Gender, Race, and Sexuality in Heroes and Saints and Dutchman
This paper examines the major themes of gender, sexuality, and racial identity in two pivotal American plays: Cherríe Moraga's Heroes and Saints and Amiri Baraka's Dutchman. It explores how both works address the stereotyping and objectification of women, women-led resistance to oppression, the marginalization of non-conventional sexual identities in Mexican society, and systemic racism against minority communities. The paper also analyzes the theatrical tactics the playwrights employ — including symbolic iconography, calavera masks, and open endings — to engage controversial subject matter while minimizing resistance from cast and audience alike.
- Introduction: Overview of both plays and paper scope
- Gender Stereotyping and the Objectification of Women: Women as objects versus agents of resistance
- Sexuality and Non-Conventional Identity: Rejection of homosexuality in Mexican community
- Racial Identity and Systemic Injustice: Minority pride met with systemic racial oppression
- Playwright Tactics for Minimizing Resistance: Symbolism and open endings reduce controversy
- Conclusion: Summary of key themes across both plays
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper moves systematically through three thematic categories — gender, sexuality, and racial identity — creating a clear, organized comparative structure across the two plays.
- It draws on a specific scholarly source (Greenberg) to ground claims about symbolic iconography and theatrical technique, lending credibility to its analysis.
- The discussion of playwright tactics goes beyond thematic summary to address craft and audience reception, showing analytical depth appropriate to the topic.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates comparative literary analysis by placing two plays in dialogue with each other rather than analyzing each in isolation. This technique allows the writer to identify shared patterns — such as women's activism as resistance and systemic racial injustice — while also noting where the plays diverge in setting and context. Referencing a peer-reviewed source to support interpretive claims further demonstrates secondary source integration.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief introduction establishing both plays and the thesis. It then addresses gender, sexuality, and racial identity in separate thematic sections, each grounded in textual evidence. A dedicated section analyzes the playwrights' use of symbolism and open endings as tactics to reduce resistance. The paper closes with a concise conclusion restating the central themes.
Introduction
Heroes and Saints, written by Cherríe Moraga, depicts the plight of a Mexican farming community whose members protest against pesticide poisoning, which they accuse of causing numerous birth defects and cancers among their children. Dutchman, written by Amiri Baraka, depicts the hatred between whites and blacks in America as well as the psychological and political conflicts facing Black men in the 1960s. This paper studies themes around gender, sexuality, and racial identity emerging from both plays. It also identifies some of the tactics that the playwrights use to minimize resistance.
Gender Stereotyping and the Objectification of Women
One emergent theme in the area of gender in both plays is the stereotyping and objectification of women. In Dutchman, Lula seductively approaches Clay on a train and uses her female charm to win his trust before eventually murdering him. Clay is a successful Black intellectual, which stereotypically depicts men as objects of success in society and women as sex objects for satisfying men's desires. Women are expected to be nurturing, while men are expected to be agentic and dominant. Men's dominance is shown when Clay, angered by Lula's behavior on the train, manhandles and slaps her, and none of the other passengers intervenes — because they perceive such behavior as acceptable given prevailing differences in gender roles.
In Heroes and Saints, the author associates womanhood with "tonguelessness," which Cerezita, the main character, defines as lacking the power of speech to speak freely and push for one's freedom from oppression. In one of her exchanges with her mother, Cerezita, who suffers from birth deformities, accuses her mother of tongue-tying her by refusing to allow her to speak in public because of her physical appearance.
Towards the end of both plays, however, women emerge to dispute these gender stereotypes and to fight against their perception as the weaker gender. In Dutchman, Lula murders Clay to secure her freedom from oppression. Cerezita in Heroes and Saints equally comes out to demand her freedom. She lacks a physical body but uses ritual performance to speak against the oppression being inflicted on her community through pesticide poisoning. The women's behavior towards the end of both plays symbolizes a second theme: women-led activism against gender oppression and stereotyping.
Sexuality and Non-Conventional Identity
In the area of sexuality, an emergent theme is the lack of acceptance for non-conventional sexual identities in Mexican society. In one scene, Priest Juan openly criticizes Mario, a homosexual, arguing that his beliefs contravene Biblical teachings. Similarly, Cerezita's mother argues that AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuality and criticizes Mario for engaging in what she views as a social ill contrary to God's teaching (Greenberg 173). Given the high standing that both Dolores and Juan hold in the community, their attempt to demonize Mario for his sexual orientation reflects a broader lack of acceptance for non-conventional sexual identities among community members.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the two plays effectively demonstrate the themes of gender stereotyping, the objectification of women, positive regard for racial and ethnic identity, society's use of systems to justify the disenfranchisement of minorities, and the lack of accommodation for non-conventional sexual orientations.
Works Cited
Greenberg, Linda. "Learning from the Dead: Wounds, Women, and Activism in Cherrie Moraga's Heroes and Saints." Multi-Ethnic Literature of the US, vol. 34, no. 1, 2009, pp. 163–184.
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.