Summary Of 4000 MILES By Amy Herzog

4000 MILES is a play by Amy Herzog about a 21-years old man, Leo, who comes to visit his grandmother, Vera, in New York City. During a cross-country bike trip, Micah, Leo’s friend, died. That leaves Leo with a lot of problems and sadness, especially with his family and his girlfriend. However, he eventually opens up to his grandmother who helps him move on and face his problems. Through the story’s dialogues and motif, we can see just how much being helped by loved ones and giving yourself time can help with the process of moving on. Herzog uses dialogues to reflect the characters’ state of mind. In a play, because we can’t have access to the characters’ thoughts, a dialogue needs to replace the insights of a character’s emotions. The conversations

He definitely doesn’t want to talk about it and the scars from Micah’s death are still obviously open. Later on though, Leo is more open about this tragedy. He explains precisely the events to his grandmother. He explains how “[his] best friend was under tree thousand chickens.” (54) and how he “threw [his] camera on the ground.” (54) out of anger. He confesses regretting doing that and is really honest about it. The fact that he is able to open up shows a sense of moving on. He is still hurt by his friend’s death, but he is now able to talk about it. Another sign of Leo moving on is with his ex-girlfriend Bec. After she tells him that she wants to break up, he tells her he wants to “touch [her]” (40) and that she’s “forgetting how [their] bodies are together.” (40) He clearly doesn’t want to let her go. At the end of the play though, he tells her that he is “busy” and “heading out” (66). He doesn’t make any compromises to see her, nor mention their past relationship. He gave up on trying to get her back. Therefore, from the conversations Leo has, we can see that he has moved up from his relationship with Bec and Micah’s