All reviews and analysis of West African Examination literature ,NECO AND JAMB 2

 

The next morning Sam wakes to the sound of a cat calling from outside his bedroom window. He lies in bed for few minutes while his eyes clear and he prepares himself for the day. He wonders whether to walk over to Bridge’s farm today to continue rebuilding the wall of an old stone outhouse where the farmer wintered his cows. He remembers when he was a young man; there is little or no work of this kind in the area because each family has sons of its own who could build walls. The cat calls from the window. Sam tells it to come and open window for it. The cat hates the rain and Sam knows it. Out at sea at the point on the left where the horizon is cut off by the headland. A navy frigate is steaming due west. Sam picks up binoculars from the window ledge and sees the shadow in the water.

It is still early morning and the sun is not yet high enough in the sky to be visible from Sam’s house. Poor Isobel, she is not lying asleep in her room any more. She wakes an hour ago. She leaps out of bed with a song in her heart. She leaves the hotel and walks down the hill into the village. She sits on the stone floor of the glass porch of her mother’s house. Sam does not like the feeling of doubt which nights like this gives him. Recently he suffers from bad dreams. He is four years old when his father lost at sea, hurled with gigantic force from the prow of the village lifeboat by a towering wave half a mile out to sea from the headland. Sam remembers the day when his mother wails for hours alone on the beach and women from the village keeps him from leaving the house to go to her. After that day his mother never speaks to him of his father’s death. And he never sees her cry again. Sam climbs up over one of the large outcrops of rock that stretches down almost as far as the low tide’s edge and clumsily hops from one rock to another. He clambers down again and returns to the sand. Then he notices a dark shape lies forty or fifty feet ahead of him in the shallows.

 

He approaches the shape he sees no movement and then he is closer still and soon he is standing right over it. He bends down, put his hand on the wet clothes and gently pulls the shoulder. He sees that the body is that of a little girl. He scoops his arms under her soaking clothes, lifts her up out of the shallow water and walks back up the beach. He puts his right hand over his left and pushes both down onto the girl’s chest. On the fourth turn of her body, the little limbs shake and her mouth opens and trickle of sea water flows from her mouth into the sand. The little girl revives.

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

Sam smiles back. The girl continues to look up at him. She does not say anything. Sam asks her age. She grabs Sam’s hand and tugs until he laughs. Two of them walk back the way Sam came. They walk together back along the beach. Sam is surprised again because now her clothes appear to be completely dry. He sees that she is wearing a black dress. Sam asks the rocks where the girl comes from. The girl is still playing on the sand that is beginning to absorb the heat from the sun. Sam realizes that she is dancing and he realizes too that she wants him to dance.

 

After sitting in the porch of her mother’s house, Isobel goes back to bed. Later in the morning she sits at one of the tables in front of the hotel, eats a late breakfast. She has the local newspaper props up in front of her and she reads about the death in the village bay yesterday afternoon.

 

When Sam and the child get back to the house from the beach, Sam prepares porridge for the girl and he explains to the kitchen. He places the bowls on the table and sits down beside the girl. The girl finishes her food quickly. Sam asks her how long she has being out there in the water. She does not talk rather she smiles at Sam. Sam asks her whether she needs more porridge and gives her two pieces of bread. She eats them quickly and wipes her mouth. Sam says it is like she does not talk. All the time the girl jumps up and down on the concrete yard, claps her hands and laughs delightedly. Sam watches from the doorway of the house. He looks at the girl and says that the girl belongs to somebody. But there is no sign of any activity out in the big bay, no lifeboats searching for survivors of a stricken ship, no helicopters overhead. Sam thinks of walking into the village with her and she might recognize somebody.

 

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

Isobel’s mind runs with thoughts of the poor man’s final day. She begins to imagine it almost like a film. She decides after breakfast to walk up to the headland so she could get a different perspective on the village. She knows too that she is still avoiding the main reason for her visit. She walks down from the hotel to the promenade, passes her old shop, continues to end and then up the steep hill. She remembers the first time she made love when she is sixteen. She remembers her mother’s warnings and the doctor who told her to change. Isobel opens her eyes again and sees to her right a huge man walking towards her with a little girl at his side. Isobel suddenly recognizes him from the curious comments yesterday in front of the drowning. As they walk past, Isobel looks at the little girl and thinks she is her granddaughter. The girl stares silently straight back at Isobel. Isobel continues to look into the girl’s solemn dark eyes until she and the man disappear from view. Sam is not sure what his plan is. He does not want a lot of fuss. He tells the girl to alert him whenever they come across her mum. The girl looks up at him with a small frown. Sam pauses by one of the benches and indicates to the girl to sit. He points at the newsagent on the other side of the road. He buys newspaper and reads to see if there is any news about a missing girl, but he finds nothing in the news.

 

Sam recognizes the voice of a man that comes to prawn and crab fishing over on the big beach. He stops laughing and stands up without looking at the man who is in front of them. The man asks Sam whether he has relatives. Sam says no and walks away with the girl.

 

Isobel spends several hours on the beach of the great bay. She lies in her swimming costume, dozes under the hot August sun and feels the pressure of the heat on her skin.

 

Sam is noisily putting away the dried breakfast plates in his kitchen, his face angry still as it has been all the way back from the village. He describes the events of the morning to the house. The arrival of the child today upset this balance. It is different; he knows it is different to when the cat appeared.

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

 

Isobel picks up the postcard from the mantelpiece, turns it over. There is her handwriting. A few rushes sentences, a brief description of a party she has been to with some of the nurses. She remembers writing it only weeks ago. Isobel stands still and listens to the silent house. Cancer killed her mother. The cancer torn through her bones and was gnawing at her lungs when she went to see her doctor. Isobel walks over to the window. The carpet is new- her mother mentioned it in the last postcard. Lace curtains cover the windows. Outside two children are laughing as they walk past. Isobel discovers that nothing has changed. The kitchen at the back of the little house looks out onto a concrete yard and some of her mother’s underwear is still dangling from pegs on the washing line. Isobel sits on her bed and pulls out a metal trunk, opens the lid it is full of remnants of her childhood books, drawing, schoolbooks and photographs.

 

Sam enjoys the girl’s company, though she does not talk still. She helps him without getting in the way, she arranges the knives and forks and spoons in the cutlery drawer.

 

An hour later, fumbles with the key and unsteady on her feet. Isobel locks the front door of the house and walks to the end of the street.

 

 

 

CHAPTER SIX

 

Saturday comes hot and still again over the village and great bay. On the beach of the great bay, Sam and the girl are crabbing amongst the exposed rocks where they climb the day before. The girl is tiny and nimble and scampers over the rocks ahead of Sam. In half an hour, he already has two good-sized crabs, which scrabble noisily in the black plastic bucket. The girl watches him with serious attention as he digs his fork into the flesh of the crab then she does the same and tastes her first mouthful and she swallows it and grins at him. He eats more himself, it is a rhythm, and everything is a rhythm. He likes the way the girl fits in with the rhythm of his life.

 

By ten o’clock in the morning, Isobel has already checked out of the hotel. She wakes early again with a dry headache to remind her of last night on the beach and realizes straight away that it makes sense to move into her mother’s house while she is here. The doorbell rings, Isobel Starts. She pauses for a moment then gets up and walks to the front door. She opens the door to find a woman of about her age. It is Marion. Isobel remembers her old school friend. They have not spoken for fifteen years or more.

 

Sam and the girl set off again up the steep path from the house to the top of the headland. Sam thinks she needs more clothes. Sam looks at her ahead of him in her little black dress and his old brown sandals. The girl follows his lessons intently, sometimes standing up to get a better view down to the water at the foot of the cliff. Sam puts out of his mind any plans to find the girl’s parents. They walk along the promenade and turn the first side street off the main road where the village supermarket. He finds milk and bread and leads the girl to the small clothes section at the back of the store. Sam quarrels a little with the cashier about wrong calculation. He pays for the things he bought and puts his change in his pocket. He walks hand in hand out of the shop with the girl. Isobel stares at the back of Sam and the child. The child holds Sam hand. She continues to stare until they turn the corner and are gone. Isobel grabs her change and the milk and runs after him. She excuses Sam, Sam walks but the child turns her head. Isobel taps Sam and he stops and turns around, looks straight at Isobel. Isobel introduces herself and says she saw him in the crowd at the beach and that he said something that is not right. Sam looks at the supermarket sign at the end of the road, squeezes the little girl’s hand tight and says they have to go.

 

 

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 

Isobel re-establishes some form of relationship with her old school friend back at her mother’s house. She listens to her sips coffee from her mother’s cup. Marion is married to a local fisherman called Michael. She has three children and she lives in the house opposite for nine years. Marion asks Isobel what happened all these years she left. Few minutes later Isobel accepts invitation to supper that evening with Marion and her husband. Few hours later, she finds herself in the garden across the road with Marion and her husband. Isobel thinks of Heloise abbess of Paraclete, re-reads Abelard’s letter alone in her room. Isobel asks about Sam. Michael tells her that everybody knows Sam the loner who lives in the little cottage. She remembers an old woman who worked for her mum, it was Sam’s mum. She asks about Sam’s Mum. Michael says she died years ago. Isobel tells them about the little girl that walks with Sam. Michael says Sam has no relative and remembers that old Geoff said something about Sam and the little girl in the pub last night. Marion reminds Isobel about Sam. They used to spy Sam back then at school. They called him bogeyman.

 

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

Sam’s mother is called Bethany. For months after her husband’s death, Sam’s mother would call for her boy in the house to no avail and eventually she finds him all the way down at the bottom of the steps playing quietly in the sand and rocks. Sam remembers this again as he descends the steps behind the child. They finish breakfast, clear up and Sam examines the state of the sea. He asks the little girl whether they should go for fishing. The girl’s eyes are bright with excitement. They gather the line, bucket, oars, and rollocks down to the beach. At the foot of the steps stands Isobel. She comes to walk over to the big beach and to see if she could spot Sam and the little girl. She catches sight of the little girl and the giant leading her. She walks towards the steps to meet them. She greets Sam. Sam sees Isobel and recognizes the blonde young woman. She says she is on holiday and she is having an early morning walk. She tells Sam about his house and his mother. Sam closes his eyes just for a second as they all three walk along the beach and as he does so, Isobel looks down at the child. She asks to join the boat for fishing. She asks Sam if she can come over to his house next time. Sam agrees and fixes time Isobel thanks him and leaves.

 

 

CHAPTER NINE

 

Isobel reads pile of letters in front of her. She finds them in a box underneath her mother’s bed. She reads letter after letter from her father to her mother, written before she was born. Every letter overflows with passion. At four o’clock Isobel sits at the kitchen table in Sam’s house, smiles and listens as he describes the fishing trip. Isobel looks around the room, which smells warm and comfortingly of baking. Sam lays out cups on the table and then Isobel sees a black cat step softly into the kitchen. He turns his head to look out of the kitchen window and Isobel follows his gaze to see the clouds. She realizes that the room is dark since she arrived, the clouds reaches the point where the sun is and blocks it out. Sam thanks Isobel for coming and having tea with his mother. Isobel asks the little girl’s name and Sam tells her that the girl does not have any name. Sam looks at Isobel and tells her how he got the little girl. Isobel says she must be someone’s child. Sam explains that he took her to the village, but nobody wants her and there was nothing in newspaper about her. Isobel asks him about the police. Sam says he does not want to bother the police. The little girl plays with the black cat. Isobel looks at her. She knows it is a mad story and she knows there is no missing girl in the village. Isobel feels a sudden need to go. She picks up her bag and smiles at them. She ducks back out of the open front door and across the concrete yard. She runs down the path not looking back. That evening Sam and the girl eat a supper of runner beans and potatoes from the garden. Sam tells the girl that he forget to ask Isobel to help them select clothes for the little girl. The girl turns around again, frowns at Sam, then runs into the front room and picks up her pink rubber shoes.

 

 

 

CHAPTER TEN

 

Before Midday, Isobel sits in front of the village registrar and waits while he signs her mother’s death certificate. She sniffs once or twice. Back at the cottage, she puts the envelope down on the coffee table, and goes into the kitchen to make some tea. She sits down at the table. She shivers although the bad weather of the night passes already and the house is not cold. She drinks her tea.

 

Sam is looking at the girl who is scraping the last juice of the beef stew from her plate with a wedge of bread. Her black hair hangs over her face but Sam sees her eyes and they are tired. At one point Sam pauses in his work and watches, the girl plays with some of the chickens. The girl sleeps and Sam goes out for fishing. Sam wades back into the water and lifts the catch out. He tucks the rod under his arm, holds the fish by the gills and removes the hook. Then he holds its head with his left hand, yanks it back quickly and hears a click as its neck snaps. It is a woman’s voice, Sam startles and turns around and discovers Isobel. She does not make any decision earlier in the cottage at six o’clock. She suddenly pushes all her papers off the dining table, runs upstairs to put warm clothes and heads off once more for the costal path. Sam asks her the reason of coming down to that place at that point in time. She does not sound right at all. Sam walks through the shallows of the water towards her and gives his coat to her. Isobel refuses to take and says she is fine. Sam sees her begin to fall and he drops the rod and the fish and leaps forwards, just in time to catch her back as she collapses onto the sand. He lays her on the sand and plays the beam of the torch over her face, which is completely white. Isobel’s unconscious body drapes over his two massive arms and underneath her the rod and the fish dangle from his fingers. He sets off back along the beach. She knows he carries her. She stays silent and wonders at the feeling of allowing every muscle in her body to be relaxed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

Isobel lies on Sam’s bed, listens to the quiet sounds of preparation from the kitchen. She lets herself be lay down upon the single bed, which is in one corner, and Sam lights a gas light on the opposite wall. Sam talks quietly to the cooker as it heats the water in the kettle. He does not want the girl to wake up and he does not want to disturb Isobel. Sam makes a hot tea and gives to Isobel to sip. She drinks it and thanks Sam. Sam tells her to sleep on the bed while he goes to sleep on the bench outside. Isobel refuses and says they will sleep together. Isobel reaches for his hand with hers and slowly pulls as she feels the pounding of the blood inside him and she lay on his side and pulls him down beside her. He lies beside her, their bodies touch and their faces suddenly so close to each other on the bed.

 

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

In the morning when the girl wakes, it is soon after dawn. The front room where she slept is grey with the new light, and for a few minutes, she lies in the small bed with her eyes open. Quietly the girl gets up and dresses. Her black cotton dress is creased and she smoothes the fabric as she put it on. She stands up and walks to the kitchen. She rinses the saucer in the sink and set it on the draining board with the previous evening’s washing up. She looks around the kitchen, which is light now with early morning.

The girl walks around to the back of the house and begins to climb down the steps, which lead to the beach. She plays on the beach and the sun appears over the headland and shines down on her alone. Eventually she makes her way back to the steps and climbs back up to the house. She walks around the yard and into the kitchen where Isobel is sitting at the kitchen table. Sam pours water from the kettle into the teapot. He looks at her in the doorway. Sam tells the girl that he saw her on the beach. The girl looks at Isobel and Isobel smiles at her and asks her whether she recognizes her. Sam busies himself buttering and spreading toast. He brings two plates over and sets them down in front of them. The girl takes the tea and looks at Sam. Isobel says she thinks Sam is the last good man on earth. All three stand up and pause briefly in the bright morning sun of the kitchen. Sam shifts on his feet. The girl looks up at him then Isobel takes her hand and they both walk to the front door. Isobel takes the girl to the village. Sam explains everything to the concrete mixer.

 

CHAPTER THIRDTEEN

 

Isobel thinks about her book. She follows the girl up the cut-through, follows her pink shoes as they climb the steep path. She realizes that at last she could write her book. They reach the village and they turn off left at the start of the promenade to reach the street where her mother’s house is. Isobel suddenly thinks of Marion. She could ask Marion to look after the girl. She takes the girl to Marion. She does not stay any longer, she just smiles as Marion tries to talk to her and she does not even really listen to what Marion is saying. Marion is calling out something even as Isobel crosses over the road and goes into her mother’s house. Isobel only says she will be back. Isobel is exhilarated as she writes her letter. Page after page, she writes without stopping. Her writing sprawls over the pad and sheets pile up on the table. She does even hear the knocking on the front door. She is completely oblivious to it. Until she finishes and she sits, back in the chair in the dinning room and closes her eyes and smiles. She finally hears the knocking and the voices. She gets up, goes to the front door and sees all those people. Marion, with frowned face, holds the girl’s hand, the policewoman; the man on the pavement talks to the fat villager.

 

Sam strides back up the long, steep lane from the farm, which lies down in one of the valleys that are set back from the cliffs. Look at him the crowd shouts. Sam climbs the steep hill. It is about five minutes before; he reaches the top where the lane meets the main road.

 

Isobel cannot understand it all. She does not understand what they are all talking about. Why have they make her come back already, they have not done their shopping yet. Why is she sitting in the back of a police car, driving up the steep hill out of the village? She and the girl are sitting in the back seat and the car is pulling up on the left at the top where the cliff path starts. Marion is with them in the back of the car but Isobel has not listened to her.

