4000 Miles

     I would like to say there are several motifs, but the one I want to write about is the image of the funeral or graveyards. (Death may also be used synonymously with funeral and graveyards.) Of course we have to conclude the funeral is important since (Spoilers!) the end of the play ends with a funeral, or rather the creating of a eulogy for a funeral. The sole reason it is important may be because it is the last scene. Regardless, the play actually begins with the image of a funeral. The last bit in scene one Leo mentions not having been at Vera's house since the funeral, presumably for his grandfather Joe. In scene three Vera returns from a funeral she attended in honor of one of the last of her old colleagues. In scene five Vera mentions bringing a secret to her grave. (I also wanted to note something else in this scene. It becomes apparent that the characters consuming cannabis in some sort of celebration. Cannabis is also known to increase libido, which may give reason for why Vera and Leo talked about sex.)  In Scene six Amanda calls Vera an old lady ghost, which in my mind brings up a graveyard image. So Herzog has depicted three different funerals throughout the play; the funeral of Joe, Leo's grandfather, the funeral of Micah, and the funeral of Ginny. The first death mentioned was Joe who died as an old man. In contrast, the next funeral and death was that of a young man, Micah. It was terribly gruesome and untimely found in the description in scene seven. The last death was Ginny's, who died of old age. She was found by Leo in the netherspace between scene nine and ten. I think it proper to mention this was also why Ginny and Vera called each other every night, in case something like this ever happened. The last death and the first death mirror each other in that they both deal with old people. They differ in gender, but both had a relationship with Vera. The first two deaths were deaths of men if that is worth mentioning at all, otherwise Micah's death has less commonality to either of the others.