The Dutchman: A Dramatic Expression of the Relationship Between Whites

Amiri Baraka’s The Dutchman would be considered a historical allegory that could be understood as this poetic and dramatic expression of the relationship between whites and blacks throughout the existence of the United States. These patterns of history are symbolically acted out by the two characters Lula and Clay; Lula represents white America and Clay seems to stand for the modern day Uncle Tom, who has over time been shaped by white America and this slave mentality. The beginning Stage directions seem to form this poem in it of itself. The first line establishes the mythic qualities of the play. â€Å"In the flying underbelly of the city. Steaming hot and summer on top, outside. Underground. The subway heaped in modern myth.† (1086) The â€Å"flying underbelly† is the metaphor for the Flying Dutchman, which is foreshadowing the almost doomed area. Also Baraka puts a lot of emphasis on the word the underground which seems to foreshadow the below surface intentions of the play right at the beginning. Then the â€Å"modern myth† suggests that the play will act as a myth for the patterns of White America. This mythical quality that resonates throughout the play is further established by the stage properties of Lula. She carries onto the subway these paper books which symbolize the written culture of white America; this written culture certainly resonates throughout the history of blacks and whites. During the beginning of the Jim Crow laws, the blacks had to take literacy tests to be able to vote, so Lula walking in with paper books represents the forced literacy on blacks in the United States. Another stage property that Lula has is her sunglasses which she moves around from time to time. This symbolizes her disguise of friends... ...Clay had been the victim throughout the entire play, absorbing Lula’s insults and laughing them off, but with his monologue he has become the chronicler. Lula’s stereotype of Clay is finally proven wrong at the end of the play. â€Å"If I’m a middle class fake white man, let me be. And let me be in the way that I want†¦ Safe with my words, and no deaths, clean, hard thoughts, urging me to new conquests.† () Here Baraka shows that even though Clay was sucked in by Lula’s sexual temptations, he never was never fooled into thinking that she or metaphorically white America would ever accept him. Works Cited Baraka, Amiri. "The Myth of 'Negro Literature'." Within the Circle. Ed. Angelyn Mitchell. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1994. 165-171. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/666803/amiri_barakas_use_of_imagery_metaphor_pg4.html?cat=9