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"SEVEN GUITARS."
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Analysis of the August Wilson play set in 1948.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Analysis of the August Wilson play set in 1948. Playwright's depiction of the African American experience. His use of a jazz and musical idiom to delineate his characters in a life separate from white society. African American culture as the play's protagonist. Lack of opportunities for black men in the 1940s. The protagonist as an African American culture, not an individual.
Paper Introduction:
SEVEN GUITARS
August Wilson focuses on the one way that blacks can try to develop their own culture. “Wilson continues his weave of African-American experience through a larger and sometimes hostile American culture” (Grant, 1993, p. 1). Wilson uses a jazz and musical idiom to delineate his characters and their success or failure in a life separate from white society. This was 1948. The veterans were building Levittowns and going back to work. The Negroes who had moved up North from the South to work in war-time industries in Detroit and Pittsburgh were now being displaced by returning veterans. It seems the one sure way of making a name for a Negro in those days was in music. This was the time of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, Count Basie,
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The answer, of course, is Yes! There was this "Chit'lin circuit" where black performers had their ownaudiences- Chicago's Regal and Harlem's Apollo were the Palace of blackentertainers. (1956) The Story of Jazz. "From the very beginning, perhaps the jazz musician'sstrongest motive was the desire for recognition and respectability"(Stearns, 1956, p. He hasno education, no other skills. What is the relevance of this final act? References Baldwin, J. The Depression was ended by the War. Wilson also makes the discrimination point about medical care. Yet, as we learn more about Floyd one has to wonder-- why is it that so many un- or under-educated black men end up playingmusic and doing rather well at it. Floyd had to bepunished. It might be a little foolish to ask why some of these in need did notapply for welfare or workfare, or some relief from the government? The underlying problem, is thatFloyd has no real choices. In "Fences" it was Bono's father that left andnever returned. Here, too,Louise complains about her man leaving after twelve years. One supposes it is a means ofgetting rid of frustration, by stealing from white people. Other than music and menial jobs, what was the black man to do? Some people got rich, whitepeople, that is. Mr. Mister Carter" (p. The main problem with the ending of this play is the event thatcaused Floyd's death. Then there are the greedy ones, those who take advantage, like T.L.Hall, supposedly Floyd's manager, but now arrested for selling over $5 , worth of fake insurance to unsuspecting blacks in the Pittsburgh area. The story of the Negro in America is the story of America- or, more precisely, it is the story of Americans . Itcertainly does not speak well for black men. Don't they feel any sense of lack ofaccomplishment. "They moved all the white people out and nowit's sitting half-empty" (p. It seems the one sure way of making a name for a Negroin those days was in music. True as it might be, why doeshe have to keep hitting us with the brutal facts? Even so, as Wilson'scharacters reveal, the musicians kept on playing. Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton was successful, in his own way. But, that wouldbe unfair to Wilson, or to the millions of blacks who lived through theturbulence of the Forties. Is it, in the mid 194 s still impossible to get a decenteducation? Yet, in "Seven Guitars" as in some of his other plays, like "The PianoLesson" black women seemed to have jobs -- even if they were menial work inlaundries or working for some white woman. SEVEN GUITARS August Wilson focuses on the one way that blacks can try to developtheir own culture. 76). New York: Oxford UniversityPress.Wilson, A. Now, in this so-calledpost-war economy, the Negro is no better off than he was a generation ago.Those few signals of hope have not reached Pittsburgh yet. Without making a point of it,Wilson seems to be saying that there are some Jewish doctors not afraid,even willing, to treat blacks. L.Hall, and that letter from the record company he so proudly carried withhim. 81). You, in fact, need that, and you must never let anybody take that away from you...you're really describing what W.E.B. Notthat Floyd feels anything for Hall, but he sees his chances of doingsomething positive going down the drain. The Negroes who had moved up North from the South to work inwar-time industries in Detroit and Pittsburgh were now being displaced byreturning veterans. Blackness, to some, is a curse. "You get a hit record and the white folks callyou 'Mister'" (p. It is no wonder, then, that even today, many sociologists considerAfrican-Americans a matriarchal society. 32). Wilson uses a jazz and musical idiom to delineate hischaracters and their success or failure in a life separate from whitesociety. Seven Guitars. DuBois said about 'black twoness- 'two warring ideals in one dark body' (Grant, 1993, p. Some people died, including blacks. In the play, Lewis is fighting that night. He is in Pittsburghonly to get his guitar out of hock, and will attempt to swap it for hisgun. This was the time of Duke Ellington and LouisArmstrong, Count Basie, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. 1 ). 