for them. The eldest, John, left home seven years prior to the conversation, and Bram and Hester are unsure if he is even alive. Hester has, however, received a letter from Pennsylvania that she fears contains bad news about John. She has not yet had someone read it to her. Joel, their eleven-year-old son is being educated at the small school in the town, regardless of Bram's insistence that Joel become a mine worker like him. Hester tells Bram that Star, the Pilchers' sixteen-year-old daughter, arrived home very late the previous night. When Bram wakes her up, she enters the kitchen wearing a brand new kimono. Hester tells Bram that Star has made friends with rich girls from Birmingham that have given her gifts, but Bram doesn't believe her. Star tells him that she went to Birmingham with a boy, Jake Walland, and he has given her the kimono, along with other gifts. Bram furiously slaps Star and threatens to kick her out of his home, and Hester protests. Star leaves the home as Hester begs her to stay. Bram declares that he is done with her and leaves for work, slamming the door behind him. Joel wakes up and comes into the kitchen. Hester has dropped the letter in the commotion and he picks it up. He asks his mother what happened, and she tells him everything is ok. She hands the letter back to him so he can take it to school and have his teacher read it and tell him what it says. As Joel leaves the room, Hester says out loud for the first time that she thinks John is dead.

Scene 2
Scene two takes place in the Pilcher home the following day. Miss Wallace, the school teacher, sits with Bram and Hester while Joel sits in the corner. Miss Wallace has just finished reading the letter to the Pilcher's. The letter is from John's wife, and as Hester had feared, John is dead. He quit his job working on a cattle boat and began working in the mines of Pennsylvania. Because Bram and Hester had not heard from John in seven years, they did not know he was married, nor that he had a son, Luke. John's wife and their son are on their way to Red Hill to live with the Pilcher's. It is clear that Hester blames her for John's death in the mines. Miss Wallace is getting ready to leave, but Tim Adams, the owner of a store in town, carries in a woman that has fainted in his shop. He says that she was asking about the Pilcher's, so he brought her there. Luke is with her, and Hester immediately fusses over him and talks about how much he looks like John. Bram carries in Luke and his mother's things, all packed in one small suitcase. Hester's hatred for John's wife, Fern, seems to be forgotten for the moment, and she rushes off to make tea.

Scene 3
The beginning of scene three is five years after scene two. The scene opens to Fern doing laundry in the Pilcher's living room. Mrs. Abbey, the town gossip and wife of the mine superintendent, enters with a basket of dirty laundry for Hester and Fern to wash, and begins speaking to Fern as she works. Mrs. Abbey first thinly veils an accusation that one of the Pilcher's has stolen her husband's pajamas, and Fern politely, but irritatedly, denies it. She sits down and tells Fern that Star was in the company store a few days before, and that another woman from town spit in her face. Star turned around and slapped the woman in the face. Star ran out of the store crying, and the woman followed her. Joel is now sixteen years old and working in the town's company store, where the commotion happened. He ran after his sister, and the store owner, Mr. Adams speculated that it was all due to "professional jealousy". As Mrs. Abbey finishes her story, Hester enters the house. She is about to repeat the story to Hester when Fern interrupts, clearly trying to get Mrs. Abbey to leave. As she gets up to leave, she again suggests that her husband's pajamas should just happen to turn up, she wouldn't be upset. Hester interrupts her and heatedly assures her that no Pilcher would steal from her husband nor anyone else. Mrs. Abbey is shocked that Hester would speak to her in such a tone, and reminds her that Bram works for her husband. Hester tells Mrs. Abbey that she doesn't care who Mrs. Abbey's husband is. Mrs. Abbey insults Star, and Hester throws her out of the Pilcher's home.

Hester talks to Fern about how she is tired of being walked on by Mrs. Abbey, but realizes that her actions may lead to Joel being fired from the company store. The two women talk more, and Hester suggests that Fern is still young enough to find another husband and have some fun in life. Fern tells Hester that she isn't interested in fun. She yells for Luke to go find some blackberries for lunch, and the two women marvel at how like John Luke is.

Scene 4
Another five years have passes since scene three. The scene is set in Star's house, a gaudily decorated living room. The house is nearly the same as Bram and Hester's in every way except decoration. Ethel Sunter, an evangelical type, enters and speaks to Star. The reader learns that Luke, the man Star ran away with ten years ago, has died. Ethel preaches to Star about how it's not too late to turn to God and be a better person. Star scoffs at Ethel's preaching, and she leaves as Luke, now seventeen, enters. Star tells Luke that she could never settle down with a man because she needed freedom. The two talk about Hester, who is apparently ill, and about how poorly the town is doing. The mines are often shut down and people don't have enough money to eat. Luke has been reading a lot and talking to a man named Birmingham Red. Red has been holding meetings about starting a cooperative commonwealth. Luke is interested in these ideas because they seem to serve everyone instead of just a few people. Star seems interested in Red as a lover, but he doesn't seem to notice her at all, which makes her mad. Luke tries to convince her to move back into Bram and Hester's house, but Star has not forgiven Bram for kicking her out at such a young age. She tells Luke that if Hester is dying, she will come see her. Luke leaves, and people from the street yell into the windows, mostly men trying to convince her to come to the dance. Others are women shaming her for her lifestyle. Birmingham Red comes into the house, and the two talk. He tells her about how so many mine workers die because the company won't clear the mines before they blast a new shaft, so the miners contract silicosis. Star speculates that Jake's death was as much from drinking as from lung disease. Red continues to talk about how many women are dying of pellagra since they can't afford good food and are becoming malnourished. Hester is apparently one of the afflicted.