 

The girl leaps out of the car and she runs towards Sam. The police woman calls out something. Isobel sits alone in the car. Sam walks and picks up the girl. The police man who drives the car walks up to Sam and asks him to identify the child. Sam does not know what to do. Sam thinks he should get home. He starts to move forward and the policeman puts his hand up against his chest and Sam flares angrily at him and at Marion, and he shouts his huge voice and real up there on the cliff road. The shout surprises the policeman. Sam starts to walk with the girl. Isobel gets out of the car and talks to the policewoman. Isobel calls out for Sam, but Sam refuses to listen to her. The policewoman talks into a radio. Sam starts to run with the girl in his arms down the costal path. The policewoman calls Sam to give up the girl. Sam stumbles down the descending part until he reaches the path to his house. He gets to the gate; he lowers the girl gently onto the ground and unlocks the gate. Sam shuts and bolts the gate. He knocks things off the shelves of the aluminum cupboard at the back yard and takes his old shotgun. There are no cartridges in it and Sam has never fired it. The policeman sees the gun and shouts.

 

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

It has been very quiet for a couple of hours. Sam has not said anything, and he sits on his bench outside the kitchen where he sees the whole of the bay. Soon after Sam gets the gun out, lots of people come, some of them are all dressed in black with funny ribbed waistcoats. They have guns. They surround the house. Some of them have squeeze themselves into positions beside bramble bushes. Isobel stands about seventy feet from the ledge. She is on the rocks. She jumps off. Sam shows the gun and they all run backwards. The man with the loudhailer keeps on shouting. It is very loud and it echoes all around the yard. It makes Sam mad. He jumps up from the bench with an angry yell, a loud, long, angry yell. He picks up the old shotgun, runs across the yard, leaps onto the wall, and begins to lift the old gun as though he is going to aim it. Then a bullet is fired by one of the policeman. It spins and spins through Sam’s head. Sam dies. They race towards Sam. This is the end of their painful love.

 

 

 

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE

 

The majority of the book is written in third person and then in the last few pages the book switches to first person. The little girl finishes the story at the end.

 

LANGUAGE

 

The language is natural, flows and woven with costal jargons. It shows the relationship between the author and the Cornish coastline and its unique type of village.

 

STYLE

The author uses retrospection and flashback to recalls the characters’ past events. We always hear Isobel recounts lines from Heloise.

 

 

 

CHARACTERIZATION

 

Sam

 

He is a huge man, four to five inches tall. He lives alone in the cottage built by his great-grandfather in the late nineteenth century. He works on the building sites, carries bricks. He is four years old when his father dies at the sea. He has a Bridge farm around his house, where he grows tomatoes and cucumbers. Sam is a loner. He talks to his house, bench, stove and rocks at the seaside. His mother died many years ago and he rescues a little girl at the bay. He falls in love again with Isobel and dies in the hand of policemen.

 

 

ISOBEL

 

She is still only half way through her A-level course at the local school when for no particular reason she takes off with a boy. She does odd jobs, works in shops and in an old people’s home. For the last ten years, she only sends postcards to her mother. She also works as a nurse, the doctor tells her to go and see her mum. Three days later, she gets the telephone call telling her that her mother is dead. She quotes Abelard and Heloise. She plans to write a story. She falls from the hilltop the same day Sam dies.

 

 

The Little Girl

 

The little girl is a mysterious character with no identity. She does not talk. Sam rescues her from the big bay, the day he sees her drenched. She becomes Sam’s companion and closest relative and her instinct brings Isobel to Sam. Sam dies because of her. When the narrative voice changes in the story, she is the one that tells us how the story ends. She tells us the death of Sam and his lover Isobel.

 

 

MARION

 

Marion is Isobel’s old school friend, the dreamy teenager who accompanies her on some of the illicit moonlight walks to the lighthouse with boys. She tells Isobel about Sam. Isobel leaves the little girl with her on a fateful day. It is Marion, who invites the police.

 

SUSAN

 

Susan is a cashier in the village supermarket. She quarrels with Sam over electronic scanner calculation error. Sam corrects her and she gets upset with him.

 

 

MICHAEL

 

Michael is a local fisherman, who marries Marion. Marion gives birth to three children for him.

 

 

GEOFF

 

Geoff is the old man who comes to prawn and crab fishing over on the big beach. He tells people in the pub, that he sees Sam with a little girl.

 

 

 

 

THEMES

 

ISOLATION

 

Separation from normal and conventionally reality, nothing about the day accords with Sam’s understandings of the world, and he feels unhappy and unsettle about the trip into the village. He feels exposed. Sam does not want to do anything with anybody. He sticks to himself and the sea world around him. He has an image of himself walking through the village with the girl by his side, and he does not want this image. Sam leaves his old life back to the cottage to avoid relationship with people. Over the years away on the building sites when he learns his trade, he learns too about his fellow man and he learns to look at an angle always so that he goes quietly without attracting attention. Poor Sam drifts away from people and quickly lives amongst the elements of the world and forgets about love.

 

 

 

LONELINESS

 

The last person Sam cares about of course is his mother who dies long time. Sam lives at the seaside alone. He talks to his kitchen, bench, spoon, stove and rocks on the seaside. When Sam and the child get back to the house from the beach, a sense of normality and routine seem to return after the wonder of the early morning.

 

 

CHANGES

 

Change is inevitably dynamic. After isolating themselves from the world, the enchantment and spell of change catches up with them. In the novel, we see the doctor advises Isobel to make a change. She is young, beautiful, should get away from a worthless job and lifestyle. It has been Sam’s way for a long time now to avoid the attention of others. His life with the things around him and the beach and the sea is complete, he thinks and somehow he knows that the arrival of the girl creates a change to that balance which is beyond his control. Sam moves off and the child walks beside him. He feels his life changes. Sam recounts his encounter with first female and the second female on the beach, though the recent events present a disturbance to his routine. Still he does not feel perturbed by the changes.

 

 

RESPONSIBILTY

 

Life is not about just doing whatever you want. It is about duty. It is about responsibility. Isobel goes around sleeping with men and she makes love with whoever it is out of kindness rather than passion. She thinks she owe it to them. She runs away with her boyfriend with no reason in particular. On occasions, she gives in to one of her curious, irrational weakness-popular psychology books. Likewise Sam live in the cottage alone with nobody to talk to, he does not wish to associate with people. He seems to do away with the complexities of life-, which comprises of responsibilities. But the arrival of the little girl in Sam‘s life, comes with great responsibility. Sam now talks about- we need more bread and milk. Sam thinks she will need more clothes though. Sam thinks Isobel will help to select from the old ones in his cottage. Sam assumes and dies in responsibility protecting the girl.

 

 

 

 

LACK OF SELF CONSCIOUSNESS

 

This lack of self-consciousness gives these characters reason to isolate themselves from the world. They do not know that they are useful and valuable to other people in the village and in their life. Sam builds a relationship to things around him with which he interacts and he forgets how he might appear to other people. Isobel’s life in the city goes with people who depend on her, people who find it difficult to cope, people who find it easier to cope by unburdening themselves on her. She instinctively is drawn to them, feels obliged to support them. She is good but Randomness informs her life. The way she first leaves the village is random. She is never certain of any idea, doubtful of expressing views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Wright

 

Native Son

 

He was born on September 4, 1908, in Mississippi. In 1934, Wright became a member of the Communist Party and began publishing articles and poetry in numerous left-wing publications. Wright took a job with the Federal Writers’ Project helping research the history of blacks in Chicago. In 1937, he moved to New York, where he was Harlem editor for the Daily Worker, a communist newspaper. Around this time, he wrote and published Uncle Tom’s Children, a collection of short stories that addresses the social realities faced by American black men. However, Wright’s 1940 novel, Native Son stirred up real controversy by shocking the sensibilities of both black and white America. In the early and mid-1940s, Black Boy was published. Wright died of a heart attack in 1960.

 

 

 

 

SETTING

Chicago. Illinois is the largest city and the industrial center of the Midwest. Richard Wright’s family was one of thousands of southern black families that migrated to Chicago between 1916 AND 1920 and eventually settled in the South side ghetto, where Wright grew up. His protagonist Bigger Thomas has the same Chicago background.

 

 

 

PLOT OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS

 

“Bigger Thomas is a poor, uneducated, twenty years old black man in 1930s Chicago. He wakes up one morning in his family’s Uncomfortable apartment on the South Side of the city. He sees a huge rat scamper across the room, which he corners and kills with a skillet. Having grown up under the climate of harsh racial prejudice in 1930s America, Bigger is laden with a powerful conviction that he has no control over his life and that he cannot aspire to anything other than menial, low-wage labor. His mother pesters him to take a job with a rich white man named Mr. Dalton, but Bigger instead chooses to meet up with his friends to plan the robbery of a white man’s store.

Anger, fear, and frustration define Bigger’s daily existence, as he is forced to hide behind a façade of toughness or risk succumbing to despair. While Bigger and his gang have robbed many black-owned businesses, they have never attempted to rob a white man. Bigger sees whites, not as individuals, but as natural, oppressive force. Bigger’s fear of confronting this force overwhelms him, but rather than admit his fear, he violently attacks a member of his gang to sabotage the robbery. Left with no other options, Bigger takes a job as a chauffeur for the Daltons.

Mr. Dalton is also Bigger’s landlord, as he owns a controlling share of the company that manages the apartment building where Bigger’s family lives. Mr. Dalton and other wealthy real estate barons are effectively robbing the poor, black tenants on Chicago’s South Side—they refuse to allow blacks to rent apartments in predominantly white neighborhoods, thus leading to overpopulation and artificially high rents in the predominantly black South Side. Mr. Dalton sees himself as a benevolent philanthropist; however, as he donates money to black schools and offers jobs to “poor, timid black boys” like Bigger. However, Mr. Dalton practices this token philanthropy mainly to alleviate his guilty conscience for exploiting poor blacks.

Mary, Mr. Dalton’s daughter, frightens and angers Bigger by ignoring the social taboos that govern the relations between white women and black men. On his first day of work, Bigger drives Mary to meet her communist boyfriend, Jan. Eager to prove their progressive ideals and racial tolerance, Mary and Jan force Bigger to take them to a restaurant in the South Side. Despite Bigger’s embarrassment, they order drinks, and as the evening passes, all three of them get drunk. Bigger then drives around the city while Mary and Jan make out in the back seat. Afterward, Mary is too drunk to make it to her bedroom on her own, so Bigger helps her up the stairs. Drunk and aroused by his unprecedented proximity to a young white woman, Bigger begins to kiss Mary.

Just as Bigger places Mary on her bed, Mary’s blind mother, Mrs. Dalton, enters the bedroom. Though Mrs. Dalton cannot see him, her ghostlike presence terrifies him. Bigger fears Mary in her drunken condition might reveal his presence. He covers her face with a pillow and accidentally smothers her to death. Unaware that Mary has been killed; Mrs. Dalton prays over her daughter and returns to bed. Bigger tries to conceal his crime by burning Mary’s body in the Daltons’ furnace. He decides to try to use the Daltons’ prejudice against communists to frame Jan for Mary’s disappearance. Bigger believes that the Daltons will assume Jan is dangerous and that he may have kidnapped their daughter for political purposes. Additionally, Bigger takes advantage of the Daltons’ racial prejudices to avoid suspicion, continuing to play the role of a timid, ignorant black servant who would be unable to commit such an act.

Mary’s murder gives Bigger a sense of power and identity he has never known. Bigger’s girlfriend, Bessie, makes an offhand comment that inspires him to try to collect ransom money from the Daltons. They know only that Mary has vanished, not that she is dead. Bigger writes a ransom letter, playing upon the Daltons’ hatred of communists by signing his name “Red.” He then bullies Bessie to take part in the ransom scheme. However, Mary’s bones are found in the furnace, and Bigger flees with Bessie to an empty building. Bigger rapes Bessie and, frightened that she will give him away, bludgeons her to death with a brick after she falls asleep.

Bigger eludes the massive manhunt for as long as he can, but he is eventually captured after a dramatic shoot-out. The press and the public determine his guilt and his punishment before his trial even begins. The furious populace assumes that he raped Mary before killing her and burned her body to hide the evidence of the rape. Moreover, the white authorities and the white mob use Bigger’s crime as an excuse to terrorize the entire South Side.

Jan visits Bigger in jail. He says that he understands how he terrified, angered, and shamed Bigger through his violation of the social taboos that govern tense race relations. Jan enlists his friend, Boris A. Max, to defend Bigger free of charge. Jan and Max speak with Bigger as a human being, and Bigger begins to see whites as individuals and himself as their equal.

Max tries to save Bigger from the death penalty, arguing that while his client is responsible for his crime, it is vital to recognize that he is a product of his environment. Part of the blame for Bigger’s crimes belongs to the fearful, hopeless existence that he has experienced in a racist society since birth. Max warns that there will be more men like Bigger if America does not put an end to the vicious cycle of hatred and vengeance. Despite Max’s arguments, Bigger is sentenced to death.

Bigger is not a traditional hero by any means. However, Wright forces us to enter into Bigger’s mind and to understand the devastating effects of the social conditions in which he was raised. Bigger was not born a violent criminal. He is a “native son”: a product of American culture and the violence and racism that suffuse it.”

 

 

 

BOOK ONE (PART ONE)

 

“An alarm clock rings in a dark Chicago apartment. Bigger Thomas, a young black man, shares the apartment with his mother, his sister Vera, and his brother Buddy. The apartment has only one room, which forces Bigger and Buddy to turn their backs to avoid the shame of seeing Vera and their mother dress.

 

A huge black rat runs across the floor. Vera cowers and Mrs. Thomas jumps on the bed while Bigger and Buddy frantically try to kill the rat. The rat attacks Bigger, biting a hole in his pant leg before it is cornered. Bigger smashes the rat with a skillet and then crushes its head with a shoe, cursing hysterically. Before disposing of the rat, Bigger holds it up by the tail in front of Vera, taking pleasure in her fear until she faints.

With the immediate danger gone, Mrs. Thomas turns all her attention on Bigger, first asking him why he has frightened his sister, then blaming him for the family’s poverty and accusing him of thinking only of himself. She warns him that if he does not change his ways and stop associating with his “gang,” he will end up in the gallows. Bigger tries to shout his mother down, but his voice is filled with nervousness and irritation, and he longs for silence.

Bigger hates his family because of their poverty and suffering and because he feels there is nothing he can do to help them. He believes that he cannot afford to let himself feel their shame and misery too strongly without also feeling the urge to kill himself or someone else. He has cultivated a façade of outer toughness to protect himself from the unbearable pressure he feels as a result of his family’s social position.

Bigger’s mother sings a spiritual while preparing breakfast—a song that annoys Bigger. She begins to prod Bigger about a job he has been offered with a man named Mr. Dalton. She tells him that if he takes the job, the family will be able to move to a nicer apartment. If he does not, he will lose his relief money and the family will starve. Resentment builds in Bigger, as he feels that his family is tricking him into giving up. Frustrated by his narrow range of choices, he storms out of the room and into the building’s vestibule, where he broods while watching the traffic through the window.

Across the street, men are putting up campaign posters for the State’s Attorney, a man named Buckley. Bigger imagines the millions of dollars Buckley makes through corruption, and longs to be him for a day. The words “If You Break the Law, You Can’t Win!” adorn the top of the campaign posters. Bigger knows, however, that a man can win if he can afford to pay Buckley off. Bigger checks his pocket and finds he has only twenty-six cents.”

 

 

BOOK ONE (PART TWO)

 

“Bigger decides to spend twenty cents on a movie to help dispel his growing fear of robbing Blum. He and Jack go to a movie theater, and they masturbate while watching it and thinking about their girlfriends. Afterward, they discuss Bigger’s upcoming job interview with Mr. Dalton. Bigger says that he would rather go to jail than take a job through the relief agency. A newsreel begins, showing the young daughters of wealthy families playing on the beach in Florida. The camera focuses on Mary Dalton as she kisses a handsome man, identified only as a “well-known radical.” A commentator reports that Mary has shocked her family by becoming romantically linked to this man and that her parents have tried to put an end to the relationship. Bigger realizes that the scandalous young woman is the daughter of his prospective employer, Mr. Dalton.

 

The movie Trader Horn begins. Watching scenes of black men and women dancing wildly to the beat of drums, Bigger imagines a party at a rich, white home. For the first time, he contemplates the job with the Daltons with great interest. Mary Dalton, he thinks, might be a “hot kind of girl” who would like to come see his side of town, and who might bribe him to keep her secrets from her parents. Bigger also remembers his mother’s constant advice that wealthy white people treat black people better than they treat poor whites. Bigger thinks that perhaps the Dalton family would be easy to get along with because they are so wealthy. His thoughts return to the robbery of Mr. Blum. Now that he is more interested in a real job, he berates himself for taking a “fool’s chance” with the law.

When Jack and Bigger return to Doc’s at three o’clock, Bigger is secretly glad that Gus is not there yet, as they cannot carry out the robbery without him. As the group anxiously awaits Gus, nervous tension gathers in the pit of Bigger’s stomach, as he has convinced himself that he no longer wants to follow through with the robbery. When Gus finally shows up, the anxious Bigger attacks and beats him violently without provocation or warning. He then pulls a knife on Gus and forces him to lick the blade. Bigger accuses Gus of ruining the plan by being late, although Jack insists there is still enough time. Gus flees the premises, and G. H. hints that Bigger had wanted to spoil the plan all along. Bigger threatens G. H. and Doc draws a gun. Bigger slashes the cloth on the pool table before slipping out the door and heading home. Though he does not know it consciously, he feels “instinctively” that it was his fear of robbing a white man that drove him to attack Gus. Bigger’s survival depends on how well he can bury this knowledge deep inside himself.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK ONE (PART THREE)

 

“Bigger watches the sunset from his apartment window, he waits for his appointment with Mr. Dalton. He feels his gun inside his shirt and considers leaving it at the apartment, but ultimately decides to bring it with him. Bigger does not fear the Daltons, but he knows that blacks are often harassed in white neighborhoods and believes the gun will help make him equal to the whites.

