José Rivera’s “Tape” is a drama about Person, who is entering a simple questioning room guided by Attendant. Toward the beginning, Person is angry to be in this situation, but Attendant remains calm and friendly. Attendant is forcing Person to listen to every lie that Person has told throughout his or her life using a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Person is afraid of listening to the lies and is begging for forgiveness: “(Almost in tears.) I'm sorry . . .” (Rivera 545). Attendant does not seem bothered by the begging for forgiveness and makes Person listen to it anyways. On the surface, this drama can be interpreted as a normal police interrogation with normal human people. When digging beneath the surface, it is seen as an angel making someone who enters the afterlife listen to every lie he or she has ever told. This religious interpretation of Jose Rivera’s “Tape” can be seen through the author’s life, the setting, and the drama’s characters.
José Rivera, the author of “Tape,” was born in 1955 Puerto Rico, but a handful of years later he moved to the United States with his family. Rivera’s family was very…show more content… The setting is a very plain interrogation room, because it is very intimidating to the reader. The characters are vague so the reader can easily associate with them, and picture them anyway desired. José Rivera wrote this drama in order to make the reader think about the theme of lying versus telling the truth. Many people lie without questioning what they are doing, but now they know that all of their lies add up. This theme is talked about throughout many stories, but “Tape” deals with the issue from a religious viewpoint, which he learned from growing up in a religious family. José Rivera’s way of swaying the reader not to lie, or sin, is very successful, because of the religious interpretation throughout
