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August Wilson August Wilson is one of the most famous playwrights of the 20 th century. He represents an impressive effort to describe position of black Americans and their struggle against slavery. He speaks about class inequality in the modern society. Actually, the majority of his works can be called the attempts of dramatizing the glory, anger, promise, and frustration of being black in the 20 th century. His works are really impressive, they are touching and interesting. He writes about the cruel life in the cruel society.
It seems that it is a strange point of view, as far as a lot of modern writers prefer describing classic stories with happy-end. Wilson explained in one of the interviews: If I were to do it today I might come up with a different setting, but it would be the same community and concern their struggles to remain whole in the face of all these things that threaten to tear them apart. (Heard E. J. , p. 93). He doesnt record the history only to inform the readers. Wilson tries to arouse the new attitude towards social position of African Americans in the United States. He makes an attempt to focus attention on their past and the role they played during its making.
Lets examine three of his works: The Piano Lesson and The Piano Lesson describes the events of early 30 s. From the very beginning till the end this book is dedicated to two questions: |What do you do with your legacy and how do you best put it to use? . Berniece and the boy Willy are trying to solve this problem. The Boy Willy wants to sell the piano and to buy the lands where their parents worked as slaves. The piano is an artifact, representing the legacy.
This piano is an embodiment of a family history. It was bought through the exchange for slaves, so it symbolizes the object under the system of slavery. Berniece and Boy Willy represent paternal and maternal lines of the story. They exemplify the two different attitudes towards the legacy. The girl wants to keep old traditions and the family treasures.
She wants to leave the piano untouched, in memory of the blood on its wood (Wilson A. , p. 47). On the contrary, Boy Willy wants to sell it in the sake of future and their future generations. He is not afraid of his past and the history of his family. Boy Willy speaks about it with pride. He declares himself equal to a white man and doesnt want to accept the racial situation, which is based on the racial and legal differences between black and white men.
In the final of the story Willy understands the importance of the artifact and Berniece convinces herself to be able to use the legacy. The other story, The Fences, takes place in the 50 s. It also reflects the experience of August Wilson about black Americans in the United States. The theme of his works is to show the struggle and attempts of African American to experience the rights which they never had due to their social position and The Fences is no exception. It is an attempt to show the differences between the slaves and free citizens in the free states and the slave states (Wilson A. , p. 36). The Pittsburgh is a place, where African Americans arrived to become urban citizens after they escaped from the South with its slavery.
Still, the black Americans didnt have equal opportunities in comparison to the white Americans. They didnt have the same conditions regarding work, place of inhabitants and social position. No wonder that they lived a hard life, working from the early morning till late at night, whereas the whites were spending a good life full of happiness and joy. The African Americans didnt have any governmental support, so some of them, like Troy and Bono, found their way of life in stealing and being in jail. Wilson tries to show the dreadful situation concerning the life of black Americans, who have low-income occupations, bad life-conditions and gloomy future. The third play, The Gem of the Ocean, is the ninth play of his cycle, describing the life of African Americans.
It is a drama in prose, telling us about the story of Aunt Ester, a former slave. The drama describes rather emotional slavery than a physical one it is a story of slavery of the soul (Murray M. ). Wilson plants the seeds of freedom in the hearts of the characters and forces the reader to think of gloomy history of African Americans and the desperate position of black Americans in the modern society. Aunt Ester, the main character of the play, a strong mystical woman, sends off Jesus to the center of the world, where the City of Bones is built from the bodies of slaves, who died during transatlantic trip.
She sends him off to find a freedom, to feel the hopelessness of those black slaves, who arrived to the United States a long long time ago. In such a way we can see than Wilson doesnt write bad plays everything he writes is full of feelings, emotions and drama. He is sincere in his emotions toward the black Americans and their life in the modern society. Wilson tries to interpret the history of African Americans and to compare it with that of white Americans. His plays leave strange expression: the mixture of dark gloomy emotions combined with the pride for the history of black Americans.
Bibliography: Heard E. J. August Wilson on Playwriting: An Interview. African American Review, Vol. 35, 2001 Murray M. Gem of the Ocean. Theatre Review.
December 22, 2004 [online] web Wilson A. Fences. New Amer Library, 1995 Wilson A. The Piano Lesson.
New Amer Library, 1990
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Research essay sample on 20 Th Century African Americans