 

Upon arriving at the Daltons’, Bigger is unsure whether he should enter at the front or the back of the house. He stands outside the imposing iron fence of the Daltons’ mansion and is filled with a mixture of fear and hate, feeling foolish for having thought he might like this job. He summons the courage to go to the front door, which the Daltons’ white maid, Peggy, answers. Though Peggy is polite to Bigger, he senses that she is looking down on him even though she, like him, is only hired help. While Bigger waits for Mr. Dalton, he gawks at the splendor of the home, with its elegant furnishings and paintings. He feels intimidated by the vast difference between this world and his own. Assailed by insecurity, tension, and fear, he becomes awkward and clumsy.

Mr. Dalton, a tall, white-haired man, appears and leads Bigger toward his office. Mr. Dalton is the owner of the real estate company that owns the building in which Bigger and his family live. In a hallway, they pass Mrs. Dalton, whose face and hairs are so white she seems like a ghost to Bigger. From the way Mrs. Dalton touches the walls as she passes, Bigger can see that she is blind. Once inside the office, Mr. Dalton interviews Bigger. Bigger answers the questions timidly, with few words apart from “yessuh” and “nawsuh.” He hates himself for acting in such a subservient manner, but he cannot control himself and becomes extremely uncomfortable.

Mr. Dalton continues to question Bigger, Mary Dalton—Mr. Dalton’s daughter and the girl from the newsreel—breezes into the room. The two are introduced, and Mary immediately asks Bigger if he belongs to a union. Bigger knows nothing about unions except that they are supposed to be bad, and he begins to hate Mary for endangering his chance at the job. Mary asks Mr. Dalton if she can be driven to the University for a Lecture that evening. She then leaves the room. Despite Bigger’s worries, Mr. Dalton hires him as a chauffeur. Mr. Dalton tells Bigger that he is a great supporter of the NAACP—the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People—and that he is hiring Bigger because of this support for blacks. Bigger’s first assignment, Mr. Dalton says, is to drive Mary to the university that evening.

Peggy cooks dinner for Bigger, but he is suspicious of her kindness and thinks she may be trying to pass off some of her work onto him. Peggy tells Bigger how nice the Daltons are and how much they do for “your people,” meaning blacks. Peggy also tells Bigger that the last chauffeur, a black man named Green, was with the Daltons for ten years. Green attended night school at Mrs. Dalton’s urging and went on to a government job. After Bigger finishes dinner, Peggy instructs him in the operation of the furnace, and then shows him to his room. Bigger excitedly contemplates the luxuries he will enjoy with the Daltons. Nonetheless, Mary still worries him. Every rich white woman he has met in the past has treated him in a cold and reserved manner, but Mary does not. Bigger therefore does not know what to make of her.

Before driving Mary out to the university, Bigger enters the kitchen and finds Mrs. Dalton sitting there alone. She asks him several questions about his education. Bigger feels that Mrs. Dalton judges him in the same way his mother does. However, Bigger does note a difference between the manners in which the two women treat him: whereas Bigger’s mother tries to impose her own desires on him, Mrs. Dalton wants him to do “the things she felt that he should have wanted to do.” Bigger thinks to himself that he does not want to go to school. He feels he has “other plans,” but he is unable to articulate them, even to himself. He pulls the Daltons’ car out of the garage and picks Mary up at the side door.”

 

 

 

BOOK ONE (PART FOUR)

 

“Stepping into the car, Mary informs Bigger that she is not going to the university, but instead has other plans that she does not want to reveal to her parents. Bigger agrees to keep Mary’s activities a secret and guesses correctly that she plans to meet with some communists. Bigger grows increasingly anxious. He senses that Mary speaks to him as a human, an attitude he has never before encountered from a white person. Despite the freedom he feels with her, Bigger cannot forget that she is part of the world of people who tell him what he can and cannot do.

Mary introduces Bigger to her friend and lover, Jan Erlone, whom Bigger also recognizes from the newsreel. Jan confounds Bigger by shaking his hand and insisting that Bigger call him by his first name. Bigger thinks Mary and Jan are secretly making fun of him. He becomes infuriated because Mary and Jan make him intensely aware of his black skin—something he feels is a “badge of shame.” Their attention makes him feel naked and ashamed, and he feels a “dumb, cold, and inarticulate hate” for them.

Jan insists on driving. Mary squeezes into the front seat beside Bigger, who feels surrounded by “two vast white looming walls.” Bigger also intensely feels his physical proximity to a rich white girl, the smell of her hair, and the pressure of her thigh against his. Jan looks out at the city skyline and declares that “we” will own everything one day and that eventually there will be no black or white. Mary and Jan insist on eating at a black restaurant on the South Side. When pressed for a suggestion, Bigger offers Ernie’s Kitchen Shack. As they drive to the restaurant, Mary looks at the apartment buildings in the black district and wistfully tells Bigger that she wants to know how black people live. She has never been inside a black household, but thinks their lives must not be so different—after all, “[t]hey’re human. . . . They live in our country . . . [i]n the same city with us. . . .”

Mary and Jan insist that Bigger eat with them—a gesture that horrifies Bigger. They persist, however, so he angrily agrees. Mary begins to cry, sensing that she and Jan have made Bigger feel bad. Bigger feels trapped. He tries to think of what he would say to Mr. Dalton or the welfare agency if he were to walk off the job, but knows he cannot explain it. Jan comforts Mary and her tears are quickly forgotten as they go into the restaurant. Inside, Bigger encounters his girlfriend, Bessie, and his friend, Jack. When Bessie tries to talk to him, Bigger responds gruffly.

Jan, Mary, and Bigger eat dinner and then drink rum together. After a few drinks, Jan and Mary question Bigger about his history. He tells them that he grew up in Mississippi and that his father died in a riot. When Jan asks how he feels about his father’s death, Bigger tells him that he does not know. Jan tells Bigger that the communists are fighting against this kind of injustice. Mary insists that she and Jan want to be Bigger’s friends, and that he will get used to them. Bigger does not reply. Before they leave the restaurant, Mary tells Bigger she is going to Detroit at nine o’clock the next morning and that he should bring her small trunk to the station at eight-thirty.

Bigger drives Jan and Mary around the park while they make out in the back seat. The two have become thoroughly drunk by the time Bigger drops Jan off. Before he leaves, Jan gives Bigger some communist pamphlets to read. Mary, riding in the front seat next to Bigger, tries to engage in a conversation with him. She leans her head on his shoulder and asks him if he does not mind. She laughs, and again Bigger feels she is making fun of him. He again feels overcome by fear and hatred.”

 

BOOK TWO (PART ONE)

 

“Bigger wakes up earlier than the rest of his family, and he is in a panic. He realizes he must get rid of Mary’s purse as well as his own knife, which still has blood on the blade. Bigger finds the communist pamphlets Jan gave him and plans to use them as evidence against Jan if the police come around asking questions. When his mother wakes and asks why he did not get home until four o’clock in the morning, Bigger insists that he returned at two, because that time fits better with the story he has constructed. Bigger stares silently around him, infuriated and bewildered that his family has to live in such griminess. Vera accuses Bigger of staring at her and begins to sob as he tries to keep his composure.

 

Bigger contemplates his crime and becomes filled with a sense of invincibility. In murdering Mary, he feels he has created a new life for himself. He convinces himself that Mary’s death is not accidental, but is actually something to which his whole life has been leading. Bigger feels a kind of pride in thinking that one day he will publicly accept what he has done. He decides that Jan, Mary, and the Daltons are blind, and, staring at his family, he realizes that they too are blind. Buddy longs to have a job like Bigger’s, and Vera already shows the beginnings of the same weariness that marks his mother’s face, exhibiting a profound fear of life in her every gesture.

As Bigger bounds down the stairs, Buddy calls after him, handing him a large wad of bills that has fallen out of Bigger’s pocket. Bigger tells Buddy not to tell anyone about the money. Bigger then showily purchases cigarettes for Jack, G. H., and Gus before getting on a streetcar to go to the Daltons’ home. Bigger begins to see that the white people around him are all blind. They see him as one who might steal, get drunk, or even rape, but they would never guess that he could be capable of murdering a white girl. Bigger marvels that he can act just as others expect him to, yet still do what he wants.

Bigger thinks of Mary and begins to believe that her murder is justified by the shame and fear that whites have caused him. White people, he thinks, are not really people, but a “great natural force.” He wishes he could have a sense of solidarity with other black people to battle against this white force, but he knows such solidarity would only be achieved if blacks were forced into it out of desperation. Bigger thinks of Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, and wishes for some black leader to come along and whip black people into a group that would act together to “end fear and shame.”

Bigger arrives at the Daltons’ and finds Peggy peering into the furnace. For a moment he fears he may have to kill her, as the furnace is where he hid the body, but she sees nothing suspicious. Bigger adds coal to the furnace and leaves the unread communist pamphlets that Jan gave him in his room. Peggy sees that the car has been left outside all night, and Bigger tells her that Mary instructed him to leave it in the driveway. Peggy is skeptical, but Bigger mentions that a “gentleman” came to the Daltons’ house the night before, and Peggy does not question him further. Bigger feigns surprise when Mary does not come down from her room, and Peggy suggests that perhaps Mary has already gone to the train station. Bigger delivers Mary’s trunk to the station at 8:30. When Bigger returns, Jan calls looking for Mary.

Bigger is eager to watch the drama unfold. He eavesdrops on Peggy and Mrs. Dalton’s worried conversation. Peggy mentions that Jan called to speak to Mary, and believes that Mary might have asked Jan to make the call in an attempt to cover something up. Mrs. Dalton becomes worried when Peggy says that it looks like Mary did not pack all her things. Bigger realizes that he did not think of this detail, and for the first time he feels nervous. Mrs. Dalton questions him, and he repeats his story, adding that Jan accompanied him to Mary’s room. Mrs. Dalton gives Bigger the rest of the day off.

From Bigger returning to the Daltons’ through his being questioned by the press”

 

 

 

BOOK TWO (PART TWO)

 

“As Bigger leaves Bessie, he feels confident because he has taken his life into his own hands for once. His secret knowledge that he murdered Mary wipes out his fear and relieves him from the invisible force that has been burdening him. Upon reaching the Daltons’ home, Bigger checks the furnace. Seeing nothing of Mary’s body, he adds more coal to the fire. Peggy informs him that Mr. Dalton wants him to pick up Mary’s trunk at the station because she has not claimed it. The Daltons have also discovered that Mary has not arrived in Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton question Bigger again and he repeats his story.

 

When Bigger returns from the station, the Daltons introduce him to Britten, a private investigator they have hired. Britten doggedly questions Bigger, who remains timid and subservient and sticks to his story. Bigger is excited that, for the first time, he is in control, getting to “draw the picture for them” in the same manner that white people have always defined the situation for him.

Bigger tells Britten that he had not driven Mary to the university. He says that he performed the job Mary instructed him to do and that he kept it a secret because Mary told him to do so. Continuing in this self-deprecating vein, Bigger describes the events at the restaurant. When Britten asks whether Jan discussed communism at dinner, Bigger plays the role of the befuddled, simpleminded black boy. Bigger says that Jan, not Mary, told him to take the trunk downstairs and leave the car in the driveway. Again, Bigger says that he has not mentioned this detail before because Mary had instructed him to keep the events a secret.

Britten produces the pamphlets Bigger left in his room and accuses him of being a communist. Bigger is surprised that he, as a black man, would be accused of being Jan’s partner. He convinces Mr. Dalton that he took the pamphlets because Jan, a white man, had insisted that he take them. Mr. Dalton tells Britten that they cannot hold Bigger responsible for Mary’s disappearance. Britten is not so sure, and Bigger can see that the investigator thinks he must be guilty simply because he is black. Bigger wants to leave his job, Mr. Dalton apologizes and asks him to stay on. Bigger goes to his room and eavesdrops on Mr. Dalton and Britten as they discuss him. Mr. Dalton says that Bigger is not a bad boy, but Britten claims that “a nigger’s a nigger” and that they are all trouble. Bigger feels he has seen a thousand people just like Britten and believes that he knows how to deal with him.

Dalton and Britten bring Jan to the house for questioning, and he denies seeing Mary the night before. He changes his story when Britten confronts him with the pamphlets he gave Bigger. When Mr. Dalton offers him money to reveal Mary’s whereabouts, Jan stalks out of the house. Bigger checks the furnace again and then hurries to tell Bessie about the new developments. Jan confronts him in the street, but Bigger pulls out his gun and chases Jan off. Jan’s innocence fills Bigger with terrible anger, and it takes a few minutes for him to regain his composure.

Bigger chooses a building managed by Mr. Dalton’s company as the drop-off site for the ransom money. He writes a ransom note demanding $10,000. He signs it “Red” and includes a drawing of a hammer and sickle. Bessie no longer wants to assist Bigger. She accuses Bigger of killing Mary, and Bigger admits it, saying it is okay because “[t]hey done killed plenty of us.” Bessie is terrified and begs Bigger not to involve her. Bigger tells her menacingly that he will not leave her behind and allow her to turn him in. Bessie then feels resigned to her fate. Bigger shows her the drop-off site and instructs her to return to the site at midnight the following night.”

 

 

 

 

BOOK TWO (PART THREE)

 

“As the reporters stand around in the basement discussing the story, Peggy asks Bigger to clean the ashes out of the furnace. Bigger sifts some of the ashes into the lower bin and adds more coal, hoping that he will not have to take the ashes out until the reporters leave. However, the ashes still block the airflow, causing thick smoke to fill the basement. A reporter grabs a shovel and clears the ashes. When the smoke dissipates, several pieces of bone and an earring are visible on the floor. As Bigger looks at these remnants of his gruesome killing, all of his old feelings return: he is black and he has done wrong. He once again longs for a weapon so he can strike out at someone. While the reporters marvel over the glowing hatchet head in the furnace, Bigger sneaks up to his room and jumps out the window. It is snowing heavily and he lands hard, the snow filling his mouth, eyes, and ears.

Bigger rushes to Bessie’s house, to keeps her from going to the drop-off site for the money. When Bigger explains that he accidentally killed Mary, Bessie tells him the authorities will think he has raped Mary and has murdered her to cover up the evidence. Bigger thinks back to the shame, anger, and hatred he felt that night. He thinks that he has committed rape, but to him, “rape” means feeling as if his back is against a wall and being forced to strike out to protect himself, whether he wants to or not. Bigger thinks that he commits a form of “rape” every time he looks at a white face.

Bessie packs some clothes and blankets before she and Bigger flee to an empty building to hide. She tells Bigger that she sees her life clearly and resents how much trouble he has caused her. After they make a bed out of the blankets, Bigger rapes Bessie. He realizes he cannot take her with him but cannot leave her behind either. After she falls asleep, he kneels over her with a brick. He hesitates for a moment, but, seeing images of Mrs. Dalton, of Mary burning, of Britten, and of the law chasing him, he brings the brick down on Bessie’s skull. He realizes that Bessie, with her crying and her insistence for liquor, would only slow him down in his flight. Bigger then dumps her body down an airshaft, realizing too late that he has forgotten to remove the big wad of money from her clothing.

Bigger sleeps uneasily during the night. Though he senses his impending doom, he still feels powerful. Like Mary’s death, Bessie’s death gives Bigger a newfound vigor, and he feels a sense of wholeness he has never felt before. In the morning, he awakes to a city covered in snow. He slips out to a street corner to steal a newspaper and reads the front-page news about his escape. The press reports that Bigger probably sexually assaulted Mary before killing her. The authorities have a warrant to search any and every building on the South Side, including private homes. Not believing that a black man could have formulated such a complex plan, they are also searching for a communist accomplice. White anger is turning on blacks and there are reports of smashed windows and beatings throughout the city.

Fighting hunger and cold, Bigger looks for a vacant apartment in which to hide. Due to the overcrowding caused by an alleged housing shortage on the South Side, he has to search for a long while before he finally finds a suitable place. From a window, Bigger marvels at the dilapidated buildings where black tenants live. He thinks back on his own life as he sees three naked black children watching their parents have sex in a bed nearby. He remembers how his family was once driven out of an apartment just two days before the building collapsed. Next door, Bigger hears two people debating his situation. One man declares that he would turn Bigger in to the police, while the other argues that Bigger may not be guilty, since whites automatically view all black men with suspicion when a white girl is killed. Still, the first man blames people like Bigger for bringing white wrath down on the whole black community.

The next morning, Bigger uses his last few pennies to purchase a newspaper. The police have searched over 1,000 black homes. Only a tiny square on the map—the place Bigger is hiding—remains untouched. The police have questioned or arrested numerous communists. A siren shrieks as the police arrive. Bigger escapes to the roof just as they burst into the building. A dramatic shoot-out ensues and the authorities finally capture Bigger, who is half-frozen from the cold and snow. The men carry Bigger down as a crowd of furious whites demands that they kill “that black ape.”

