KY+Assignment2


 * Assignment 2**

__(Prompt 1)__ August Wilson’s //Joe Turner’s Come and Gone// is set in Pittsburgh the summer of 1911, not long after the abolition of slavery. Yet, despite the newly freed status of many African Americans, racial discrimination was extremely prevalent in the states. Wilson uses //Joe Turner// as a means of portraying the repercussions of slavery and the damage that the enslavement has done. Although slavery was abolished, whites found new ways to torment and persecute African Americans. One of the strongest examples of racial discrimination is elucidated by the character of Jeremy. In the beginning of the play, the audience is told that Jeremy was arrested for drunken behavior. However, once Jeremy arrives on stage, it becomes clear that racial discrimination, not inebriation, was the cause of his arrest, as Jeremy states, “[Mr. Piney’s boys] grabbed hold of [him] to get that two dollars,” and that he “ain’t even had a chance to take a drink when they grabbed [him]” (65). Jeremy has another encounter with racial discrimination when he gets fired from his job by refusing to give a white fellow fifty cents of his pay. He says, “White fellow come by told me to give him fifty cents if I wanted to keep working. Going around to all the colored making them give him fifty cents to keep hold to their jobs” (84). Jeremy does not want to be subjected to such unjust measures, and he decides to take a stand against the inequality. He sees himself as an equal, one who deserves to keep every cent he makes. Seth, on the other hand, cannot see past the mathematical standpoint of the situation. “Boy, what kind of sense that make...all it cost you is fifty cents. That’s seven dollars and fifty cents profit! This way you ain’t got nothing” (84). However, despite his convictions, Seth also is affected by a form of racial discrimination. Selig is the only white man in the play, and he is described as “a thin white man with greasy hair.” It is Selig who determines the price of the raw sheet metal as well as the price that he pays Seth for each pot and pan made. In this way, it is still the white man who holds the power over the black man.