What is the author's style in Six Plays by Lillian Hellman?

As is indicated by the collection's thematic emphasis on questions of social justice, there is the very clear sense that the author is writing from a place of concern with issues relating to the inappropriate use of power over those who have little - which is, essentially, what social IN-justice is. In other words, in all these plays the author dramatizes the conflict between those who want and/or have power for their own purposes, and those who want/have it in order to advance the greater good. Examples of the former are Teck in ...Rhine, Wilkie in Days..., Nick in ...Garden, and members of the Giddens/Hubbard families in ...Foxes (Regina, Ben, Oscar, Horace) and ...Forest (Regina, Ben, Oscar and Marcus). Examples of the latter are Martha and Karen in ...Hour, Whalen and Firth in Days..., Alexandra in ...Foxes, Kurt and Sara in ...Rhine, and Lavinia in ...Forest. Most of the other characters in ...Garden are less interested in larger social issues than they are in spiritual survival for themselves.

There are also several characters who seem to embody the hope for transformation inherent in the author's various explorations - in other words, the author's belief that the cause of social justice can be advanced through the spiritual transformation of an individual. These characters include Mrs. Tilford in ...Hour (even though her increased open-mindedness extends only to the fact that Martha and Karen had been falsely accused - there is some question as to whether she has been transformed enough to accommodate Martha's lesbianism). Other such characters include Andrew (even though his transformation comes too late) in Days..., and Fanny and David in ...Rhine.