What do we live for? Is our sole purpose in life to live out our play? In the play "Six Characters in Search of an Author- a simple message is brought to the attention of the reader. We are alive in a play, our own individual play in which we, the character, goes through life interacting with others. We go through life hoping that one day someone else will understand our presence and in doing so, become our motive for living. Throughout the play conflict and discussion help to prove that each character is only searching for an author. They want an author to capture their life and write it down so that they can say their life was not meaningless. If someone can portray them in a respectful and true way then maybe they will live forever in the eyes of their audience.
The father has an incredible contribution to this play. He interacts with the manager attempting to convince him that he should be the author. The manager of course believes that the Father is talking nothing but nonsense. The sole purpose of the father is for someone to give his life meaning. He wants the acceptance of the Manager when discussing his "play."" The father has his heart set on convincing the manager that only he can play the part of the father because only he truly understands his own existence. In order for his play to make sense, the father must portray himself because he is the only one that knows his soul. Among many things, the father also seeks eternal life. If this play should find itself an author, then he will never die. He will live throughout time in his play. " because he who has luck to be born a character can laugh at death. He cannot die. The man, the writer, the instrument of creation will die, but his creation does not die- (The Father p.389) The Father also sees that he can affect others throughout his existence and he believes that not having an author does not mean that there isn't a wonderful play to be told.