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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom august wilson. Plume publishing New York Mr. Wison a poet a playwrighter. His play
Levee's physical appearance is very important to his conception of self-identity, which helps him to make up for the fact that he has no distinguishable identity of his own. For instance, he appears in the first act of the play with a pair of extremely expensive shoes. The importance of these shoes is underscored by the fact that they are identified by manufacturer (they are Florsheim shoes). Additionally, they are more expensive than the shoes that most of the other band members have on, and perhaps even more so than the rest of their clothes as well. It is also extremely significant to note that the money used to earn these shoes was partly illicit, since the musician won some of the funds he splurged on his footwear the previous night in a game of craps. This fact goes to show how valuable this particular material item is to the...
As one of the band members remarks, "If I had them shoes Levee got, I could buy me a whole suit of clothes" (Wilson). It is extremely important for Levee to have such expensive, shoes that everyone else can readily identify him with, since he actually has little identity of his own.
Levee's musical difference with his band members is another way in which he is able to define himself. All of the members are there in support of Ma Rainey except for Levee, who has his own ambitions of starting and performing in a band of his own. He has been composing and performing his own music as well as participating in that for Ma Rainey, and actually spends the majority of the play trying to get his version of some of Ma Rainey's songs recorded. Levee's conception of his own music as part of his identity is implied in the following exchange that takes place between him and Ma Rainey.
"Ma Rainey: I…
Works Cited
Wilson, August. "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." New York: Plume. 1985.
Wilson, Fences August Wilson's Fences allows the ordinary objects of domestic life to acquire a larger symbolic significance in their dramatic use. The play uses these symbols to dramatize a crucial moment in African-American history: the 1950s, when the great advances of the Civil Rights era are taking place, but when an audience might very well question what tangible effect they had on the lives of actual African-Americans. In presenting
Fences" August Wilson The Influence of Sports in Fences Sports is one of the principle motifs in Fences, a play written by August Wilson, and is utilized to facilitate the other themes that this work of drama explores. The protagonist, Troy Maxson (Gilmore), is a former Negro leagues baseball player who is still attempting to reconcile his attempts at a career in professional baseball with the fact that he was not
Black Bottom August Wilson introduces the importance of Christianity in African-American lives, especially in the characters of Toledo, Cutler, and Levee in the play "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." This play is not overtly about religion, but it is about the African-American experience and cultural identity. Religion plays a major role in the personal and collective identities of African-Americans. Christianity has an ambiguous and paradoxical position within African-American culture. As the religion
Fences" August Wilson Breaking Out: Autonomous Independence in Fences One of the principle characters of August Wilson's play entitled Fences is Cory Maxson, whose role as the son of the play's protagonist, Troy Maxson (Gilmour 2010), is fairly integral to the thematic issues that the author chooses to demonstrate within this dramatic work. As one of Troy's several sons, Cory represents the distinct ideology that is fairly endemic to all parents
His father cannot see him as a new hope; because he is too busy trying to protect him from the past. However, he cannot protect him, and in fact, he lets the past influence his own decisions. Wilson seems to be saying that many black men cannot learn from their past, instead they keep perpetuating the same mistakes generation to generation. Troy is a liar, which also gives a clue
When a person understands the history of baseball, much of what Wilson has to say makes more sense, because the jargon of the book can be problematic for others who have no concept of the game. This does not mean that the book cannot be enjoyable to people who have no real concept of baseball, but most people in America today at least know the basics about the game of