In Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks uses irony in the first names of the two brothers and their communication with one another to explore the dynamics of Lincoln and Booth's relationship as brother's, within their life experiences. By doing this, Parks is critiquing their life style and their life choices, which is often revealing her knowledge in tragedy through their everyday life. Her awareness of American culture, history, and struggle are shown throughout this play and is well constructed.
Suzan Lori Parks: Challenging Unfavorable Stereotypes Ben Yagoda writes in The Sound on the Page, that “each writer has a stylistic fingerprint”, which can be seen throughout most of the author’s works. Suzan Lori Parks displays a very prominent, and impactful fingerprint. Her stories are always pushing the limits of some cultural, social, or emotional boundary. She is overall a visionary, and this distinct empowering theme can be found in most works throughout her literary canon. For example, in
Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks is a play on fictional representation of a real life woman, Sarah “Saartijie” Baartman. Sarah was known for having a “protruding posterior” rather larger then the normal woman. She was from Africa, and brought over to England where she was put on display has part of a side show act, people paid to sit and marvel and poke and touch, and look at her body with either wonder or disgust. Sarah was used for other peoples gain; she fell in love with the man who brought her to England
Nate Marshall’s “palindrome” absolutely neglects the use of chronological and linear time to convey the story of a romance that seemingly continues to haunt the speaker in the present. Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, a Pulitzer Prize Award winning drama, demonstrates the struggle of two low-income African American siblings who rely on a card game, as much as each other to survive. Both works of literature, the poem and the play, assume that the protagonists in each are destined to entrap themselves
I must say that I enjoyed the play proof much better than the play Topdog/Underdog. The ways that the two brothers spoke in Topdog/Underdog was just not how I speak, so I had a harder time following along and understanding what they were meaning. I also just wasn't a real fan of the meaning of it. I thought it was cool, in a way, that the theme of the play was the title itself. I was just not a fan of the play. However, the play Proof was something that I think many people could relate to in a way
compared and contrasted, they will always have one thing that will link them together. Poetry and drama share the characteristic of a theme. Although their genres are different, Federico Garcia Lorca’s poems and Suzan Lori Parks’ plays both convey a message at the end of their work. In Parks’ 14th play, “Father Comes Home From the Wars (Part 1)”, she describes a man who had been gone at war for so long that his wife never suspected his return. The wife, also known as “Mother”, claims that there should
In the Blood and Greek Tragedy In the Blood (1999), by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, tells the sad tale of protagonist Hester La Negrita, a homeless, black single mother to five fatherless children. At its core, the play is a powerful allegorical treatise, social commentary and criticism of America’s welfare system and its treatment of the poor. It exposes the double standards, brutality, prejudice, and sexual persecution of those whom are branded morally bereft and, therefore, most vulnerable to
Agency or Complacency: the Complicated Life of the Venus Hottentot In Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus, readers are introduced to a fictionalized version of Saartjie Baartman, a woman who was smuggled into London from South Africa in 1810 to perform in a freak show (Elkins). In both the play and in real life, Saartjie (known as the Hottentot Venus) is subject to both degradation and dehumanization throughout her short life. Some argue that The Venus has agency over her situation when she is prepositioned
Authors Walter Mosley and Suzan-Lori Parks are two contemporary African-American writers who have enriched the literary world with multiple works that deal with everything from personal demons to issues faced by entire generations and cultures. Walter Mosley created the engrossing tale of “Equal Opportunity,” a story of an older black man who decides after decades of inactivity to rejoin productive society. Author Suzan-Lori Parks entertained readers and theater goers with her story of two competing
First, I would like to thank you for giving me an opportunity to present this pitch. Topdog/Underdog is a play by Suzan-Lori Parks that I would like for you to consider producing at the Voorhees Theater. In my pitch I have included a brief synopsis of the play, Theme of the play and how the production would help the fellow students. To further persuade you I have included a brief history of the past productions of the play, written review of different productions of the play, some casting choices
Adrienne Kennedy was a very intelligent person. She was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania where she lived with her father, Cornell Wallace Hawkins, and her mother, Etta Haugabook Hawkins. When she turned four years old her family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where she was raised in a different, middle-class neighborhood. Her father was the executive secretary of the YMCA and graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta. Her mother graduated from Spelman College also in Atlanta, and she worked as a teacher
Instead of coming together to equalize their rights with men, white women are deteriorating women of color because they are aesthetically superior to women of color. The following plays Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy and Venus by Suzan Lori-Parks, illustrates and addresses these issues
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
of labor skills. Although Booth directs a considerable amount of attention on appearance, his efforts only fabricate an identity that is impossible for him to have, thus emphasizing his lack of substance. Through Lincoln and Booth’s relationship, Parks illustrates the ups and downs that come with an unbalanced family relationship. Lincoln, who is saddled with responsibility, and Booth, who wants a chance to outshine his older brother, represent a family dynamic in which the younger one relies too
system is rigged against African Americans and in Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks uses her characters, Lincoln and Booth, to explain the unjust, racist system that puts down Black people. She uses a card game to explain how the system is unfair and how people fall into traps of the system, and at the end, implies that an unjust system can lead to violence. When it comes to the card game, Lincoln is the game master, the dealer. Parks uses him and his game to reference or be a reflection