Fifth of July Character Arc

Fifth of July is a play written by Lanford Wilson about a non-conventional, and quite dysfunctional, family of friends living in mid-Western America in the 1970s, with themes of family, friends, war, loss, and the future. Each of the characters is coping with their own individual circumstances, and when these struggles are all brought together under one roof, tensions rise. June is dealing (and has been dealing) with the pressures and hardships of being a single mother. Aunt Sally is coping with the loss of her beloved husband, Uncle Matt, and struggling to find the perfect place to scatter his ashes. Ken is having a battle within himself about selling the family home: on one hand, he is struggling financially and wants to ensure a secure future for him and his partner, Jed; on the other, he is feeling guilty for the thought even crossing his mind, considering his family grew up in that home and it holds sentimental value. This, coupled with the adjustment to his post-war state of being, takes a toll on Ken and puts him under incredible stress. Ken is attempting to sell his house, “The Talley Place,” to his friends John and Gwen Landis in order to have financial security and opt out of a teaching position at a school. As the story develops, Ken gets more and more anxious to sell the home, despite his sister June intervening and explaining that John and Gwen wouldn’t appreciate the home and maintain it properly. It is in the final scene where one can see Ken really changing his mind about selling the house and realizing that it holds much more value than he thought. Aunt Sally and John go back and forth bidding for the house, and Ken ultimately gives it to Aunt Sally, keeping it “all in the family.”