We Could **** You Birch - Theme

We Could **** You, Mr. Birch works actively to destabilize the power of men as a centre of integrity, masculinity and autonomy. The playwright questions the whole nationalist myth through his self-centered, greedy male characters, with the female characters functioning as the rational, ethical voice that is so lacking in the men. By juxtaposing the past and the present the writer portrayed the similarities in the character of Sofea and Mastura between Dato Maharajalela and Ashburn.
From our understanding the writer wants to make differences between the male and the female. Mastura brings a wider, humanistic perspective to bear on the discussion of slavery, where her father insists that slaves maintain their lowly place within the patriarchal hierarchy. This shows the differences in thinking between male and female as Dato Maharajalela is seen as greedy who make interest on the slave system. In the present, this ideology is being brought out by the character of Ashburn and Sofea. Sofea had argued over by Ashburn’s greed in venturing the stock market. However, he claimed that Sofea is being pessimistic and he is very confident. The writer undermines Ashburn’s confidence by referring to actual cases of stock market frauds and crashes, such as the “Union Paper tip… from some Datuk who’s very well connected” (46). The audience, being aware of these cases, would obviously react to Ashburn’s optimism with some skepticism, and Sofea’s warnings would appear wise.