I have always loved the American South and the mountainous Western part. Perhaps, because I have roots from the not-so-urban parts of Pakistan. I relate so immediately to the rough and raw energy of Texans and Coloradans. For this reason alone, one of my favorite musicals is Oklahoma. The characters display such charm and simplicity. Their costumes are so quaint and romantic. However, the most fascinating character in Oklahoma is not the main character, but the villain of the story. The character of Jud Fry is the dark underbelly of the plot, the man who tries to rape Laurey due to his jeaoulsy towards her relationship with Curly. It is an interesting choice by Rodgers and Hammerstein to introduce such a character in a musical about love, innocence, and ordinary farm life in America. However, I have always seen Jud Fry as a necessary plot device, but also a commentary on the false positivity that at times seems to represent American society. His broken dreams and spirit, his violence, are perhaps what completes the narrative. From a psychoanalytic point of view, he functions as an adulting factor for Laurey, who is still a child when we first meet her in the play and requires growing up before she is a married woman. For her to become an adult, she must let go of her idealism and innocence and face the darkness of the external world, something which Jud-Fry represents.