Ma Rainey\'s Black Bottom August Wilson. Plume

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 forming of the identity of Levee. 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 always got to have some music going around in my head somewhere… The more music you got in the world, the fuller it is.

Levee: I can agree with that. I got to have my music too" (Wilson).

The importance of this passage is not the fact that Levee agrees with Ma Rainey, but rather that he states he must have his ("my") music. As such, the trumpet player is distinguishing his music from that of Ma Rainey's, which indicates the fact that he defines himself through his musical differences with Ma Rainey and her group.