 

 

BOOK THREE (PART ONE)

 

“In jail, Bigger lives in a world with no day, no night, and no fear or hatred, as such emotions are useless to him now. He feels gripped by a deep resolution to react to nothing, and he says and eats nothing. He longs for death, but as a black man he does not want to die “unequal, and despised.” Bigger wonders if perhaps the whites are right that being black is the same as being an animal of some sort. Nonetheless, the hope that another way of life exists, one in which he would be able to forget his racial differences, keeps coming back to him.

 

The authorities drag Bigger to an inquest at the morgue. He senses from the white people around him that they plan not only to put him to death, but also to make him a symbol to terrorize and control the black community. A feeling of rebellion rises in him and he begins to come out of his stupor. In the morgue, Bigger sees Jan and the Daltons. As he gradually begins to snap out of his psychological stupor, he faints, overcome by hunger and exhaustion. When Bigger awakens in his cell, he believes he has “come out into the world again” in order to save his pride and keep the authorities from “making sport of him.”

Bigger asks to see a newspaper. The headline reads, “Negro Rapist Faints at Inquest.” The story compares Bigger to a “jungle beast” who lacks the harmless charm of the “grinning southern darky.” Edward Robertson, editor of the Jackson Daily Star, advises total segregation and a curtailment of the education of the black population, which he claims will prevent men like Bigger from developing. Bigger contemplates returning to his protective stupor, but is not sure if he is still able to do so.

Reverend Hammond, the pastor of Mrs. Thomas’s church, visits Bigger in his cell. The Reverend talks to him about hope and love beyond life. Bigger feels a terrible guilt for having killed within him the kind of world the preacher describes. He compares the murder of his faith to his murder of Mary. Hammond places a cross around Bigger’s neck just as Jan enters the cell. Jan says that he is not angry and that he wants to help Bigger. Jan says he was foolish to assume that Bigger could have related to him in a different way than he relates to other white men. Jan says that he loved Mary, but he also realizes that black families loved all the black men who have been sold into slavery or lynched by whites. As Jan speaks, Bigger notes that this moment is the first time in his life that he has seen a white person as an individual human being, rather than merely a part of the larger oppressive force of whiteness. This feeling deepens Bigger’s guilt, as he knows he has killed the woman Jan loved. Jan introduces Bigger to Boris A. Max, a lawyer for the Labor Defenders. Max wants to defend Bigger free of charge.

Buckley, the State’s Attorney, suddenly enters Bigger’s cell. Though Max argues that white power is responsible for Bigger’s actions, Bigger feels his burgeoning friendship with Max and Jan quickly evaporate when he sees the self-assured Buckley. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton enter the cell and ask that Bigger cooperate with Buckley and reveal the name of his accomplice. In response, Max asks that they not sentence Bigger to death. Dalton says that despite the crime he is not angry with all black Americans. He announces that he has even sent some Ping-Pong tables to the South Side Boys’ Club earlier in the day. Doubtful, Max questions whether Ping-Pong will prevent murder.

Bigger’s family and his friends Jack, G. H., and Gus enter the now crowded cell. Bigger looks at them and thinks they should be glad that he has “taken fully upon himself the crime of being black,” and thus washed away their shame. He knows, however, that they still feel shame, and he asks his mother to forget him. Mrs. Thomas tearfully begs the Daltons to have mercy, but they only reply that they have no control over the matter. Mrs. Thomas also tells Mr. Dalton that his real estate company has been trying to evict her family, and he promises they will not be evicted.”

 

 

BOOK THREE (PART TWO)

 

“The authorities lead Bigger to the courtroom for the inquest. Mrs. Dalton testifies that the earring found in her furnace is a family heirloom that she had given to Mary. She states that she and her husband have donated millions of dollars to black schools. Jan follows Mrs. Dalton to the stand. During questioning, the coroner insinuates that Jan promised Bigger sex with white women if Bigger joined the Communist Party. Max argues that these kinds of questions are sensational and designed only to inflame public opinion, but his objections are overruled.

 

Mr. Dalton takes the stand and Max is permitted to question him. As Max knows that Mr. Dalton owns a controlling share in the company that manages the building where Bigger’s family lives, he asks Dalton why black tenants pay higher rents than whites for the same kinds of apartments. Dalton replies that there is a housing shortage on the South Side. Max retorts that there are areas of the city without housing shortages, and Dalton replies that he thought black tenants preferred living together on the South Side. Max then succeeds in making Dalton admit that he refuses to rent to black tenants in other neighborhoods. He accuses Dalton of giving some of the real estate profits to black schools merely to alleviate his guilty conscience. Before dismissing Mr. Dalton, Max asks him if the living conditions of Bigger’s family might have contributed to the death of his daughter. Dalton cannot comprehend the question.

The coroner exhibits Bessie’s body to the jurors. Bigger knows that the authorities are using Bessie only to ensure that he will get the death penalty for killing Mary. Bigger becomes angry that they are using Bessie in death just as Bessie’s white employer used her while she was alive. He feels that the whites are using both him and Bessie as if they were mere property.

Bigger is indicted for rape and murder. When the police take him to the Dalton home and ask him to reenact the crime, he backs himself against the wall and refuses. Outside, a mob screams for his death. Bigger sees a burning cross across the street. He feels that Hammond, in giving him the cross to wear, has betrayed him: the preacher has made him feel a kind of hope, but the burning cross leaves him hopeless once again. Back in his jail cell, Bigger rips off the cross and flings it away. When Hammond tries to visit him again, Bigger furiously refuses him. He vows never to trust anyone again.

Bigger asks to see a newspaper, which reports that he is certain to receive the death penalty. A hysterical black prisoner is brought to Bigger’s cell, demanding the return of his papers. Another prisoner tells Bigger that this hysterical prisoner went crazy from studying too much at a university. The man had been trying to understand why blacks were treated so badly and had been picked up at the post office, where he was waiting to speak to the president. His screaming disturbs other prisoners, and he is taken away on a stretcher.

Max visits Bigger in his cell. Hopeless, Bigger tells Max that none of his efforts will be of use. Bigger feels destined to die to appease the public, and, therefore, has no possibly of winning the trial. Max tries to get Bigger to trust him. Despite his best efforts to avoid opening up and trusting anyone, Bigger does end up trusting Max, but still believes Max’s efforts will prove futile. Max then asks Bigger why he killed Mary. Excited at the prospect of finally feeling understood, Bigger tells Max that he did not rape Mary and hints that he killed her by accident. When Max presses him further about his feelings, Bigger states that Mary’s unorthodox behavior frightened and shamed him. When Max points out that Bigger could have avoided the murder by trying to explain to Mrs. Dalton, Bigger explains that he could not help himself and that it was as if someone else had stepped inside him and acted for him.”

 

 

 

 

BOOK THREE (PART THREE)

 

“Bigger is seized with nervous energy, filled with both hope and doubt. Max’s questions have made Bigger feel that Max acknowledges his life and feelings. Bigger wonders if people on the other side of the “line” suffer from the same hatred and fear that have gripped him all of his life. He realizes that individual people, just like himself and Jan, comprise both sides of the color line. Bigger wishes to know more about life suddenly. He wants to touch the hands of people locked in other cells, both in prison and out in the world. He wants to feel the pain of others who suffer like him.

 

However, Bigger knows that he faces the death penalty, and therefore believes that it is too late to learn the meaning of his existence. He wishes he could retreat back into his mental stupor. He has a newfound feeling of hope for a new world and a new way of viewing himself in relation to other people, but this hope is tantalizing and torments him with uncertainty. Bigger wonders if perhaps his blind hatred is the better option anyway, since hope anguishes him more than it comforts him. The voice of hatred he has read in the newspapers seems so much louder and stronger than the voice of understanding he has heard in Max and Jan. Bigger despairs that this hatred will endure long after he is dead.

Bigger’s family, friends, and teachers are in the courtroom for the trial. He wonders why the authorities do not just shoot him instead of forcing him to go through this long, public process. Max enters a guilty plea and explains that the law allows him to enter mitigating evidence for his defendant. Buckley claims that Max wants to plead guilty and then try to prove that Bigger is insane, which is not allowed under the law. Max denies this claim and says that he merely wants to demonstrate why Bigger has committed murder. Max accuses Buckley of rushing the trial to gain political advantage for the upcoming elections and claims that Buckley is merely a stooge who is doing the bidding of the mob that has gathered outside the courtroom. Max claims that Buckley wants to avoid the matter of motive because it would mitigate Bigger’s punishment. The judge allows Max to do as he has planned, and the sentencing hearing begins.

Buckley calls Mr. and Mrs. Dalton, Peggy, and Britten to testify that Bigger behaved like a sane man. Next on the stand are the reporters who discovered Mary’s bones in the furnace, followed by a parade of people who knew Bigger in the South Side. The theater manager testifies that Bigger and other boys had masturbated in the theater. Buckley even brings the Daltons’ furnace into the courtroom. He presents his case over the course of two days.”

 

 

BOOK THREE (PART FOUR)

 

“In the courtroom, Max presents his case. He argues that Bigger is a “test symbol” who embodies and exposes the ills of American society. Max explains that his intent is not to argue whether an injustice has been committed, but to make the court understand Bigger and the conditions that have created him. Max points out that the authorities have deliberately inflamed public opinion against Bigger, using his case as an excuse to terrorize the black community, labor groups, and the Communist Party into submission.

 

Max goes on to say that the rage directed at Bigger stems from a mix of guilt and fear. Those who clamor for Bigger’s swift execution secretly knows that their own privileges have been gained through historical wrongs committed against people like Bigger, and that their wealth has been accumulated through the oppression of others. Bigger’s options have been so limited, and his life so controlled, that he has been unable to do anything but hate those who have profited from his misery. Stunted and deformed by this oppression, Bigger was unable to view Mary and Jan as human beings. Max argues that the Daltons, despite their philanthropy, are blind to the world that has created Bigger and have themselves created the conditions that led to their daughter’s murder.

Max warns that killing Bigger quickly will not restrain others like him. Rather, these other blacks will only become angrier that the powerful, rich, white majority limits their opportunities. Popular culture dangles happiness and wealth before the oppressed, but such goals are always kept out of reach in reality. Max argues that this smoldering anger born out of restricted opportunities—though now tempered by the effects of religion, alcohol, and sex—will eventually burst forth and destroy all law and order in American society. By limiting the education of blacks, segregating them, and oppressing them, white society itself is implicated in Mary’s murder. Max claims that white society “planned the murder of Mary Dalton” but now denies it. He says that his job is to show how foolish it is to try to seek revenge on Bigger.

Max argues that Bigger murdered Mary accidentally, without a plan, but that he accepted his crime, which gave him the opportunities of choice and action, and the sense that his actions finally meant something. Bigger’s killing was thus not an act against an individual, but a defense against the world in which Bigger has lived. Mary died because she did not understand that she alone could not undo hundreds of years of oppression. Max points to the gallery, where blacks and whites are seated in separate sections. Blacks, he says, live in a separate “captive” nation within America, unable to determine the course of their own lives. He argues that such a lack of self-realization is just as smothering and stunting as physical starvation. Bigger sought a new life, Max says, and found it accidentally when he murdered Mary. Max argues that Bigger had no motive for the crimes and that the murders were “as instinctive and inevitable as breathing or blinking one’s eyes.” The hate and fear society has bred into Bigger are an inextricable part of his personality, and essentially his only way of living.

Max says that there are millions more like Bigger and that, if change does not come, these conditions could lead to another civil war. He says he knows the court does not have the power to rectify hundreds of years of wrongs in one day, but that it can at least show that it recognizes that there is a problem. Prison, he says, would be a step up for Bigger. Though Bigger would be known only as a number in prison, he would at least have an identity there. Finally, Max argues that the court cannot kill Bigger because it has never actually recognized that he exists. He urges the court to give Bigger life. Bigger does not entirely understand Max’s speech, but is proud that Max has worked so hard to save him.

After Max’s arguments, Buckley declares that Bigger does in fact have a motive for Mary’s murder. Buckley claims that since Bigger and Jack masturbated while watching a newsreel about Mary the same day she was killed, Bigger must have been sexually interested in her. Buckley tells the courtroom that Bigger was a “maddened ape” who raped Mary, killed her, and burned her body to hide the evidence. Buckley concludes his argument by saying that Bigger was sullen and resentful from the start, not even grateful when he was referred to Mr. Dalton for a job. Buckley calls Bigger a “demented savage” who deserves to die, and whose execution will prove that “jungle law” does not prevail in Chicago. The court adjourns. After a brief deliberation, the judge returns and sentences Bigger to death.”

 

(SparkNotes Editors)

SparkNotes.Editors.(2002). SparkNotes on Native son. Retrieved June 9, 2015, from http://m.sparknotes.com/lit/nativeson

 

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE

 

In Native Son, Wright uses the same combination of direct naturalistic prose and symbolism that he employed in Uncle Tom’s children. An important technique employed in Native Son is a third- person limited narrative structure. The story is told almost exclusively from Bigger’s perspective.

 

 

LANGUAGE

It is written in a sophisticated English language.

 

STYLE

 

The style of the writing is experimental. Wright uses Bigger to show the effect of racism on Blacks and Whites also. This style is not common among Black-American writers. He consciously projects Bigger as a notorious man, to show how dangerous the white men have psychologically destroyed the minds of the Blacks.

 

 

CHARACTERIZATION

 

Bigger Thomas  

 

The protagonist of Native Son, A poor, uneducated black man, Bigger comes from the lowest rung on the American social and economic ladder. As his lack of education has left him no option other than menial labor, he has felt trapped his whole life, resenting, hating, and fearing the whites who define the narrow confines of his existence. Bigger views white people as a collective, overwhelming force that tells him where to live, where to work, and what to do.

 

 

Mary Dalton -

 

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dalton, Bigger’s wealthy employers, Mary identifies herself as a progressive, dates an admitted communist, and interacts with Bigger with little regard for the strict boundary society imposes between black men and white women. Mary’s transgression of this boundary leads to her death and the resulting development of Bigger’s character.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Dalton  

 

A white millionaire couple living in Chicago, Mrs. Dalton is blind; Mr. Dalton has earned a fortune in real estate. Although he profits from charging high rents to poor black tenants—including Bigger’s family—on Chicago’s South Side, he nonetheless claims to be a generous philanthropist and supporter of black Americans.

 

Jan Erlone  

 

A member of the Communist Party and Mary Dalton’s boyfriend, this relationship upsets Mary’s parents. Jan, like Mary, wants to treat Bigger as an equal, but such untraditional behavior only frightens and angers Bigger. Jan later recognizes his mistake in trying to treat Bigger this way and becomes sympathetic toward his plight. Jan becomes especially aware of the social divisions that prevent Bigger from relating normally with white society.

 

Boris A. Max 

 

A Jewish lawyer who works for the Labor Defenders, an organization affiliated with the Communist Party. Max argues, based on a sociological analysis of American society, that institutionalized racism and prejudice—not inherent ethnic qualities—create conditions for violence in urban ghettos.

 

Bessie Mears 

 

Bigger’s girlfriend. Their relationship remains quite distant and largely based upon mutual convenience rather than romantic love.

 

Mrs. Thomas  

 

Bigger’s devoutly religious mother. Mrs. Thomas has accepted her precarious, impoverished position in life and warns Bigger at the beginning of the novel that he will meet a bad end if he fails to change his ways.

 

Buddy Thomas  

 

Bigger’s younger brother. Buddy, unlike his brother, does not rebel against his low position on the social ladder. In fact, he envies Bigger’s job as a chauffeur for a rich white family. As the novel progresses, however, Buddy begins to take on a more antagonistic attitude toward racial prejudice.

 

Vera Thomas  

 

Bigger’s younger sister. Vera, like Bigger, lives her life in constant fear.

 

G. H., Gus, and Jack  

 

Bigger’s friends, they often plan and execute robberies together. G. H., Gus, and Jack hatch a tentative plan to rob a white shopkeeper, Mr. Blum, but they are afraid of the consequences if they should be caught robbing a white man. At the beginning of the novel, Bigger taunts his friends about their fear, even though he is just as terrified himself.

 

Mr. Blum 

 

A white man, he owns a delicatessen on the South Side of Chicago. Mr. Blum represents an inviting robbery target for Bigger and his friends, but their fear of the consequences of robbing a white man initially prevents them from following through on their plan.

 

Britten 

 

A racist, anticommunist private investigator, he helps Mr. Dalton to investigate Mary’s disappearance.

 

Buckley  

 

The incumbent State’s Attorney, he is running for re-election. Buckley is viciously racist and anticommunist.

 

Peggy 

 

An Irish immigrant, he worked as the Daltons’ cook for years. Peggy considers the Daltons to be marvelous benefactors to black Americans. Though she is actively kind to Bigger, she is also extremely patronizing.

 

Doc 

 

He owns pool hall on the South Side of Chicago that serves as a hangout for Bigger and his friends.

 

Reverend Hammond  

 

The pastor of Mrs. Thomas’s church who urges Bigger to turn toward religion in times of trouble.