Red and Star continue to talk, and eventually flirt. Star is trying to seduce Red, but he is more interested in taking things slow and talking. The two decide to take a walk and look at the stars. They leave the house and Luke comes looking for Star, but can't find her.

Scene 5
Scene five takes place six months after scene four. It begins almost exactly the same as scene one, but with Fern preparing breakfast in the kitchen instead of Hester. Hester has died, and Fern and Bram bicker about Fern not having things ready like Hester did. Fern shoots back that Hester didn't have things ready on time either and Bram knows it. Tim Adams stops by to collect money for things the Pilcher's have bought on credit form the company store. He is apologetic, and tells them that the store is accepting cash only from now on. Joel was fired in an attempt to save the company store some money, but Adams says that it didn't help much. Adams leaves and Fern continues working in the kitchen. Luke enters wearing mining clothes, and tells his mother that he's got to work in the mines now. He says it isn't permanent, but he needs a little more money for college. Fern pleads with him not to go into the mines, but his mind is made up, and Joel and Bram are on his side. Bram mentions that Luke will be working on the fifth level of the mine, which Birmingham Red has told her is the most dangerous part of the mine due to poor support. Fern is hysterical, mentioning how John died in the mines, but the men leave anyway.

Scene 6
Later on the same day as scene five, Fern makes dinner. She anxiously peers out the window every few seconds. Star arrives all worked up about Red working in the mines. There is talk of a strike. The women talk more about the strike and how worried they are about the men in the mines. Fern tries to think of a way to keep Luke out of the mines the next day. As the talk, a whistle blows three times, signaling trouble in the mines. Star watches the crowd from the window, while Fern collapses in the corner, sure that her son is dead. She mutters about John and the day they brought him dead into her home. Bram and Red lead the crowd of mine workers, Red shouting about how he told the foremen it wasn't safe, but they didn't listen. Bram enters the home and tell Fern that Luke is alive, but a few miners carry a body in with the face covered. Fern is hysterical and doesn't believe Bram until he tells her it's Joel.

Scene 7
A small crowd of miners and people from the camp gather in the Pilcher's home that evening. Joel is laid out in a back room for visitation, but most people gather in the living room and kitchen. Luke talks intermittently about how Joel wouldn't want all the fussing, but would rather be buried in the wood where he buried his hunting dog in the summer. Bram doesn't say much. A few of the men begin talking about the strike, and Luke joins them. As more and more men enter, the talk of strike gets louder and more passionate. Bram tells them all that striking won't solve anything, and they're all fools. One man, Sean, keeps stirring up the crowd and encouraging the strike, until Bram punches him.

Scene 8
The scene opens in Star's cabin. Red is playing solitaire while Star paces back and forth. She is unnerved by the quiet of the town, feeling that something is about to erupt. She professes her love to Red, but Red is reluctant to settle down since he is leading the fight for workers' rights, and is afraid Star will try to stop him. Luke enters with the money Fern has saved for his college. He took the money when Fern was asleep because she wouldn't let the men have it. Star begs Red not to take the money, and Fern arrives at the house. Sh argues that she worked for ten years so Luke could have the chances that his father never did. In the end, Luke and Red convince her that the people in the camp are starving, and they're more important than Luke's college. Fern leaves, devastated that Luke won't leave the town and find a better life.

Scene 9
Red and Star remain in Star's house after Luke and Fern leave. They talk for a while about their plans, about how maybe in the spring they'll go east. Star wants nothing more than to be with Red, but he's too preoccupied by the strike and the suffering of the people. He tells Star that his brother fought for the rights of workers in another town until the company sent someone to kill him. He said that the death of his brother started him on the path that led him to the strike, so he couldn't think about anything else until it was over. He gives Fern's money to Star and tells her to go give it to the men to buy food. He sees the men hired by the company to kill him coming, just like the did for his brother. He tries to convince Star to leave out the back door, but she won't go. The men come in and shoot Red, leaving Star alone in the house before the miners come.

Scene 10
A few weeks after scene nine, Fern is sitting in the living room in the early morning. Star arrives with a suitcase and tells Fern she's going to Birmingham to find work. She tells Fern goodbye, and tells her that she can tell Bram goodbye for her, their long feud not forgotten. As Star leaves, Luke enters and tells Fern that the strike is almost over, and the men won't forget that Fern was the one who saw them through the hard times. The strike worked, and the workers will be given safer conditions and fair wages. Luke is going back to the mines for a while, but he says it won't be forever. Luke leaves, and Bram enters. He tells Fern to turn up the lamp because it's so dark, but it's near spring and sunlight is coming through the windows. Bram has gone blind, and is clearly confused. He calls Fern Hester, asks where his children are, and confuses Luke for John. When the factory whistle blows to signal the start of the work day, Bram scrambles to find his things, determined to go to work even though he can't see and isn't in his right mind. As he leaves the house, Fern sinks into the rocking chair overcome with the emotional exhaustion of the past years, but she smiles as the spring sun warms her face.