The Dutchman Essay Question

Deja Parrish

Professor Kendra Johnson

Theater 3170

6 December 2016

Question: Dissect Clay’s monologue and use other plays assigned to class to identify specific ideas and concepts that resonate with the African American community.

In the past, African American community was covered in violence and chaos; this was as a result of the hatred that they had for one another. For example, the black people were always seen to be inferior while the white considered themselves to be more superior and powerful. They made the black people to work in their factories, farms and their ideas were not also accepted. Thus, there relationship was always full of chaos and civil wars. According to “The Dutch” there existed two powerful voices in the African American community. They were known as James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka who was formerly known as (Leroi Jones).The two wrote about their views on the African-American community in the past. In the play “The Dutch” Amiri reveals the racial issues particularly the issues that were contained in the relationship between a black man and a white woman (Baraka, 1964). 

This play reveals the African American community by showing the readers how the two people with different colors were trapped in their roles or functions which they had no control over. In the play, the Dutch, Lula one of the character is an aggressive and playful like character whose sole function tends to be instantaneous mock and persuade the other black counterpart by the name Clay. Clay’s name suggests plasticity and Lula is more than willing to form her into the wishes that he demands. Different from Clay, Lula is one sided and fixated on having Clay for sexual purposes and then driven to kill him when he tries to start a position up for himself. In the play, Clay is considered as the crossroad while Lula plays a significant role in making the decisions for him. In the play, Lula is seen as being a seductress and considered as White woman who lusts after a black man only to kill him at the end. This clearly shows how the African American community lived in the past. It was hatred against one another due to the difference in color (Baraka, 1964). 

Thus the violent nature of the African American community was observed when Lula and Clay met on the subways; Clay was one of the black people among the White individual who not appreciate being a black person. He just wanted to kill all of the White people due to the hatred that he had from them.

A Raisin In The Sun

In the play about A Raisin In The Sun, the African-American community was still corrupted with the hatred of one another, the play begins with a widow waiting for ten thousand dollars to get a house in the white suburbs for her family after the death of her husband, her son also has plans for the money to start a liquor store which her mother was against. However, she finally gives in to her sons’ demand and gave him part of the money to the liquor store. Things fail to go as he planned since one of the friends made away with the money living them to be powerless and inferior again. On the other hand, when the mother intends to go and get a house in the suburbs of the white people, she gets a notice from a representative that the black people are not allowed to stay in the houses which were next to the areas where the white people stayed. This showed the poor relationship that existed between the Africans and the White people (Baraka, 1964). 

Big White Fog

In the play, big white fog, Victor Mason who is one of the educated people lacks a job due to his color and is forced to work at the building sites just to get food for his family. This, therefore, indicated that, even though the black people were educated just like Victor, they were not given any chance to work at the offices where the White people were. Hence this was considered as life in the darkness. For example, through Victor's words, he believed that Marcus Garvey was campaigning for the black people to go back to Africa and become successful since when they were with the White, people, all there opportunities of being successful would be taken away from them. This showed how the African American community never lived in peace. For example, most of the black people were made to do the tough jobs while the white people save d the white color jobs for themselves. The title of the play big white Fog is also symbolic of the relationship between the Africans and the White people in the past. It was a metaphor which involved the racial prejudice and also denied the black person a chance to become successful in whatever he did and had knowledge about. When Mason, sons finally makes it in education and expects a letter for his scholarship, all the family members are happy but ,Mason knows it in his heart, that his son will never make it to the university with the scholarship since no one will support them to get the letter or get to the university(Baraka, 1964). 

Mine eyes have seen

In the book mine eyes have seen, the author tries to talk about the civil war which erupted between the white and the black people, these wars were fought between just groups the whites and blacks. This was because the whites simply wanted the Black people to carry out some activities which according to them, was considered as a violation of rights, they, therefore, got into a fight. However, due to the reputation of the war that erupted between the White people and the black people. The authors gathered the paintings which were acquired as a result of the war to see how the public would react to them (Baraka, 1964). 

In the four articles, the major theme that is represented by the relationship between the Black and the White people was power and powerlessness. The two groups were used to show the power among themselves and lack of power among themselves. The white people interacted with the black people like their bosses and powerful people who should be respected no matter what occurs. While on the other hand, the Black American people were known as the powerless people and this affected them to the extent that, some of them never felt happy with being black. For example, in the book “The Dutch” power has been indicated, Lula uses her power to kill Clay who at first pretended to be powerful but was not (Baraka, 1964)

Due to weak relationship that the Black and the White people had in the past, it led segregation of many cities and towns. This was as a result of excessive use of power and wealth. Most of the Africans were also arrested and taken to prison for the crimes they did not commit, but it was just because of their skin color.

Reference

Baraka, A. (1964). Dutchman. M. Morris, & S. A. Larsen (Eds.). Faber & Faber.