 

 

 

 

THEMES

 

The Effect of Racism on Blacks

 

Wright explores Bigger’s psychological corruption, gives us a new insight on the oppressive effect racism had on the black population in 1930s America. Bigger’s psychological damage results from the constant subjection to racist propanganda and racial oppression he faces while growing up. He watches movies and sees whites as wealthy and civilized and blacks as jungle savages. Bigger breeds the attitude of anger and powerful fear towards whites. The result of his hatredness leads him to kill Mary Dalton.

 

The Effect of Racism on whites

The effect of racism extends to the white population. It prevents whites from realizing the true humanity in blacks. Wright shows that racism is destructive to both groups. Sense of superiority deceives the whites and they fall victim of weakness. Bigger manipulates their weakness to cover up Mary’s murder. Bigger knows that the whites would never believe a black man could kill a whilte folk.

 

Injustice

Inequity of the American criminal judiciary system is another terrible idea in the novel. Wright portrays the American judiciary as an ineffectual puppet caught between the explicit interests of the media and the driving ambition of politicians. The outcome of Bigger’s case is decided before it ever goes to court: in the vicious cycle of racism, a black man who kills a white woman is guilty regardless of the factual circumstances of the killing.

It is important, of course, that Bigger is indeed guilty of Mary’s murder, as well as Bessie’s. Nonetheless, the justice system still fails him, as he receives neither a fair trial nor an opportunity to defend himself. With the newspapers presenting him as a murderous animal and Buckley using the case to further his own political career, anything said in Bigger’s defense falls on deaf ears. Even Max’s impassioned defense is largely a wasted effort. The motto of the American justice system is “equal justice under law,” but Wright depicts a judiciary so undermined by racial prejudice and corruption that the concept of equality holds little meaning.

 

 

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Popular Culture

Throughout Native Son, Wright depicts popular culture—as conveyed through films, magazines, and newspapers—as a major force in American racism, constantly bombarding citizens with images and ideas that reinforce the nation’s oppressive racial hierarchy. In films such as the one Bigger attends in Book One, whites are depicted as glamorous, attractive, and cultured, while blacks are portrayed as jungle savages or servants.

Religion

“Religion appears in Native Son mostly in relation to Bigger’s mother and Reverend Hammond. Bigger’s mother relies on her religion as a source of comfort in the face of the crushing realities of life on the South Side. Bigger, however, compares his mother’s religion with Bessie’s whiskey drinking. At times, Bigger wishes he were able to enjoy the comfort religion brings his mother, but he cannot shake his longing for a life in this world. When Reverend Hammond gives Bigger a cross to wear while he is in prison, Bigger equates the cross with the crosses that are burned during racist rituals. In making this comparison, Wright suggests that even the moral province of Christianity has been corrupted by racism in America.”

Communism

“Wright’s portrayal of communism throughout Native Son, especially in the figures of Jan and Max is one of the novel’s most controversial aspects. Wright was still a member of the Communist Party at the time he wrote this novel, and many critics have argued that Max’s long courtroom speech is merely an attempt on Wright’s part to spread communist propaganda. While Wright uses communist characters and imagery in Native Son generally to evoke a positive, supportive tone for the movement, he does not depict the Party and its efforts as universally benevolent. Jan, the only character who explicitly identifies himself as a member of the Party, is almost comically blind to Bigger’s feelings during Book One. Likewise, Max, who represents the Party as its lawyer, is unable to understand Bigger completely. In the end, Bigger’s salvation comes not from the Communist Party, but from his own realization that he must win the battle that rages within him before he can fight any battles in the outside world. The changes that Wright identifies must come not from social change, but from individual effort.”

 

Symbols      

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Mrs. Dalton’s Blindness

“Mrs. Dalton’s blindness plays a crucial role in the circumstances of Bigger’s murder of Mary, as it gives Bigger the escape route of smothering Mary to keep her from revealing his presence in her bedroom. On a symbolic level, this set of circumstances serves as a metaphor for the vicious circle of racism in American society: Mrs. Dalton’s inability to see Bigger causes him to turn to violence, just as the inability of whites to see blacks as individuals causes blacks to live their lives in fear and hatred. Mrs. Dalton’s blindness represents the inability of white Americans as a whole to see black Americans as anything other than the embodiment of their media-enforced -stereotypes.”

The Cross

“The Christian cross traditionally symbolizes compassion and sacrifice for a greater good, and indeed Reverend Hammond intends as much when he gives Bigger a cross while he is in jail. Bigger even begins to think of himself as Christlike, imagining that he is sacrificing himself in order to wash away the shame of being black, just as Christ died to wash away the world’s sins. Later, however, after Bigger sees the image of a burning cross, he can only associate crosses with the hatred and racism that have crippled him throughout his life. As such, the cross in Native Son comes to symbolize the opposite of what it usually signifies in a Christian context.”

Snow

“A light snow begins falling at the start of Book Two, and this snow eventually turns into a blizzard that aids in Bigger’s capture. Throughout the novel, Bigger thinks of whites not as individuals, but as a looming white mountain or a great natural force pressing down upon him. The blizzard is raging as Bigger jumps from his window to escape after Mary’s bones are found in the furnace. When he falls to the ground, the snow fills his mouth, ears, and eyes—all his senses are overwhelmed with a literal whiteness, representing the metaphorical “whiteness” he feels has been controlling him his whole life. Bigger tries to flee, but the snow has sealed off all avenues of escape, allowing the white police to surround and capture him.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRANK OGODO OGBECHE

HARVEST OF CORRUPTION

 

Frank Ogodo Ogbeche is from Yala in Cross River State, Nigeria. He attended Awori-Ajeromi Grammar School, Agoju in Lagos and the Federal School of Arts and Science Ogoja, Cross River State.

In 1989, Frank obtained his first degree in Communication Arts from the University Of Cross River State. He is presently working as a senior Council Affairs Officer.

 

 

TYPE OF play

Tragedy- it is the tragic story of Aloho.

 

LANGUAGE

 

The language is a mixture of standard and Pidgin English. He uses this linguistic style to show out Nigerian English and its variant Pidgin, Mostly use by the undergraduates and graduates to express their exuberant and unofficial thoughts.

 

 

 

 

SETTING

 

The play is set in the modern city of Jabu (Abuja) capital of Nigeria. Where, most graduates run to for miracle jobs and employment opportunities. The city absorbs the lustful lives of millionaires, drug barons and prostitutes.

 

Plot Analysis/overview

 

The tragic play written by Frank Ogodo critically mirrors the contemporary Nigerian society. A society riddled with the bullets of corruption, only the satanic ones survive and the righteous ones face crucifixion day and night. Written only in scenes, we see Aloho battles with the chronic illness of unemployment after her youth service days. The frustration in her eyes let out unholy tears to question her God when she sees Ochuole her old school friend, blooms wonderful under the corrupt Chief. Aloho, a Christian born-again right from home falls into the hands of worries. She has to let go of her righteous life to get what she wants. Ogeyi warns her seriously to avoid Ochuole. Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka, the energy house of corruption also shuns the police force with bribe to cover up his atrocious deeds. What a world! Yakubu laments when a Madman analyses the ills of the society so accurately.

 

“I think the Madman himself symbolizes the country, which is ridden with madness and lawlessness: a real craze for money that needs psychiatric therapy. For the fact that a Madman could prescribe cure and even have the sense of judge between stolen and legitimately acquired properties clearly pictures the state of rottenness that this country has degenerated into”[pp. 25]

 

Chief also pays homage to Justice Odili and gives him some cash and gift. He manipulates the force and the law. The Customs officer arrests Aloho at the airport with portfolio of cocaine and charges her to court. We see Justice Odili discharges her based on want of evidence. The court of law interprets lies and injustice, because the Justice drinks from the same cup of corruption with Chief. Ochuole and Madam Hoha on the other hand are human traffickers. They lure young and innocent girls into the immoral web of Chief. Chief abuses them sexually and impregnate most of them, who end up in the pitying coffin of abortion. Chief controls the system and knows the right button to push to silence an opposition. He bribes officials, intimidates personnel but Yakubu is one those force man that is never going to give up. Yakubu swears to carry out a thorough investigation on the ministry for the embezzled money.

Chief ends his colossal reign with Aloho. Ogeyi goes to the police and confesses to Inaku about her friend’s saga with Chief and Inaku records everything with a tape, plays the tape to Yakubu and they plan to send it direct to the presidency for immediate action. The law finally catches up with Chief and his accomplices. Chief begs for mercy and the Judge sentences him to twenty-five years imprisonment. Aloho delivers her baby and dies. We see Chief, Ayo, Ochuole, Madam Hoha, Chief Justice and Commissioner of Police reap the harvest of their corruption.

 

 

 

SCENE ONE

 

Aloho looks for Job; she reads an advertisement on a notice board on the wall. Ochuole appears behind Aloho and places both palms on her eyes. Aloho struggles to free herself and both of them burst into laughter on the recognition of each other. Ochuole asks Aloho her reason of coming to the ministry and Aloho tells her, she is in need of a job. Ochuole informs her that she works in the Ministry and Aloho baffles. Aloho laments to her God, she questions God for his lateness to bless “Born again” like her while Unbelievers like Ochuole makes it brightly and quickly in life. Ochuole feels annoyance for Aloho’s expression about her and Aloho pleads. Ochuole says she is the Chief Administration officer attached to the Minister and the name is the Ministry of External Relations. Aloho expresses her inability to get job after her youth service and Ochuole sympathizes. Ochuole tells Aloho that a lot is happening in the city of Jabu. She has to open her eyes wide. Ochuole promises Aloho to introduce her to her Oga in the Ministry.

 

Aloho goes home and meets Ogeyi her friend at home reading Christian prayer book. Ogeyi asks Aloho, how things went on her job seeking. Aloho tells Ogeyi about Ochuole at the secretariat. She describes Ochuole to Ogeyi, the nuisance of a girl on campus during their University days. Ogeyi remembers. Aloho tells her how Ochuole offered to help and Ogeyi warns Aloho and tells her how Ochuole has spoiled the reputation of girls in Jabu city. Ogeyi tells Aloho that Ochuole is the Satan himself looking for more prey to useless and devour. Ogeyi tells her of Harvest of Corruption- any soul that sins shall surely die. The harvest is not always a pleasant one for the Sower.

 

Madam Hoha sits on the reception room, counts some naira notes and Ochuole enters. Madam Hoha praises her, as she slumps into a nearby chair. Ochuole expresses her concern on the civil servant. She says Civil service job is nothing but time wasting. They work thirty-one days and receive only two thousand naira to feed six children and solve hosts of family and domestic problems. Ochuole tells Madam Hoha that one of friends is in town. She needs a job very desperately. The Chief will be over himself when he sees her. The old crook, he will want her immediately even right there in the office. Madam Hoha smiles and says that Chief will employ her and they make use of her to get what they want. Ochuole says her duty is to convince Aloho to play ball with Chief and then the usual commission keeps rolling in. Ochuole says, she came to meet Chief in Madam Hoha’s hotel. Chief Haladu Ade Amaka enters and Ochuole hurries to carry his portfolio. Chief greets Madam Hoha and smiles. Ochuole complains to Chief for money and Chief gives her twenty thousand naira. She puts into her bag the wad of notes and tells Chief about her friend, who is an applicant.

 

 

 

SCENE TWO

 

Police Headquarters, Darkin. Chief enters and sees three policemen, a sergeant and two constables. They hail Chief with familiar nicknames of Baba O! He responds, sprays them with naira notes and passes into the inner office to meet the Commissioner. Chief meets Commissioner. Commissioner looks worries and Chief asks him why. He tells Chief about the disturbing reports coming from the Ministries. Commissioner warns Chief to keep his hands and nose clean. Chief tells him not to bother. He opens his portfolio and gives him bundles of naira notes to soothe his nerves. He also promises more if the Commissioner helps to cover him up. Commissioner tells Chief about the General Manager’s regards. Chief promises him the seat of Inspector-General, if he keeps the job moving.

 

Office of Yakubu, he is an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in-charge of central Intelligence Department (CID) at Darkin. He sits on chair, stretches his legs across his table in a relaxed position and reads newspaper. He squeezes his face, bangs on the table with clenched fists. Yakubu reads of a person who embezzles a whopping sum of one point two billion naira in one Ministry.

 

Outside, a madman carries a heavy bundle of tightly wrapped bits and pieces of junk. He laughs and curses nobody in particular. He calls them criminals who are not contended with what they have. A lady passes and hails the madman, tells him that he is disturbing the neighbourhood. She threatens to call the police to arrest the madman for noisemaking and stealing. The madman laughs and says the lady is his darling wife when he was poor. The lady moves towards the madman and laughs, claps her hands on him and leaves. (ACP) Yakubu releases the window blind and goes back to his seat. He tries to juxtapose the madman’s ambition and criticisms of the society.

 

Secretariat Complex, Inspector Inaku discusses with a young man. He is a clerk in the Ministry of External Relations. Inspector Inaku asks Ayo whether he is aware of the embezzlement scandal going on in their Ministry and Ayo says no. Ayo tells the Inspector of his two thousand five hundred naira salary. The Inspector promises to give him two thousand five hundred naira if he gives vital information. Ayo shows willingness. Inspector tells Ayo of his address and tells him to come with all the relevant documents and voucher relating to the amount in question. Ayo takes the money and address and disappears.

 

House of Justice Odili at Ayokolo, He is bald-headed and relaxes on a sofa, reads a newspaper. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door and Chief Haladu Ade Amaka enters. He greets Justice and Justice asks him what brings him. Chief says he comes to pay respect and homage as usual. Justice welcomes him and asks him what to offer. Chief answers and requests for a bottle of whiskey. Chief gives some cash to the Justice and he collects with gratitude.

 

 

SCENE THREE

 

Ministry of External Relations Maisama, Office of Chief Haladu Ade Amaka, Enter Aloho and Ochuole into the adjoining office of the secretary to the Minister, Mrs. Obi. They greet her. Ochuole tells her that Aloho wants to see Chief. Mrs. Obi asks whether Aloho is on appointment, because other people are waiting to see the Minister. Mrs. Obi informs the Minister about Ochuole. The Minister pretends not to remember the appointment. He orders Mrs. Obi to bring them in. Mrs. Obi leaves and informs the girls to go in. they go in and Ochuole greets Chief and Chief ignores Ochuole’s show of intimacy and asks the young lady what is her name. Aloho answers, tells him where she graduated from and the course she read. Chief nods his head and agrees to employ her. Chief asks for her credentials and looks at the papers and shakes his head indicates satisfaction. He hands them back to her. Turns to Ochuole and tells her that he is satisfied with Aloho. Aloho thanks him. Chief tells Aloho that she will work as his protocol officer. Chief orders Ochuole to furnish Aloho all the details of her assignment.

 

Ogeyi’s room, Aloho enters and tells Ogeyi about her new job, a protocol officer to Hon. Minister of External Relations. Aloho claps her hands and jumps unto the bed. Ogeyi questions her about the job and frowns at the mention of Ochuole’s name. She warns her friend again against Ochuole.

 

Madam Hoha’s hotel reception, she is busy making her entries in her cash book and counts money. Chief enters and asks about Ochuole and her friend, and Madam says she has not seen them. Chief orders for drink as usual. Ochuole and Aloho enter. Ochuole introduces Aloho to Madam Hoha as the protocol officer. Madam Hoha welcomes Aloho and Aloho thanks her. Chief orders something for the girls. Aloho says she does not feel like drinking anything and Chief rebuffs. She agrees to take malt. Chief appreciates. Chief asks Ochuole whether she has brief Aloho about the business scheduled for the next two weeks to the United States, to go and deliver vital documents. Ochuole says yes that Aloho is prepared. Chief appreciates, finishes his drinks and leaves. Aloho calls Ochuole and shows a sign of surprise and protest. Aloho questions Ochuole for not telling her about the trip to USA. Ochuole draws closer to her and tells her that the trip to the USA is part of her protocol schedules.

 

Ogeyi sits on the bed, cleans her nails and Aloho enters. Aloho questions her friend the reason why she is not sleeping yet. Ogeyi tells her that she cannot go to sleep while she is still outside. Aloho tells Ogeyi about her sudden arrangement to travel to USA to deliver documents to somebody. Ogeyi falls in deep thought and tells Aloho what the Bible says about temptation. She tells Aloho to flee that God will find her another job. Aloho persists and Ogeyi infuriates, tells her that she is really determined to kill herself.

 

At the Airport, Ochuole and Aloho stand at one end. Chief gives over black portfolio to Aloho. Chief tells Aloho to be smart and confident on the journey. Ochuole tells Aloho to cheer up. Chief and Ochuole leave quickly.

 

A sudden sharp shrill voice from the loudspeakers invites passengers on international flight to the USA. Aloho picks her briefcase, straightens her dress, adjusts herself and walks smartly to the checkpoint for the Customs formalities. Customs officer demands Aloho’s bag and innocent Aloho hands over the briefcase to him. He opens it with his mouth wide open in disbelief. Aloho shows irritation. Customs officer asks Aloho what those wraps are. Aloho looks surprised at the officer’s infuriated face. Aloho says the briefcase is for her boss and she is to deliver it to somebody in the USA. He makes to drag Aloho along with him and Aloho visibly agitates. Aloho denies the Cocaine and sobs. Customs officer tells Aloho to follow him and Aloho follows him.

