Suzan Lori Park’s play Topdog/Underdog explores the power dynamics in a contentious fraternal relationship. Topdog/Underdog follows Lincoln and Booth’s ostensibly shared search for “what is” and “what ain’t” and struggle to survive under stifling societal confines. Navigating the only reality they know, a money-driven world that denies them any social or economic stability or progress, the brothers survive by resorting to a life of hustling. Lincoln and Booth are defined by their struggle to survive, to obtain money and power; Parks identifies the brothers within the power-based relationship of “topdog” and “underdog,” suggesting that one must perpetually dominate the other in order to fill the position of power and superiority: the “topdog.” …show more content…
As Patrick Maley suggests, Booth is copiously aware that his is the underdog, which propels him into “a quest to become top dog,” consistently working on developing his skills at 3-card monte to become a notorious hustler like Link (187). Maley points out Booth’s complete understanding that Lincoln is keeping him from moving out of the position of the underdog; as Booth says, “here I am interested in an economic opportunity, willing to work hard […] and you standing in my way. YOU STANDING IN MY WAY, LINK!” (Parks 21). Even so, Booth is initially interested in merely working with Lincoln against the American Dream, hoping instead to be a hustling team, scamming others of their money to live a lavish, easy life. This is evident in the scene that Lincoln loses his impersonation gig; Booth attempts to comfort his brother, rather than relish watching Lincoln begin to lose his control, telling Link “Yr free at last! Now you can do anything you want. Yr not tied down by that job. You can-you can do something else. Something that pays better maybe” (62). Once Booth realizes that Lincoln is adamantly resolved to giving up the hustle and there is no chance that “big brother Link and little brother Booth” are going to “team up and do it together,” Booth becomes intent on switching the dynamics of their relationship by assuming the position of “topdog” (Parks 19). Interestingly, though, Booth turns to Lincoln, running to the “topdog” holding all the power in their relationship, for assistance in these endeavors; in his attempts to alter the power dynamics in his relationship with Lincoln, Booth has no other choice than to abide by the positions of “topdog” and “underdog” in relying on Lincoln to teach him the art of the
Tobias Wolff’s “The Rich Brother” is a story of two brothers, Donald and Pete. These brothers have very contrasting lifestyles; Pete is a successful businessman with a wife and kids. Donald, on the other hand, is an outcast. He’s unemployed and irresponsible. He lives his life as a vagabond. Despite these facts, the successful brother, Pete, still lacks the self-esteem he desperately craves. Therefore he tries to make his brother, Donald, feel foolish with every chance he gets.
Following the trials and tribulations of a seemingly political powerhouse, Willie Starks, Robert Penn Warren’s “All the King’s Men” takes an intriguing twist with the rise of influence in the character of Jack Burden. Although Willie Starks is seemingly the main character of the story, Robert Penn Warren, plays Jack Burden’s evolution in the plot as the pivotal piece to the story. Watching the two of their relationship develop, is the key piece to the plot of the story. Although this novel traces the rise and untimely death of a political proprietor, it also provides insight into the atmosphere that produced a person like Willie Starks. While Penn Warren also doesn’t initially show the importance of Jack Burden’s character but touches on it in order to bring up the topic serenely. Penn Warren creates a novel about two characters and their development through the struggles they faced as business partners. A seemingly insignificant character, Jack Burden, develops into a complex personality of a man who lost his past and through his experiences with Willie Stark must find it. His story introduces the role of history in the protagonists’ lives while ushering the idea of actions affecting people and the ripple effect it creates in the life of Willie. Living his life in a cocoon, Penn Warren displays the process in which he emerges out of this cocoon into a dynamic part of this story. Intertwined with Willie Stark’s life, the experiences of one effects the story of the other. Reinforcing each other while also creating feuds that reflect on the rest of the story creating the depth of the novel.
The play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare is about children of feuding families falling in love, getting married behind their parents backs and then choosing to die rather then lose each other. In this play Shakespeare does an excellent job of showing the dominant theme of a social hierarchy. This theme is the dominate theme because the two main characters would not have the problems that they did if they were not aristocrats. Also if this is not so they would never of met, and they wouldn’t be worried that each other is of the same class, because at this time you only married your class unless you were rich then you married for advantage. Social Hierarchy is a practice that still exists today, is the reason for many of the social problems exist and important for everyday life in the time of Romeo and Juliet but also in today’s era.
In the play “The Piano Lesson”, August Wilson utilizes two main characters Boy Willie and Berniece to present the theme of gender roles and sexual politics. The reaction of the siblings toward the piano illustrates the role of a man and woman during the conflict. Throughout the entire play they argue over the piano and struggle with an underlying problem of choosing to honor their ancestors or leaving the family’s history in the past. Boy Willie wants to show respect to his ancestors by selling the piano to continue the Charles’s family legacy. He wants to buy Sutter’s land because Sutter was a white slave master who forced his ancestors to work on the land. However, Berniece wants to keep the piano and doesn’t want to use it because of fear. The disagreement between the siblings shows the play’s representation of gender differences.