1). He either plays his guitar or he starves. The son was shot by the police, and Floyd escaped with $1,2 . But, he won't go quietly into thesanitarium or anywhere else. Dignity was something else again. Yet, to be punished by someone clearly not in his right mind wasthe ultimate cruelty of Floyd's life. His concert at the Blue goose was a rousing success.But, he had to resort to teaming up with a neighbor's son to pull arobbery. The veterans were building Levittowns and goingback to work. In 1948, the time of this play,there was no powerful NAACP (it was mostly white-dominated and not verypowerful at all), no SNCC, no Civil Rights marches; only the bitter memoryof Marian Anderson being refused to perform in Constitution Hall inWashington. "After he doneused me up. Hall was in prison. It would be difficult toretain any sort of dignity when jail, now and then, seemed the end resultof misbehavior, drunkenness, fights, or (as Floyd had said"worthlessness"). (1997). 8). Do we learn very much from this play (it was not terribly successfulon Broadway)? (1963) Notes of Native Son, New York: The Dial Press. Their music was even segregated onto "Rhythm and Blues""race" recordings, on off-shoot labels like Okeh. This is the fate of many a black man in the194 s. In Floyd's case it was his manager, Mr. T. 3).One may wonder, then, whether Hedley is the reverse coin of Floyd, andwhether Ruby is the same to Vera? 23). Of course, the womenpersevere. There are some blacks that were heroes at the time. Hedley is a victim of that battle. Hedley,who is suspected of having TB, would have to go into a nearby sanitarium,which used to be all white. It is somewhat frightening for a white person today to listen to thereason for Floyd's arrest, "they charged me with worthlessness" (p. 32 ). Sometimes, they don't have asimple choice. So, the Floyds of the black world played their guitars, poundedon their pianos, blew their horns and did what they could to gain respectand recognition. There is a good laugh about Red'swife naming her baby "Mister." "White folks gonna have a fit with a niggernamed Mister. Everythinggoing wrong at the same time" (p. There were very few blacks atthat time who could be called "Mister" by white society. One minority serving another. Health care was not open to many blacks.There were few, if any black doctors. Without good education, and with no marketableskills, the black man was doomed to live off the work and kindness of thewomen in his life. He is a series of shadows, self-created, intertwining, which we now helplessly battle (Baldwin, 1963,p. . It is for some of the characters inthis play. In partpride, in part ignorance, in part a self determination to handle thingsindividually -- even if it means committing a crime. . Grant, N. Wilson, as always, is concerned with the inconstancy of the black man.He gives no excuses, either. Floyd had to get to Chicago for recordinganother "hit song". Maybe that is the point: Blacks are a matriarchal society,except for those who make a name for themselves -- like Floyd and his hitrecord. 317). This was 1948. Floyd was an example of what Stearns (1956) wasreferring to when he said that jazz had to make the transition from privatemusic played by Negroes for Negroes to "a public music which had to survivecommercially in the white world at large" (Stearns, 1956, p. But, he was illiterate. I am a man,woman" (p. Jacky Robinson wouldbreak the color barrier, but dominance of black athletes that is happeningtoday was still years away. In fact, as he tellsVera "Some fellow down in the workhouse be writing everybody letters...itsounded so good I gave him an extra quarter" (p. Thesports field was just beginning to open up a bit. The Negro in America, gloomily referred to as that shadow which lies athwart our national life, is far more than that. In "The Piano Lesson" it was the playful attitudes of BoyWillie and Lymon, promising all sorts of things to women, and then, whenthey got what they wanted, out they went, never turning around. Actually, the protagonist in this and other Wilson plays isnot so much an individual as an African-American culture. "Interview conducted with August Wilson." Stearns, M. And, he lets Ruby have a piece of his mind:"You think the black man is a dog that I will crawl to you? He say 'It's something I got to do'" (p. 4 ). "What's the matter? Desperate people do desperate things in desperatetimes. After all, what was thealternative? What was important in the 194 s to blacks was some sort of respect inreturn for their abilities. As Floydhimself said "Come home from the cemetery after burying my mama, waswalking down the street- and they arrested me" (p. Joe Louiscertainly was one of them. Thereare only a few such real black heroes. 9). With jobs going back to white veterans, blacks were either unemployedor deemed unemployable. New York: The Plume Press 89). "Wilson continues his weave of African-Americanexperience through a larger and sometimes hostile American culture" (Grant,1993, p. Ofcourse, there could not be a happy ending to this play. Without a job, getting arrested was easy. As Wilson himselfpoints out (1993) your social awareness as an African-American is a sort ofmusic within itself. One has towonder why this seems to be a recurring event in August Wilson's plays. Yet, like the entire black race in America, some survive, somethrive and grow, others are plowed under. Their musicbecame universal, but they were still not allowed through the front doorsof the cabarets and hotels in which they were performing. If there is one thing black performers had -- whether good, bad, orindifferent -- it was hope. W. He maderecords tht sold fairly well. (April 26, 1993). T.L. 22). There is a Dr. Goldblum mentionedearlier, who charges only $2 for a visit.
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