 

Chamber of Justice Odili, Chief enters and fumes, Justice Odili tries to calm him down. Justice Odili questions Chief why he leaves the girl unprotected. Chief complains that his own Customs officer leaves his duty post at that material time. Justice Odili asks Chief what his plans are. Chief tells Justice to get the girl out for him that money is not a problem. Justice says it is not an easy case but he shall try. Chief promises to pay five hundred thousand naira and Justice Odili says it is One Million naira to get the girl out. Chief agrees and leaves and Justice Odili dresses up for the courtroom.

 

Courtroom, Justice Odili sits; the hall is packed with spectators. The Registrar sits directly in front of the high seat of the judge. The court Usher stands by the door while Aloho sits with a handkerchief in her hands. She blows her nose. In the last one week, she loses weight. Justice Odili tells the Registrar to calls the first case. The Registrar calls the case of Aloho and the state. The fact of the case is that Miss Aloho is charged for carrying substance suspected to be cocaine. Justice Odili asks whether the accused is in court. Registrar says yes. Justice Odili discharges and acquits Aloho for want of evidence and the fact that in law, the onus of proof lies with the complainant, Justice says the prosecutor is not in court and cannot be located presently.

 

Assistant Commissioner Yakubu’s office, he reads newspaper. Suddenly he screams, stands up, paces up and down, he then moves towards the window and peeps outside. ACP yakubu wonders, how that old crook of a judge acquits and discharges a very clear case of cocaine pushing. Constable Ojo enters. Ojo salutes and asks Yakubu whether he is talking to anybody. ACP Yakubu tells Ojo that he is soliloquizing. Yakubu complains about the legal system. Ojo says what surprises him is that the state prosecutor and the defense counsels were both absent at the different times the case came up. Yakubu shakes his head in disagreement. He insists on working on the embezzlement allegations going on.

 

 

 

SCENE FOUR

 

Ogeyi’s room, Aloho lies down on the bed and sobs while Ogeyi consoles her. Aloho begs Ogeyi to forgive her for ignoring her warnings. She calls Chief- Satan. Ogeyi consoles. Aloho confesses to Ogeyi that she was lured into having an affair with Chief and she is pregnant. Ogeyi pants and question Aloho’s beliefs and practices. Aloho thinks of abortion and Ogeyi condemns it.

 

Officer of the Commissioner of Police, He sits on his swivel chair and Yakubu enters. Yakubu salutes and stands attention. Yakubu greets and they shake hands. Commissioner welcomes Yakubu and gives him a seat. Yakubu sits and tells him about one Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka, and the money he embezzled. He tells Yakubu to calm down that his boys are incharge of the investigation. Yakubu frowns and talks about the public opinion. The Commissioner rebuffs public opinion and heats up too. He warns Yakubu to steer clear of the Ministry or any other Ministry.

 

 

SCENE FIVE

 

A reception room in the WAZOBIA hospital, Mabu Halimatu, a nursing Sister in a well-starched white apron sits on a high stool. Aloho enters and greets the Nurse that she wants to see the Doctor. Nurse Halimatu orders her to sit down. She gives Aloho card to fill. Aloho fills the card and gives back to the Nurse. Nurse signals her to go and see the Doctor. She goes in, sees the young Doctor of thirty-five years. Doctor asks her what the problem is and she tells the Doctor about her pregnancy and the plan to get rid of it. The Doctor warns her of such act as it is against their profession to do such things. Aloho begs the Doctor to help her that she can pay any amount. The Doctor shows interest at the mention of money and asks her how much she is willing to pay. Aloho opens her bag and brings out a bundle, which she throws at him across the table. The Doctor looks at the bundle on the table with disbelief. He picks it and stares at the bundle for a while, shrugs and tells Aloho to come back in two weeks time. Aloho tells the Doctor that the pregnancy is three months going. Doctor shouts and tells her that the foetus is already a full-grown baby. He tells Aloho to have a second thought because that can cause her life. At last, the Doctor tells her to go into the inner room. Aloho comes out of the inner room and leaves to come back in two weeks time.

 

Wusa Market, Ogeyi and Aloho go to market. Aloho carries a shopping basket in front of a market stall. Ogeyi greets the woman and prices Mudu of rice. Aloho tells Ogeyi that she is tired and Ogeyi asks her friend what is wrong with her. Ogeyi consoles her. Ogeyi and Aloho exit. WAZOBIA Hospital, Nurse Halimatu stands In front of the card shelf. Aloho enters, greets and asks about the Doctor. Halimatu tells her to wait for the Doctor to be free. Two people come out from the Doctor’s room and Halimatu tells Aloho to go in. Aloho thanks her and moves in. she greets the Doctor and the Doctor questions her condition that morning, and tells her to feel relax. Doctor takes her into the theatre. She lies on the theatre bed and immediately the Nurse comes in and reports an emergency. The Doctor begs Aloho to wait and he rushes out of the room with the Nurse. Aloho feels frustrated and disappointed, scrambles out of bed. She picks her handbag, opens the door and leaves the room.

 

 

SCENE SIX

 

Maisama, Ministry of External Relations, inside the office of the secretary to the Honourable Minister, Mrs. Obi sits almost opposite her table, clerical officer Ayo is there. The Tea girl, Alice completes the number. Ayo talks about the latest gist in town. Mrs. Obi shows interest and drops the file in her hand. Alice clasps her hands together proclaims she has never seen a man who can gossip like Ayo. Ayo feigns annoyance and tells Mrs. Obi to warn Alice. Ayo tells them about Aloho and her pregnancy for Chief. Ayo tells them that Aloho visits Doctor for abortion. Mrs. Obi snaps her finger and blames that devil incarnates Ochuole for destroying the lives of innocent girls.

 

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Yakubu sits with his surbordinate officer, Inspector Inaku. Ogeyi enters and greets them. Yakubu asks Ogeyi what they can do for her and says she has a story to tell and Yakubu signals to Inaku to Suspends anything he is doing for the girl’s story. Inaku and Ogeyi leave Yakubu’s office to his own. They enter Inaku’s office and sit while he draws his little tape-recorder closer. He slots in a cassette and presses a button and gestures for her to speak. Ogeyi says her name, address and work place. She tells him about her friend Aloho and Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka. She tells him about Aloho’s pregnancy and her ambition to abort it. She sobs. Inspector Inaku shows concern and consoles her. Ogeyi tells him about the Judge who clears her even though she was guilty of the crime. She tells him that the Chief is highly connected to the Judge and the Police Commissioner. She tells him about Ochuole and Madam Hoha. Inspector asks her whether she is sure of what she has just said. Ogeyi affirms and wipes her face. Inaku thanks her and tells her to go home. Inaku enters the office of the Assistant Commissioner and Yakubu asks him what happened. Inspector Inaku plays the tape to him and he listens with rapt attention. Yakubu says they shall hand the tape to the presidency to direct the State Security Service to start action immediately. This is the end of the road for that crook Minister.

 

Ogeyi’s room, Aloho lies on the Bed, faces upward. She talks to Ogeyi. Aloho explains to her friend that every time she goes to the Doctor for the abortion something dramatic happens and the Doctor leaves her. She rubs her stomach and says that the pregnancy is almost six months old. Ogeyi calmly tells her to forget about abortion and deliver the baby. Aloho sobs. Ogeyi heats up and criticizes her friend’s moody behaviour towards the pregnancy. Aloho sobs and talks about the rumour of her pregnancy in the town. Ogeyi warns her not to do any stupid deed because of the rumour. Ogeyi tells Aloho to go home, so that her people can take care of her. Aloho submits and feels the idea is good but she fears her father. Ogeyi becomes sympathetic. Aloho sets to think about it. Ogeyi moves to her on the bed and begins to caress her.

 

Office of the Honourable Minister, the Chief is busy attending to files, the secretary bursts in and pants. The Minister stops and looks at her. Mrs. Obi tells him of three men out there. Chief frowns. Mrs. Obi shakes and says they are State Security Service Agents. Chief adjusts his seat. Mrs. Obi leaves the office, enters her own and permits the three men to go and see Chief. The three men greet Chief and he asks what he can do for them. 1^st SSS tells Chief that he is invited to the Headquarters to see their Chief. Chief frowns and questions them. The 2^nd SSS brings out his identity card and shows it to him. Chief finds himself in a tight corner and begs for time to pull himself together. The 3^rd SSS asks about Clerical Assistant, Mr. Ayo and Chief Admin officer, Ochuole. He says they are all going with them.

 

Ogeyi’s room, she lies down on the bed reading a religious pamphlet. Somebody knocks on the door. Ogeyi stops, sits up and questions the identity of the person. Okpotu greets and says he is Aloho’s younger brother. Ogeyi jumps up at the mention of Aloho and welocmes him. Okpotu tells her that Aloho is dead and that the baby is alive. He comes to tell Ogeyi because Aloho kept calling her name until she eventually died. Ogeyi breaks down completely. She sobs uncontrollably, rolls from one side of the ground to the other. Okpotu reaches out for her gently and places her on the bed. Ogeyi wipes her eyes and asks about the baby. Okpotu assures her of the baby’s safety. Okpotu leaves, Ogeyi sobs.

 

 

 

 

SCENE EIGHT

 

Wasa High Court of Justice is full of lawyers, reporters, Jurymen and Spectators. The Judge enters; everybody rises and stands until the Judge takes his seat. Judge calls the first case. Registrar states case No 1 State versus Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka and five others.

 

Two policemen and woman lead the five accused persons in and make them sit on a bench in front of the jury. Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka stands and the Registrar reads out his charges. The arguments begin and at the end, the court finds Chief Haladu guilty of all the offences. Chief sobs and begs for mercy. The Judge sentences him for twenty-five years imprisonment with hard labour. For the Commissioner of Police and Chief Jusitice, The Judge sentences them both to twenty years each with hard labour, to reap the harvest of their corruption. The Clerk who violates the oath of secrecy to keep Government’s secrets and was tempted by the mere offer of two thousand naira is sentence to five years imprisonment for receiving bribe. Madam Hoha and Ochuole are sentence to ten years each with hard labour for operating havens for criminals’ activities under the guise of beer parlours. The Judge hits the table with his gavel, the prisoners are led away by Policemen and there is general commotion in the court.

 

 

 

CHARACTERIZATION

 

 

 

ALOHO

 

She is an Applicant and Christian “born again” who graduated from University of Azuka. She studied Mass Communication. After her youth service she looks for job in the Ministry. She is the main character whom the author uses to expose all the ills of Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka.

 

 

OCHUOLE

 

Chief Administration Officer to Hon. Minister, External Relations, she is the recruiters of girls for drug trafficking deals. She is Aloho’s old school friend and a well- known prostitute in the city of Jabu.

 

CHIEF HALADU ADE-AMAKA

 

Honourable Minister External Relations, the power house of corruption, drug lord, Chief embezzler, he abuses young girl sexually to give them job. He bribes policemen and their Commissioner and Chief Justice Odili.

 

OGEYI

 

Ogeyi is Aloho’s friend. She accommodates her for the mean time in Jabu. She feeds her and warns her against Ochuole. She exposes all the secret of Chief to the Police.

 

COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

 

The Commissioner of police Headquarters, Darkin, he collects bribe from Chief to cover his atrocious deeds. He warns Yakubu to steer clear of the Ministry.

 

ACP YAKUBU

 

Assistant Commissioner of Police, he is a disciplinarian to the core. He hates crime and injustice with his entire mind. He swears to bring Chief and his accomplices to book.

 

 

JUSTICE ODILI

 

He collects money from Chief. He discharges and acquits Aloho for want of evidence.

 

INSPECTOR INAKU

 

Detective Inspector of Police, he assists Yakubu to investigate the embezzlement in the Ministry. He records Ogeyi’s confession and plays it to the Assistant Commissioner.

 

MADAM HOHA

 

Proprietress of Akpara Hotel, she helps Ochuole to recruit girls for Chief, and her Hotel serves as a packing store for Chief’s wraps cocaine.

 

AYO

 

He is a clerk in the office of the Hon. Minister of External Relations. He exposes government vital documents to the police for two thousand five hundred naira.

 

 

 

 

Themes

 

Corruption

 

Ogbeche depicts all forms of social, political and economical atrocities, moral decadence and disrespect for law and order in the contemporary Nigeria. People use what they have to get what they want. Young girls like Aloho commit sexual immorality to get job. The Commissioner of Police collects bribe to condole evil of drug trafficking with his power. In addition, Justice misinterprets law and order because of greed. The resultant effect of these negative values is the emergence of a lawless and undisciplined society without development.

 

 

 

 

 

ABUSE OF POWER

 

Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka as the Honourable Minister, External Relation abuses the power given to him. He takes the advantage of it to siphon and embezzle contracts fund for the development of the country. He influences the Police force negatively to allow him carryout his drug-trafficking deals. He claims he has the connection to change, remove or promotes any civil servant, therefore manipulates the officers and Chief Justice. The Commissioner of Police abuses his power also in the play. He always warns Yakubu off in Chief’s case. Yakubu wants to investigate the case but fears his superior. The Chief Justice abuses his power in the law court also. The antagonists of the play abuse their power politically, economically and socially because of greed and avarice.

 

 

PRESSURE

 

Lust for money, material things and wealth bring pressure. Pressure plays a major role in the downfall of the major characters in the play. Pressure to make it quick, change class, status, acquire and achieves unimaginable things in little period of time. Aloho finishes her youth service and she is in haste to get employment, to become like the elegant and luxurious Ochuole. Though Ogeyi warns her, she still falls in the evil trap of Chief. The Commissioner of Police and the Chief Justice, they sink in the quagmire of many years imprisonment because of money and the new level promotion Chief promises.

 

 

JUSTICE

 

After all the atrocities committed by Chief and his variants, law and order take on them and Justice prevails. They bag for themselves some years in jail with hard labour to pay for their sins. They harvest their farm of corruption wonderfully.

 

 

SYMBOLISM

 

Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka has three ethnic names and the names represent the major ethnic groups in Nigeria.

 

THE MAD MAN is a metaphorical distorted representation of Nigerian ill state.

 

 

MOTIF

 

Love of money, Greed and Avarice, Sexual Immorality, Bribery, Embezzlement, Drug Trafficking, Smuggling

 

 

 

DELE CHARLEY

THE BLOOD OF A STRANGER

 

Mr. Raymond Caleb Ayodele “Dele Charley” (Late) was born on 27^th March 1948. He was a Sierra Leonean writer and playwright in English and Krio language. He studied in Freetown and at Leads University London, where he obtained Master Degree in Theatre Arts and worked for Ministry of Education in Sierra Leone. He was appointed Lecturer in Dramatic Arts at Milton Margai Teacher Training College in Sierra Leone; he has participated in many playwright and Theatre Arts.

 

 

 

TYPE OF play

The play is a tragedy

 

LANGUAGE

The language is simple, modern English mixed with Creole. Anybody can read and assimilates the discourse in this play.

 

 

SETTING

 

The play is set in the ancient village of Mando, old Sierra Leone during the colonial era. It shows the invasion of the white men to the virgin land of Africa.

 

 

 

Plot Analysis/overview

 

Neo-colonialism is a setback. Neo-colonialist does what he does best in Dele Charley’s The Blood of a Stranger. He comes to take away African resources, goodness and pride. He tricks the native to steal from one another. Africans revenge against their blood brothers because of colourful empires and wealth. Neo-colonialist uses, abuses and dumps natives, to become the wretched of the earth. The Blood of a Stranger is an interesting drama. It depicts the life and culture of a Sierra Leone village of Mando and the attempt by a Whiteman to capitalize on their ignorance and poor state of mind to exploit the society’s rich natural resources. The Whiteman conspires with Maligu, who knows how to read and write. He promises Maligu a heaven on earth and buys Maligu’s gullible heart. Maligu feeds lies to the King through Soko, the village priest. In the play, visitor means sickness, disease and ill-luck to the people of Mando. And the invasion of the Whiteman brings atrocities to the village. He gives the Youths tobacco and alcohol to smoke and drink. Villagers get intoxicated and start abnormal behaviour, and men sleep with girls along the road naked. The whiteman comes with a fake intention of planting tobacco on Mando’s fertile land. Later he reveals to Maligu his true motive of transporting Mando’s diamond back to his place. The Whiteman symbolizes Britain’s rape of Sierra Leone natural resources. Kindo is the Chief Warrior of the village and the son of the King. He does not trust anybody and Maligu is his common obstacle. Through Kindo, the plans of the Whiteman fail. The White Man dies in the hand of the warrior and his blood quenches the thirst of Mando’s shrine. Dele Charley criticizes the exploitation of Africans who find themselves under European power. The Europeans make use of some African’s noblemen like Maligu to steal away resources. Kindo makes it clear in the play. Defilement of custom and conspiracies runs in all the scenes.

 

 

ACT ONE

 

SCENE ONE

 

Maligu, the King’s adviser receives a letter from his brother. The letter reads of a Whiteman coming to Mando. Maligu knows Kindo the warrior and King’s son will not let the White stranger stay. He goes to the Priest Cave at night and calls. Soko comes from the bush, and Maligu teases him for not sleeping in the cave, whereas people believe that he sleeps in the cave. Maligu reveals his aim for visiting the cave explains to him and tells him to lie to the King that the stranger coming is the act of the gods. He convinces Soko with riches, to tell the King that the stranger is coming to the village to start a tobacco farm and will employ some of their men.