Love Between the Classes: An Analysis of Social Status Violation in The Turn of the Screw
Prior to the play, Boy Willie had not seen his sister in three years. During those three years he was incarcerated and was sentenced to labor at the Parchman Prison Farm. He is considered to be the most impulsive and prideful character in the play. Boy Willie believes he is of equal standing to the white man despite his racial background. He wants to sell the piano in order to “avenge” his father’s namesake while at the same time leaving his mark in the world despite his sister’s opposition in order to create his own legacy. He doesn’t believe the battle between black and white exists and that it‘s nothing more than a memory. However, he lives in his own world and ignores the reality. Failing to succeed is his fear. He doesn’t want to believe that he is below in standing than a white man. He wants to be able to leave his legacy in the world as he believes is his right.
The word “power” is defined in many ways. There is not a specific statement that defines what power is or what it’s supposed to be. Power can make or break a person or even an entire nation. Power is a measure of an entity’s ability to control the environment around itself, including the behavior of other entities. Ken Kesey, the author of the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, shows us the difference in power and control among the strong nurses and the men in the psychiatric ward. The men who are placed in the ward are controlled by Nurse Ratched, who takes control of situations the same way she did when she was an army nurse. Nurse Ratched is used to the men on the ward obeying her until a man named R.P. McMurphy is admitted. McMurphy is a strong man who had power and control in the outside world and continues to show his power and control once he is in admitted which creates a lot of conflicts within the story. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
When somebody abuses a great amount of power, that individual can lose all their power. The struggle against someone who abuses power is perfectly depicted in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. When someone abuses their power, they can impose certain feelings and actions onto others. If someone tries to conceal their personality, . Finally, if someone abuses power and is constantly challenged by another individual who is trying to take the power abuser’s power away from them, the power abuser will always be frightened of his or her challenger. When someone abuses power and takes full control, they can lose all their power and respect quickly.
life in the mid to late twentieth century and the strains of society on African Americans. Set in a small neighborhood of a big city, this play holds much conflict between a father, Troy Maxson, and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. By analyzing the sources of this conflict, one can better appreciate and understand the way the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.
In many great works of literature, whether they be plays, novels, or poetry, the idea of masculinity is prominent throughout the novels because for an extended period of history, men were seen as superior to their female counterparts. As time went on, writers began to portray females in their work as more dominant and less frail. In works such as Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, the female characters are more assertive, while the male characters are submissive in comparison. All these plays were written in the mid twentieth century, a time where America was changing, and the stereotypical roles for people, especially women and African Americans,
Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders”, demonstrates how having both internal and external expectations impact the way you live and how you act on a day-to-day basis. In the text, the Socs and Greasers are put into roles with specific limitations, which impacted their lives accordingly. These standards for each group come from ideas relating to maintaining reputations. This could range from being the poor kids with turbulent, misfortunate lives to the wealthy kids who got to live a life of opportunity. In summation, the Greasers and the Socs dealt with conflicts that were related to living up to the expectations placed on them by the society they lived in and what they anticipated from
...up on Stokesie like sheep, Engel explains that policy insists that shoulders must be covered. Policy is what the kingpins want. What others want is juvenile delinquency. Like a champ Sammy throws in the towel. He watched as 3 girls bucked the norm and alternately was confident enough to quit altogether. They get away from him and his feet are carrying him to the place of his residence rather than a car, reserved for higher classes. He ends with the thought how hard the world was to be to me hereafter. Sammy?s variety of verbal simulations and creations for the reader reveal the social and economic classes of basic society. The adults like animals, the attractive women- analyzed on a pedestal in full description and personification, employees get harped on too. Stoksie was a little to ambitious for a bagger, and management was regarded like the rest of the animals.
From the displays of power that have been shown through out this essay, we see that this story is a story about power. Power is the story is primarily about peoples need for some small amount of power to survive in life and to feel that hey have a purpose within their society which every society it may be whether its is Gilead or Nazi Germany or modern day Britain.
“Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it.” In this quote, Criss Jami, author, and philosopher explains how often as citizens we believe we are deserving of everything, even though we are not because there are only a certain amount of opportunities for an individual, and if they try for everything no world will ever have a positive environment for living. Jami also suggests that when one does believe they are contemptible then they will hurt others to get what they want, this ends up in hurting our world the most. A similar message in present in Animal Farm by George Orwell. In Animal Farm a Rebellion of the animals
...d of the play who goes against order, or their given role of society is deemed unnatural. This becomes problematic because of the constraints it places on the acceptable of any change in society. Forgiveness and love are not attainable within this worldview.