This is my introduction on my essay about the issues in the play “The Harder They Come” and the themes it involves. The Harder They Come is a hard story about a young man called Ivan who had left the country and visited the city hoping to get a life of stardom. Ivan’s story is a message telling you to go for your dream and never give it up; though Ivan went for his dream he went for it all the wrong way. The Harder they come is a strong story I believe showing that a lot of people will do anything and everything to achieve their dream. In this play Ivan turns to a life of crime to make his dream of becoming a star come true.
When Ivan moves to the city he gets struck by reality when he realizes that becoming a star is not as easy as he thought it would be, he realizes that there is a lot of work that goes into becoming a star but he is still determined to carry out his dream. When Ivan is ask to join a choir he meets the love of his life Elsa who is the daughter of the church’s preacher but because the preacher didn’t agree with their love they keep their relationship secret from everyone until one day when the preacher figured out their relationship and banished them from the church.
Elsa being the daughter of the preacher couldn’t have been taking this well being banished from the church by her own father. After Ivan and Elsa were banished they ran away together and they thought that everything was going to be hard and distressing but things didn’t get any better when they were cursed but very blessed with an adopted child, this is when they started thinking about where their next meal was coming from and where they were going to get money to survive on.
Ivan meets a music producer called Hilton who demands a high fee or a fee of which Ivan can’t afford before he would let Ivan use his recording studio. Ivan is in desperate need of money now to feed and take care of his new adopt child and Elsa and also so that he can pay Hilton the money to use his studio to record his music. This is were Ivan’s life starts to go down the drain when he starts dealing drugs and when he’s dealing drugs he is offered a gun by a stranger for protection, Ivan could have made the smart chose and turned the gun down but as said before Ivan will do anything to keep his dream going. Now that Ivan has this gun he sees himself as invincible. He feels as if no body can touch him, that the world is now his to roam.
Ivan hands over the money from his dealing to Hilton so that he can use the studio. Hilton doesn’t feel that Ivan’s record ‘RIDING RECORDS’ will get far, but Ivan is determined for it to go far and make him a star. Ivan has his record but now he needs to get it heard and for Ivan there’s no better way than the wrong way. Ivan threatens the radio DJ with his gun demanding for his song to be played. Sure now his song is heard but now so are the sirens. Ivan is now on the run from the police but it seems the longer he’s on the run the more trouble he seems to get in starting with the murder of the two police men. Some people might see this as a very bad thing to do but to the public and the fans of the RIDING RECORDS Ivan is now a hero and a strong role model to their day, time and age.
Elsa is starting to worry about her love as she doesn’t know about his dealing in drugs and that the way he is feeding and supporting her is through crime, but that all changes when Ivan runs home trying to hide one day. Ivan runs in, in a nervous which makes Elsa suspicious and curious about what is happening with Ivan. Ivan is trying to hide his money when Elsa sees Ivan’s gun which gets her frightened for the safety of her one true love. Elsa is also scared for her new child as their child has become very ill and if the child isn’t treated quickly it will die but they can’t get any medication for the baby because of problems with money
The chase is on. Detective Ray Jones, Pedro, Hilton and the Preacher are hunting down Ivan but Ivan has his fans supporting him. Unfortunately his fans weren’t able to support him enough because just as the tension was getting high the trigger was pulled. Injured and in pain Ivan flees to his love. Elsa sees the wound and is terrified and doesn’t know what to do but Ivan stays and is going to stay true till the end. Ivan wants Elsa to be safe so Elsa goes to her father and ask for help. The Preacher says that he would help Elsa by giving her food, shelter and money if she tells him where Ivan is Elsa is confused and doesn’t know what to do. On one hand if she tells her father where Ivan’s where about she can save their child and probably save Ivan but if she says nothing both her child and Ivan will die.
Elsa has a big weight on her shoulders but she decides to tell her father where Ivan is. Once the Preacher found out where Ivan was Elsa was waiting for help but then found out that her father had no intention of helping and left her stranded with nothing. Elsa flees back to Ivan to warn him but she is scared because she feels as if she betrayed him. Ivan and Elsa spend try to spend their last minutes together until they hear the police and helicopters coming for Ivan, Ivan tells Elsa to run and save herself but she doesn’t want to leave him she feels that they can still escape but Ivan is persistent about Elsa fleeing so Elsa fights herself to leave even though she wants to stay and she keeps running until she hears GUNSHOTS, and that’s when she realizes he’s ……gone…..