Soko says Maligu and Kindo’s voice give the King a rigid support.

Maligu tells Soko that his voice is final. Maligu goes out. Soko remains standing for a few moments before he goes into the cave.

Kindo enters, drags Wara. Wara complains that she is afraid. Kindo assures her of safety. Wara says the Priest is in the cave. Kindo says the priest sleeps in the bush not in the cave. Wara says Kindo talks like educated Maligu who does not believe in the village oracle. Kindo tells Wara that he can read and write too. He drags her into the shadows. Soko comes out of the cave with a gong and beats his way out. Wara says she knew that Soko will be in the cave. Kindo says they should go into the bush anyway. Wara begs Kindo for them to go back.

 

 

 

 

 

SCENE TWO

 

Full lights on stage, people of the land anxiously want to hear the reason for the summons. Four men enter carry the King aloft. He sits in front of the sacrifice stone. Drum greets the King as he enters, followed by Maligu and Kindo. The people prostrate.

They drink from the horn. Soko gives sword to the King. The King moves to the Sacrifice Stone and makes sacrifice. Soko announces the coming of the Stranger and King orders Maligu to prepare to receive the stranger. Kindo reminds his father that the spirits of their land have also warned against Strangers from the priest. Maligu says the priest voice is the voice of the spirits. Santigi says they must do what the spirits say. Maligu says he received a letter from his brother about a Whiteman coming to their village and Soko the priest have confirmed it. Kindo demands to see the letter and Maligu refuses. Santigi tells Kindo to make all the necessary preparation to receive the stranger. He orders Kindo to go and find out what the stranger looks like. Maligu says it is a Whiteman. Kindo says he must be a government man. Maligu says he is a farmer and the King questions what kind of white farmer. Santigi goes out.

 

Maligu goes out. Soko too, goes out. A short while later, Kindo comes in and sits down. He thinks deeply and Wara comes in, kindo senses her presence. Kindo questions her entrance into the shrine. He tells her strangers are not allowed in the shrine. Wara talks about marriage and the need for Kindo to marry her. Kindo says he senses trouble and many people will die. Wara warns him to stop thinking about fighting. He carries Wara away.

 

Soko enters and Maligu tells him that Kindo brought Wara into the shrine. He tells Soko to make bigger trouble for Kindo.

 

 

 

Act two

 

Scene one

 

The palace, a few days later, the people await the arrival of the stranger. Meanwhile there is drumming. The drummers and dancers greet King as he enters with Soko and Kindo. Santigi asks about the Whiteman. Kindo says he did not see him. Maligu says the Whiteman cannot come today, but tomorrow. Maligu says the Whiteman right hand man told him. The Whiteman is tired and need to rest. Kindo asks whether he is a sick man or an old woman. Kindo quarrels Maligu and the King complains about them. Maligu says the Whiteman has plans that will make the tribe rich. Kindo scolds Maligu and says the tribe is not poor.

Kindo calls two guards and orders them to go and drag the Whiteman down to the palace. Maligu sets to go with the guards. Soko says that the spirits instruct them to treat the Whiteman well. Kindo tells Soko to commune with the spirits again. Soko says Kindo does not know the custom.

Kindo moves off in irritation to talk to Wara. Wara warns him not to provoke the spirits. Kindo says he senses evil in the air.

Two guards enter with the Whiteman’s right hand man in front of them and four others bring in a stool on which the Whiteman appears to be sleeping. Maligu follows immediately after. At a signal from Maligu, they put the stool down. Kindo talks to the right hand man.

 

Kindo demands his name and he says Andrew Samuel Stevenson Thomson-Parker, Esquire. Kindo says the name is too heavy for his mouth. Parker says he is the secretary, Assistant, Interpreter, Aviser and right hand man. Parker asks Kindo whether he is the Chief or King.

Kindo charges him for disrespect and orders his men to whip him. Two men come forward with whips. The guards strip him. Parker shouts for Mr. Whitehead to wake up. Kindo strides over to the stool and throws Whitehead off. He blinks his eyes open and tries to sit up. He is obviously half-drunk. Maligu begs Kindo and Soko remind him the words of the spirit. Santigi and soko go out to the shrine. Parker says he is forty-two and Kindo order his men to flog him forty-two. Kindo orders the Mr. Whitehead to come and bow on his foot or face the punishment. White Head bows and kisses the ground before Kindo.

 

 

 

SCENE TWO

 

Singing, dancing and drinking goes in the background, Soko, Maligu and some girls gather around Whitehead. Maligu tells Whitehead that everything will be fine and Whitehead complains about Kindo. Soko says Kindo smiled in the morning meaning things are all right. Whitehead says things should move fine amidst his expenditure. A group of men moves down stage, singing dancing and drinking. The men hail Mr. Whitehead. Whitehead requests of the girl with Kindo yesterday. Maligu says it will be difficult to get her because she is Kindo’s woman. Whitehead persuades Maligu and requests for the girl or his money. Maligu agrees to bring Wara to him. Kindo enters and Whitehead asks about Wara. Kindo says a man does not walk with woman behind him. Whitehead offers drink to Kindo and Kindo asks him the reason for coming to Mando. Whitehead says he came to plant tobacco and Kindo questions why Mando. Kindo sees villagers drinking and questions Whitehead where he got the gin. Whitehead refuses to answer. Kindo goes to a man lying face down on the ground. He turns him over with his foot. The man clutches a bottle to his chest and statrs to mumble. Kindo blames Whitehead for the drunkenly behaviour of his people. Kindo asks Whitehead whether he gave them tobacco and Whitehead says it was Maligu. Kindo rages and asks of Maligu. Kindo goes out to look for Maligu.

 

Maligu comes in with Soko. They tell Mr. Whitehead that the girl is in his compound. They report a problem. Soko says that the girl shouted and fought them. They tie her hands, cover her eyes and put a cloth in her mouth. Whitehead asks whether Wara saw their faces. They say no. whitehead takes a swig from his bottle and hands it over to Maligu. Then he staggers out. Maligu tells Soko that when Whitehead is through with Wara, they will use her for the sacrifice. Kindo rushes in and questions Maligu why he gave the villagers gin. Maligu says Whitehead sent him to make the people happy. Kindo says Whitehead came to make trouble. Soko says the spirits brought Whitehead. Kindo goes out and Parker comes in and announces that the girl got away. Parker and Maligu go out in different directions to find Wara. Soko stays and swings from the bottle. Wara comes in. Soko asks her why she is running. Wara explains that the White evil man wants to reap her. Soko tells her not to look for Kindo but to run away, because the village will use her for sacrifice tonight. Wara runs off. Soko takes another sip from the bottle and Maligu enters. Soko tells Maligu that the girl has ran away from the village.

 

 

 

ACT THREE

 

SCENE ONE

 

The palace, the next morning, Whitehead and Parker are seated await the King. Shortly, he enters with Soko. Whitehead and Parker prostrate. The King tells Soko about tonight sacrifice and Soko says everything is prepared. Whitehead says the spirits will not mind if an animal sacrifice is done instead of human being. Santigi tells Whitehead that he is a stranger. Whitehead says they do not perform human sacrifices in his place. The King says people will look after their farm tomorrow that they cannot eat tobacco. Whitehead says they will work in his farm in the morning. The King says Maligu told him about the school Whitehead will build for the community. Whitehead says he will teach there too. Whitehead tells the King to convince his people to work on his farm. The King goes out with Soko. Whitehead sends Parker out and conspires with Maligu. They set Parker up for Kindo to kill him and face banishment. The King comes in and Whitehead lights pipe for him. The King draws the pipe and walks out calling his wives.

 

 

 

SCENE TWO

 

The shrine, in the Evening, the King sits with confused-looking Whitehead near him. The King asks Whitehead if he is afraid of blood. Whitehead says he has never seen a human sacrifice. The drummers hit the drum. The girls start to dance. The attendants bring the Priest, who is actually Maligu wearing the special mask. Kindo says the sacrifice must stop. Santigi warns Kindo of spiritually curse. Kindo says the girl chosen for the sacrifice is not a virgin. The King doubts. Kindo says that the body is Parker that is on the sacrifice stone. Two warriors enter with Soko’s body and put it down in front of the king. Kindo says he killed Parker because Parked murdered Soko. Whitehead tells the King to banish him. The King moans. The King says their custom forbid to kill a man during peacetime. Kindo says the people are being fooled. The spirits did not say anything. Maligu removes the mask and demands banishment for Kindo. Kindo kills Whitehead and tells Maligu to confess. The King banishes Kindo. Kindo walks out slowly with his men.

 

 

 

CHARACTERIZATION

 

Maligu

 

He is the King’s adviser and a chief. He is an educated fellow, who knows how to read and write. He studied voraciously and he longer believes in superstition and gods. He receives a letter from his brother about the White stranger. When the stranger comes, Maligu conspires with him to exploit his people.

 

Soko

 

Soko is the village priest. He collaborates with Maligu, tells the King what the gods did not say. Soko is a hypocrite. People believe that he sleeps in the shrine’s bare floor to make atonement for their sins, but Soko sleeps in a hut inside the bush.

 

 

Kindo

 

He is the Chief and bravest warrior of the village and the son of the King. Kindo is secretly an educated man. He trusts no body and he is sensitive enough to detect danger. He kills the Whiteman assistant and Whitehead. He is banished from the Village.

 

 

Wara

 

She is Kindo’s woman. Maligu and Soko plan to use her for the peace sacrifice. They kidnap her and set for Whitehead to rape her. She escapes and runs away from the village.

 

 

Santigi

 

He is the King of the village of Mando. He is the father of Kindo. He truly believes in the gods of his ancestors and obeys whatever they say.

 

 

Parker

 

Parker is the Blackman, the right-hand man of the Whiteman, the interpreter. Kindo’s men flog Parker for not paying homage to the King. He kills the Priest of the village.

 

 

Whitehead

 

Whitehead is the Whiteman, a stranger from Europe. He comes as a farmer to plant tobacco in the fertile land of Mando. He later discloses his plan of exploiting Diamonds to Maligu. He is a drunk and a hard drug user. He influences the people of Mando with alcohol and tobacco.

 

 

 

 

Themes

 

Neo-colonialism

 

African playwrights, Writers and poets have written forests of works on foreign interference. They critically, extensively and concretely criticize European neo-colonialists. The white men came, discovered and exploited Africa in many ways. Through their gunpowder, intelligence and beliefs, they conquered African resistible pulses. Dele exposes one of their cunning ways of exploitation. He kicks against neo-colonialism. Kindo’s first encounter with Mr. Whitehead signifies territorial power. He orders Mr. Whitehead to kiss the ground in front of him. Every country deserves the right to exercise power over their inhabitants and properties and if any stranger should visit, he has to obey and respects the country’s law not by imposing his own rules. The death of Mr. Whitehead depicts the fight against Neo-colonialism.

 

 

 

 

EXPLOITATION

 

Whitehead came only to exploit Mando’s natural resources. He did not tell the villagers what he really wants from their land. He claims that he wants to plant tobacco on their fertile land. Soko says that everybody has a farm or a boat or animal traps, therefore nobody will agree to work for the White man, but Whitehead convinces the King to persuade his people to work for him on the farm and promises to build schools and hospital for them. We see Whitehead uses Maligu and Soko to get Wara, forcefully to sleep with her.

 

 

 

ILLITERACY

 

This sickness takes Africa useful resources to the extinct grave. Illiteracy subjected her to the supremacy of the Europeans. The people of Mando have a useful and delightful resource like diamond, but they do not know the worth, they do not know what it signifies and cannot identify its physical structure. They only believe what their spirits know. Maligu is the only one who knows what a diamond is. He reads about it in a book, due to his quest for wealth and riches, he sets to connive with Whitehead to exploit his people.

 

 

POVERTY

 

Poverty plays a major role in subduing Maligue and Soko to the will of the Whiteman. They need money to change their life style. Maligu complains of the dying crops and tells Soko that the year’s harvest will not be good, and the Priest will starve to death because he is not allowed to farm according to custom. Kindo says their forefathers make the tribe rich by making war on weaker tribes. The weaker tribes united and defeated them, took what they wanted, ate and drank, pissed and left their excrement on Mando.

 

 

INTRIGUES

 

Intrigues form the plot line, right from the start, Maligu receives a letter and plans with the Priest to tell the King that it is god’s will to welcome the White stranger. He also plans to use Wara for the villager’s peace sacrifice to deny Kindo his affectionate one. The Whiteman conspires with Maligu and Soko to rape Wara. Whitehead and Maligu set Kindo up with Parker’s death, for the King to banish his son. Whitehead came for the diamond in Mando and claims he wants to make use of their fertile soil to plant tobacco.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LORRAINE HANSBERRY

A RAISIN IN THE SUN

 

 

LORRAINE HANSBERRY Born in 1930 in Southside Chicago, Lorraine Hansberry was brought up in an educated middle-class family. Her father was a successful real estate broker and her uncle a Howard University professor of African history. Her parent sent her to public schools in protest against social segregation. She studied art at the University of Wisconsin before moving to New York. In 1953 she married Robert Nemiroff, a white Jewish artist and political activist. In the following years, she wrote her frist play, A Rasin in the Sun, which opened in March 1959.

 

 

TYPE OF play

 

This is a realistic drama

 

 

LANGUAGE

 

The play is written in unconventionally non-standard English. But not in the character of Beneatha, her English is an elevated one.

 

 

SETTING

 

The play is set in the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. It has the same background with Richard Wright’s Native Son.

 

 

Plot Analysis/overview

 

 

A Raisin in the Sun portrays the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. Hansberry dares to say that black people have inner lives too, and that they are a part of the great human continuum. She fights socially against the society, which seeks constantly to emasculate him. It is a great critical and popular success against racial segregation. Every black playwrights, Writers and Poets, wherever in the world have written a variation of A Rasin in the Sun. Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Tony Morrison, Langston Hugh and many more have strongly speak for existentialism. The existence of the black and their right to exist characterized their works.

The experience of the blacks is nothing to write home about. Hansberry seems to get rid of such experience. The play presaged the revolution in black and women’s consciousness. The play has nothing to do with Negroes at all, it is rather a walking, talking, living demonstration of mythic conviction that underneath Americans, Color-ain’t-got-nothing-to-do-with-it, all are pretty much alike.

In ‘Mama’ she paints a matriarch whose first obligation is the survival of her family. Mama knows the greatest challenge and the sweetest revenge. She knows how to tackle her common enemy. On the other hand Walter lee thinks that gaining economical power will equals him with the White folks. He struggles to get money until Willy dupes him and runs away. Walter lee also criticizes people like George, who hates to hear about their fellow black brothers. He mocks assimilation in several forms and promotes black culture and practices.

When the play opens, the Youngers set to receive an insurance check for $10,000. This money comes from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy. Each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. The matriarch of the family, Mama, wants to buy a house to fulfill a dream she shared with her husband. Mama’s son, Walter Lee, would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store with his friends. He believes that the investment will solve the family’s financial problems forever. Walter’s wife, Ruth, agrees with Mama, however, and hopes that she and Walter can provide more space and opportunity for their son, Travis. Finally, Beneatha, Walter’s sister and Mama’s daughter, wants to use the money for her medical school tuition. She also wishes that her family members were not so interested in joining the white world. Beneatha instead tries to find her identity by looking back to the past and to Africa.

The play progresses, the Youngers clash over their competing dreams. Ruth discovers that she is pregnant but fears that if she has the child, she will put more financial pressure on her family members. When Walter says nothing to Ruth’s admission that she is considering abortion, Mama puts a down payment on a house for the whole family. She believes that a bigger, brighter dwelling will help them all. This house is in Clybourne Park, an entirely white neighborhood. When the Youngers’ future neighbors find out that, the Youngers are moving in, they send Mr. Lindner, from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, to offer the Youngers money in return for staying away. The Youngers refuse the deal, even after Walter loses the rest of the money ($6,500) to his friend Willy Harris, who persuades Walter to invest in the liquor store and then runs off with his cash.

In the meantime, Beneatha rejects her suitor, George Murchison, whom she believes to be shallow and blind to the problems of race. Subsequently, she receives a marriage proposal from her Nigerian boyfriend, Joseph Asagai, who wants Beneatha to get a medical degree and move to Africa with him (Beneatha does not make her choice before the end of the play). The Youngers eventually move out of the apartment, fulfilling the family’s long-held dream. Their future seems uncertain and slightly dangerous, but they are optimistic and determined to live a better life. They believe that they can succeed if they stick together as a family and resolve to defer their dreams no longer.

 

 

ACT ONE

 

SCENE ONE

 

The younger living room, its furnishings are typical and undistinguished, weariness has in fact wins in this room. At left a door leads to a bedroom which is shared by Mama and her daughter, Beneatha, at left right opposite is a second room which serves as a bedroom for Walter and his wife, Rith. Travis is asleep on the make down bed at centre. Ruth enters from the room and closes the door behind her. She shakes her sleeping son a little to wake up. Her son sits up at last in a stupor of sleepiness. Ruth tells Travis to hurry to bathroom. The child drags himself out of bed and goes out to the bathroom. Ruth calls his husband to wake up, tells him it is seven thirty in the morning. Ruth warns Walter Lee to stand before Travis finishes and Mr. Johnson goes in to use the bathroom. Ruth moves to check on her husband but Walter wakes up and Ruth returns to the kitchen.

