Themes in After the War Blues and Zoot Suit
The play After the War Blues depicts the plight of Japanese Americans who return home from detainment during World War II, only to find their homes occupied by African-American communities. The play Zoot Suit, on the other hand, presents the story of Henry Reina and his 38th Street Gang members, who are unfairly jailed as a result of racial prejudice. This analysis depicts how the two plays demonstrate themes around home and belonging, and how they exemplify the themes of self-hate and calibanization.
THE THEME OF HOME AND BELONGING
The first theme around home is homelessness and the lack of belonging. In After the War Blues, the Japanese Americans begin to experience alienation when they are held in detention camps during World War II by their very own government due to their race. This detention leaves them with questions around their place in the American society. It also spurs perceptions of a lack of belonging given that society still progresses in their absence, with African-Americans and other racial groups even moving into and occupying their neighborhoods. The theme of physical homelessness sets in when the Japanese-American soldiers return to their Japanese town after the war and find that their residences had been sold and businesses re-let by African-Americans.
The group of Japanese-Americans struggles to re-establish their identity as a result. They lack a place to call home and have to establish some form of bicultural community in which they coexist with the current inhabitants. Such co-existence introduces the theme of inter-racial competition for resources, including land, ownership,
One character, Chet Monkawa, has to borrow money to buy back his parents boarding house, despite being unemployed.
Another evident theme among the Japanese Americans is emotional homelessness, which is characterized by feelings of being unwanted and not belonging. For instance, Chet is regarded as an outcast among the Japanese-Americans owing to his refusal to take a loyalty oath. He is lonely and alienated by his fellow Japanese-Americans, who regard him as a traitor and a loser, differently from his brother, whom they perceive as a hero after he died as a US soldier. Thus, despite being a recovering addict, Chet lacks the post-war support of the very people he regards as his brothers, which fosters emotional homelessness as he has to deal with the post-war effects alone.
On their part, the African-Americans mainly face the challenge of...
…his gang members stand in court whenever their names are mentioned, terming them as murderers and criminals. In all of these cases, the system uses laws and unjust policies to systemically dissuade the calibanized group from rising higher.
The playwrights use several strategies to minimize self-hate and calibanization among racially disadvantaged groups. To address self-hate, the playwright in After the War Blues introduces characters into the lives of affected individuals who help them address their deficiencies and improve their self-esteem. For instance, the playwright uses Chets brothers former fianc, Lilian, to mediate by renegotiating the terms of Chets mortgage with the respective lender as a means to assist him. Further, the playwright introduces the aspect of love through Lilian to help Chet address his self-hate and rediscover his worth.
Calibanization in both texts is addressed through riots that are organized by community members to push for the correction of policies, laws, and standards that cause systemic racial injustices. For instance, the Zoot Suits riots organized by Mexican American youth helped reduce the attacks by police servicemen that led to the detention of hundreds of minority youth in zoot suits. They also provided a means for Henry and his team to win their appeal and…
