he true nature of West Side Story may begin. As a post-World War II dramatist, Laurents has many more dominating influences. Two particular writers with influence on Laurents are psychological realists William Inge and Robert Anderson. In A Critical Survey of Drama, Thomas P. Adler states, “Like them(Inge and Anderson), Laurents is primarily a playwright who focuses upon character” (p. 1100). Adler also suggests, “Laurents reveals a solid measure of Thorton Wilder’s influence, both in the generally optimistic philosophy as well as in the nonrealistic techniques of some of his later plays and musical books” (p. 1100). It is this optimism that helps to separate the tone and general mood of the two differing works.To fully comprehend the magnitude of this original work, it is important to view West Side Story as a social comment rather than a modern Romeo and Juliet . The most influential objects in the life of Arthur Laurents are the post-war prejudice, social tension, and the truncated socio-economic classification of societal groups. In “The Arafues and the Rabinets”, Luis Smythe portrays the delicacy of unavailing this work. Smythe comments, “He waited until gang conflicts had subsided on New York’s upper west side before offering...” (p. 1). Mr. Houghton actually emphasizes the impact of this work on the ordinary citizen by writing, “The modern play deals with a tragedy through which we all are living” (p. 12). The sum of Laurents’ work is told through Maria as she stands by her fallen lover and cries, “We all killed him!”The facts are clear, Arthur Laurents is not some second-rate copycat author. An analogy is made by Robert Brustein in “Whose Faust Is It Anyway?” Brustein says, “West Side Story is about as true to its source as Superman is to Nietzsche’s ebermensch” (p. 1). He is, in fact, a superb writer who, jus...