 

Beneatha gets up next and after discovering that someone from another family occupies the bathroom, engages in a verbal joust with Walter. He thinks that she should be doing something more womanly than studying medicine, especially since her tuition will cut into the check, which is the insurance payment for their father’s death. Beneatha argues that the money belongs to Mama and that Mama has the right to decide how it is spent. Walter then leaves for his job as a chauffeur—he has to ask Ruth for money to get to work because the money he gave Travis was his carfare. Mama enters and goes directly to a small plant that she keeps just outside the kitchen window. She expresses sympathy for her grandson, Travis, while she questions Ruth’s ability to care for him properly. She asks Ruth what she would do with the money, which amounts to $10,000. For once, Ruth seems to be on Walter’s side. She thinks that if Mama gives him some of the money he might regain his happiness and confidence, which are two things Ruth feels she can no longer provide for Walter. Mama, though, feels morally repulsed by the idea of getting into the liquor business. Instead, she wants to move to a house with a lawn on which Travis can play. Owning a house had always been a dream she had shared with her husband, and now that he is gone, she nurtures this dream even more powerfully.

Mama and Ruth begin to tease Beneatha about the many activities that she tries and quits, including her latest attempt to learn how to play the guitar. Beneatha claims that she is trying to “express” herself, an idea at which Ruth and Mama have a laugh. They discuss the man that Beneatha has been dating, George Murchison. Beneatha gets angry as they praise George because she thinks that he is “shallow.” Mama and Ruth do not understand her ambivalence toward George, arguing that she should like him simply because he is rich. Beneatha contends that, for that very reason, any further relationship is pointless, as George’s family wouldn’t approve of her anyway. Beneatha makes the mistake of using the Lord’s name in vain in front of Mama, which sparks another conversation about the extent of God’s providence. Beneatha argues that God does not seem to help her or the family. Mama, outraged at such a pronouncement, asserts that she is head of the household and that there will be no such thoughts expressed in her home. Beneatha recants and leaves for school, and Mama goes to the window to tend her plant. Ruth and Mama talk about Walter and Beneatha, and Ruth suddenly faints.

 

SCENE TWO

The next day, Saturday, the Youngers are cleaning their apartment and waiting for the insurance check to arrive. Walter receives a phone call from his friend Willy Harris, who is coordinating the potential liquor store venture. It appears that their plan is moving smoothly. The insurance check is all Walter needs to pursue the venture. He promises to bring the money to Willy when he receives it. Meanwhile, Beneatha is spraying the apartment with insecticide in an attempt to rid it of cockroaches. Beneatha and Travis start fighting, and Beneatha threatens him with the spray gun.

The phone rings, and Beneatha answers. She invites the person on the phone over to the still-dirty apartment, much to Mama’s chagrin. After hanging up, Beneatha explains to Mama that the man she has spoken to on the phone is Joseph Asagai, an African intellectual whom Beneatha has met at school. She and Mama discuss Beneatha’s worries about her family’s ignorance about Africa and African people. Mama believes that Africans need religious salvation from “heathenism,” while Beneatha believes that they are in greater need of political and civil salvation from French and British colonialism.

Ruth returns from seeing a doctor, who has told her that she is two months pregnant. She reveals this information to Mama and Beneatha. Ruth and Beneatha are worried and uncertain, while Mama simply expresses her hope that the baby will be a girl. Ruth calls the doctor “she,” which arouses Mama’s suspicion because their family doctor is a man. Ruth feels ill and anxious about her pregnancy. Mama tries to help her relax.

Asagai visits Beneatha, and they spend some time together by themselves. He brings her some Nigerian clothing and music as gifts. As Beneatha tries on one of the robes, Asagai asks about her straightened hair. He implies that her hairstyle is too American and unnatural, and he wonders how it got that way. Beneatha says that her hair was once like his, but that she finds it too “raw” that way. He teases her a bit about being very serious about finding her identity, particularly her African identity, through him. Asagai obviously cares for Beneatha very much, and he wonders why Beneatha does not have the same feeling for him. She explains that she is looking for more than storybook love. She wants to become an independent and liberated woman. Asagai scorns her wish, much to Beneatha’s disappointment.

Mama comes into the room, and Beneatha introduces her to Asagai. Mama then recites Beneatha’s views on Africa and African people as best she can. When Asagai says goodbye, he calls Beneatha by a nickname, “Alaiyo.” He explains that it is a word from his African tribal language, roughly translated to mean “One for Whom Bread—Food—Is Not Enough.” He leaves, having charmed both women. Finally, the check arrives.

Walter returns home and wants to talk about his liquor store plans. Ruth wants to discuss her pregnancy with him and becomes upset when he will not listen. She shuts herself into their bedroom. Mama sits down with Walter who is upset by—and ashamed of—his poverty, his job as a chauffeur, and his lack of upward mobility. Finally, Mama tells him that Ruth is pregnant and that she fears that Ruth is considering having an abortion. Walter does not believe that Ruth would do such a thing until Ruth comes out of the bedroom to confirm that she has made a down payment on the service.

 

 

Act two

 

Scene one

 

Later on the same Saturday, Beneatha emerges from her room cloaked in the Nigerian clothes that Asagai has brought her. She dances around the apartment, claiming to be performing a tribal dance while shouting “OCOMOGOSIAY” and singing. Ruth finds Beneatha’s pageantry silly and questions her about it. Meanwhile, Walter returns home drunk. He sees Beneatha all dressed up and acts out some made-up tribal rituals with her, at one point standing on a table and pronouncing himself “Flaming Spear.” Ruth looks on wearily.

George Murchison arrives to pick up Beneatha. Beneatha removes her headdress to reveal that she has cut off most of her hair, leaving only an unstraightened afro. Everyone is shocked, amazed, and slightly disappointed with Beneatha, prompting a fierce discussion between Beneatha and George about the importance of their African heritage. Beneatha goes to change for the theater, and Walter talks to George about business plans. George does not seem interested. Walter then becomes belligerent as he makes fun of George’s white shoes. Embarrassed, Ruth explains that the white shoes are part of the “college style.” George obviously looks down on Walter—calling him “Prometheus”—and Walter gets even angrier at him. George and Beneatha finally leave, and Ruth and Walter then begin to fight about Walter going out, spending money, and interacting with people like Willy Harris. They do begin to make up, though, by acknowledging that a great distance has grown between them.

Mama comes home and announces that she has put a down payment on a house with some of the insurance money. Ruth is elated to hear this news because she too dreams of moving out of their current apartment and into a more respectable home. Meanwhile, Walter is noticeably upset because he wants to put all the money into the liquor store venture. They all become worried when they hear that the house is in Clybourne Park, an entirely white neighborhood. Mama asks for their understanding— it was the only house, they could afford. She feels she needs to buy the house to hold the family together. Ruth regains her pleasure and rejoices, but Walter feels betrayed, his dream swept under the table. Walter makes Mama feel guilty, saying that she has crushed his dream. He goes quickly to his bedroom, and Mama remains sitting and worrying.

 

SCENE TWO

On a Friday night a few weeks later, Beneatha and George return from a date. The Youngers’ apartment is full of moving boxes. George wants to kiss Beneatha, but she does not want to kiss. Rather, she wants to engage George in a conversation about the plight of African-Americans. It seems that George wants to marry a “nice . . . simple . . . sophisticated girl.” Mama comes in as Beneatha kicks him out. Mama asks if she had a good time with George, and Beneatha tells her that George is a “fool.” Mama replies, “I guess you better not waste your time with no fools.” Beneatha appreciates her mother’s support.

Mrs. Johnson—the Youngers’ neighbor—visits. Mama and Ruth offer her food and drink, and she gladly accepts. She has come to visit to tell them about a black family who has been bombed out of their home in a white neighborhood. She is generally insensitive and unable to speak in a civil manner. She predicts that the Youngers will also be scared out of the all-white neighborhood once they move in and insults much of the family by calling them a “proud-acting bunch of colored folks.” She then quotes Booker T. Washington, a famous African-American thinker and assimilationist. A frustrated and angered Mama retaliates by calling him a “fool.” Mrs. Johnson leaves the apartment.

Walter’s boss calls, telling Ruth that Walter has not been to work in three days. Walter explains that he has been wandering all day (often way into the country) and drinking all night (at a bar with a jazz duo that he loves). He says that he feels depressed, despondent, and useless as the man of the family. He feels that his job is no better than a slave’s job. Mama feels guilty for his unhappiness and tells him that she has never done anything to hurt her children. She gives him the remaining $6,500 of the insurance money, telling him to deposit $3,000 for Beneatha’s education and to keep the last $3,500. With this money, Mama says, Walter should become—and should act as if he has become—the head of the family. Walter suddenly becomes more confident and energized. He talks to Travis about his plans, saying that he is going to “make a transaction” that will make them rich. Walter’s excitement builds as he describes his dream of their future house and cars, as well as Travis’s potential college education.

 

 

SCENE Three

On Saturday, a week later, it is moving day. Ruth shows Beneatha the curtains she has bought for the new house and tells her that the first thing she is going to do in their new house is take a long bath in their very own bathroom. Ruth comments on the changed mood around the household, noting that she and Walter even went out to the movies and held hands the previous evening. Walter comes in and dances with Ruth. Beneatha teases them about acting in a stereotypical fashion but does not really mean any harm. Ruth and Walter understand and join in the lighthearted teasing, and Walter claims that Beneatha talks about nothing but race.

A middle-aged white man named Karl Lindner appears at the door. He is a representative from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, and he tells the Youngers that problems arise when different kinds of people do not sit down and talk to each other. The Youngers agree, until he reveals that he and the neighborhood coalition believe that the Youngers’ presence in Clybourne Park would destroy the community there. The current residents are all white, working-class people who do not want anything to threaten the dream that they have for their community. Mr. Lindner tells the Youngers that the association is prepared to offer them more money than they are to pay for the house in exchange for not moving to Clybourne Park. Ruth, Beneatha, and Walter all become very upset, but they manage to control their anger. Walter firmly tells Mr. Lindner that they will not accept the offer and urges Mr. Lindner to leave immediately.

When Mama comes home, Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha tell her about Mr. Lindner’s visit. It shocks and worries her, but she supports their decision to refuse the buyout offer. Then, as she is making sure that her plant is well packed for the trip, the rest of the family surprises her with gifts of gardening tools and a huge gardening hat. Mama has never received presents other than at Christmas, and she is touched by her family’s generosity. Just as the whole family begins to celebrate, Bobo, one of Walter’s friends, arrives. After some stumbling, he announces that Willy Harris has run off with all of the money that Walter invested in the liquor store deal. It turns out that Walter had invested not only his $3,500 but also the $3,000 intended for Beneatha’s education. Mama is livid and begins to beat Walter in the face. Beneatha breaks them up. Weakness overcomes Mama, and she thinks about the hard labor her husband endured in order to earn the money for them. She prays ardently for strength.

 

 

ACT three

One hour later on moving day, everyone is still melancholy. The stage directions indicate that even the light in the apartment looks gray. Walter sits alone and thinks. Asagai comes to help them pack and finds Beneatha questioning her choice of becoming a doctor. She no longer believes that she can help people. Instead of feeling idealistic about demanding equality for African-Americans and freeing Africans from the French and English colonizers, she now broods about basic human misery. Never-ending human misery demoralizes her, and she no longer sees a reason to fight against it. Asagai reprimands her for her lack of idealism and her attachment to the money from her father’s death. He tells Beneatha about his dream to return to Africa and help bring positive changes. He gets her excited about reform again and asks her to go home with him to Africa, saying that eventually it would be as if she had “only been away for a day.” He leaves her alone to think about his proposition.

Walter rushes in from the bedroom and out the door amid a sarcastic monologue from Beneatha. Mama enters and announces that they are not going to move. Ruth protests. Walter returns having called Mr. Lindner and invited him back to the apartment—he intends to take his offer of money in exchange for not moving to Clybourne Park. Everyone objects to this plan, arguing that they have too much pride to accept not being able to live somewhere because of their race. Walter, very agitated, puts on an act, imitating the stereotype of a black male servant. When he finally exits, Mama declares that he has died inside. Beneatha decides that he is no longer her brother, but Mama reminds her to love him, especially when he is so downtrodden.

The movers and Mr. Lindner arrive. Mama tells Walter to deal with Mr. Lindner, who is laying out contracts for Walter to sign. Walter starts hesitantly, but soon we see that he has changed his mind about taking Mr. Lindner’s money. His speech builds in power. He tells Mr. Lindner that the Youngers are proud and hardworking and intend to move into their new house. Mr. Lindner appeals to Mama, who defers to Walter’s statement. Ultimately, Mr. Lindner leaves with his papers unsigned. Everyone finishes packing up as the movers come to take the furniture. Mama tells Ruth that she thinks Walter has finally become a man by standing up to Mr. Lindner. Ruth agrees and is noticeably proud of her husband. Mama, who is the last to leave, looks for a moment at the empty apartment. Then she leaves, bringing her plant with her.

 

CHARACTERIZATION

 

Walter Lee Younger  

 

The protagonist of the play, Walter is a dreamer. He wants to be rich and devises plans to acquire wealth with his friends, particularly Willy Harris. When the play opens, he wants to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture. He spends the rest of the play endlessly preoccupied with discovering a quick solution to his family various problems.

Beneatha Younger

 

Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister, Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated black woman.

 

Lena Younger (“Mama”) 

 

Walter and Beneatha’s mother, the matriarch of the family, Mama is religious, moral, and maternal. She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world.

 

Ruth Younger  

 

Ruth is Walter’s wife and Travis’s mother. Ruth takes care of the Youngers’ small apartment. Her marriage to Walter has problems, but she hopes to rekindle their love. She is about thirty, but her weariness makes her seem older. Constantly fighting poverty and domestic troubles, she continues to be an emotionally strong woman. Her almost pessimistic pragmatism helps her to survive.

 

Travis Younger  

 

Walter and Ruth’s sheltered young son. Travis earns some money by carrying grocery bags and likes to play outside with other neighborhood children, but he has no bedroom and sleeps on the living-room sofa.

 

Joseph Asagai  

 

A Nigerian student in love with Beneatha, Asagai, as he is often called, is very proud of his African heritage, and Beneatha hopes to learn about her African heritage from him. He eventually proposes marriage to Beneatha and hopes she will return to Nigeria with him.

 

George Murchison  

 

A wealthy, African-American man, he courts Beneatha. The Youngers approve of George, but Beneatha dislikes his willingness to submit to white culture and forget his African heritage. He challenges the thoughts and feelings of other black people through his arrogance and flair for intellectual competition.

 

Mr. Karl Lindner  

 

The only white character in the play, Mr. Lindner arrives at the Youngers’ apartment from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. He offers the Youngers a deal to reconsider moving into his (all-white) neighborhood.

 

Bobo  

 

One of Walter’s partners in the liquor store plan, Bobo appears to be as mentally slow as his name indicates.

 

Willy Harris  

 

A friend of Walter and coordinator of the liquor store plan, Willy never appears onstage, which helps keep the focus of the story on the dynamics of the Younger family.

 

Mrs. Johnson  

 

The Youngers’ neighbour, Mrs. Johnson takes advantage of the Youngers’ hospitality and warns them about moving into a predominately-white neighborhood.

 

Themes

 

Dreams

“A Raisin in the Sun is essentially about dreams, as the main characters struggle to deal with the oppressive circumstances that rule their lives. The title of the play references a conjecture that Langston Hughes famously posed in a poem he wrote about dreams that were forgotten or put off. He wonders whether those dreams shrivel up “like a raisin in the sun.” Every member of the Younger family has a separate, individual dream—Beneatha wants to become a doctor, for example, and Walter wants to have money so that he can afford things for his family. The Youngers struggle to attain these dreams throughout the play, and much of their happiness and depression is directly related to their attainment of, or failure to attain, these dreams. By the end of the play, they learn that the dream of a house is the most important dream because it unites the family.”

Racial Discrimination

“The character of Mr. Lindner makes the theme of racial discrimination prominent in the plot as an issue that the Youngers cannot avoid. The governing body of the Youngers’ new neighborhood, the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, sends Mr. Lindner to persuade them not to move into the all-white Clybourne Park neighborhood. Mr. Lindner and the people he represents can only see the color of the Younger family’s skin, and his offer to bribe the -Youngers to keep them from moving threatens to tear apart the Younger family and the values for which it stands. Ultimately, the Youngers respond to this discrimination with defiance and strength. The play powerfully demonstrates that the way to deal with discrimination is to stand up to it and reassert one’s dignity in the face of it rather than allow it to pass unchecked.”

The Importance of Family

“The Youngers struggle socially and economically throughout the play but unite in the end to realize their dream of buying a house. Mama strongly believes in the importance of family, and she tries to teach this value to her family as she struggles to keep them together and functioning. Walter and Beneatha learn this lesson about family at the end of the play, when Walter must deal with the loss of the stolen insurance money and Beneatha denies Walter as a brother. Even facing such trauma, they come together to reject Mr. Lindner’s racist overtures. They are still strong individuals, but they are now individuals who function as part of a family. When they begin to put the family and the family’s wishes before their own, they merge their individual dreams with the family’s overarching dream.”

 

Motifs