Thursday, September 6, 2007
Introduction to African American Theater-Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harry Elam argues in the introduction of African American Theater and Performance History that "race reamins a device with very real meanings"(2001,6). Thinking about the ways the characters in Aikens' Uncle Tom's Cabin are represented, how do you understand race to operate as a device in this play? In what ways can you make sense of the idea of race as social construction that changes its meaning over time? What situations between characters can you isolate that repersentative of "race relations" in this particular historical context?
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As we discussed in class, race in Aiken's Uncle Tom's Cabin is portrayed largely from the social constructions of the white society of the time. Generic/stock characters were used as models for the accepted behavior of blacks in the 1850's. Race in Aiken's work was a tool which was used to contribute in molding the social binary between white and black. Topsy's mischievous behavior in relation to Eva's angelic aura was a contrast that reinforced the social implications placed upon race. The white=good and black=bad of Aiken's characters showed that race as a social construction is highly influenced by mainstream art/entertainment. As for race changing meaning over time, the variety of stock characters could be evidence for the mobility of race as a social construction--it's tendency to change over time. Topsy's uninhibited tendencies show quite a different assumption about race when considered in light of Uncle Tom's piety and loyalty.
Race operated as a device in this play to show the difference in class and social constructs of the time. Not only did Elam show white class seperation through the Southern and Northern characters, but he also showed social constructs among the house and field enslaved. Since this play is considered to be one of the first where African Americans are seen on stage it sets a tone for the rest of African American plays to come. This play lays the foundation for other playwrights to go the distance and misrepresent African American life as they see fit. The relationship between Topsy and Eva. Though they were both little girls about the same age Elam portrays them as different as night to day. Everything from their hair, to their mannerisms, to their speech is opposite. Elam tries to make the reader see them co-exist in the same world but by doing so he has managed to insult an entire race.
Race, according to Aiken, is not as “black and white” as it may seem (no pun intended). He constructs each character, notably from Uncle Tom to Topsy, as an exemplification of the black race and uses the degree of intelligence to illustrate the variations on the black race—specifically, how some are smarter than others, etc. However, with the changes between characters, I perceived the differences to parallel the vast changes that accompany the evolutions of mankind. Topsy, if anything other than a prime humiliation of the black race as a whole in terms of white description, symbolizes the groundwork of intelligence and inevitably, the beginnings of what blacks and were and were perceived to be. When Topsy is first introduced, doing jigs and speaking with as much inferiority as possible, she is illustrating the roots of blacks in this country—where exactly blacks started after arriving on U.S. soil and eventually—through George and his attitude that will later parallel the Civil Rights Movement, to Uncle Tom and his devotion to religion that is prevalent to this day in the hearts of mostly all blacks—where blacks have gone/will go. The idea of race, coupled with intelligence, changes over time. Topsy’s ignorance can be either pure ignorance or a clever demonstration of what exactly is necessary to cope under desperate measures. Topsy and Ophelia upon introduction are considered polar opposites—but are they really? Topsy, in my opinion, is the first of many characters to infiltrate Aiken’s play to fool everyone—including the audience. And if her ignorance is supposed to be reality, she defines what is believed to be the start of all blacks (according to whites), before the branching of separate dialects, accents, experiences, etc. and the bottom of the barrel in terms of intelligence.
Aiken uses race, more specifically, black and white, as devices that act as foils to one another. Blackness is used to highlight whiteness, and in juxtaposing the two black is made to seem bad and white to be good. An example of this is the juxtaposition of Eva and Topsy. They are both young girls of about the same age, but Topsy's blackness and therefore "wickedness," is presented alongside Eva's "goodness" and whiteness. Here tyhe black girl is characterized as a devil and the white child as literally an angel. Topsy does become reformed to a certain degree, and less wicked, as the play progresses, but this is only a change incited by her association with white characters like Ophelia and Eva.
The notion of race as a social construction that changes its meaning over time makes sense when examined from the point of view that the notion of race is a man-made one, a societal construct in place the raise one race up over another. What it meant to be black 200 years ago, and what it means to be black today is different and yet in many ways the same. In the time of Uncle Tom's Cabin, to be black was to be enslaved, inhuman, and reduced to nothing more than property to be owned and expolited. To be black was to be livestock, bought and raised to do work and turn profits for the purchaser. Today to be black is to still not be free in many respects, and to still have to deal with being exoticized and labled as an other, or an outsider. But today, and arguably of course, to be black also means to be human, to own yourself, to be capable of intelligence, to be counted as a whole person, and not 3/5ths of one.
Race in Uncle Tom's Cabin has been portrayed from the 1800's white typical perspective. In this play there was an evil character, Topsy that was showcased as being ignorant and devious. Also there was Tom a character who was intelligent but willing to sacrifice his life for the people who enslaved him. These charcters were shown in an inferior light to whites in which displayed the black-n-white social binary. Neither charcter were allowed to think for themselves. One used religion as a thinking mechanism and the other was lead by her master as a guiding force. But to top it all the highlight was the saving grace character, Eva (little white angel) coming for the soul of the good old boy Tom. No matter how smart and full of faith Tom was and how Topsy attitude changed. There was something Aiken made sure happen that stood beyond their black glory and that was the little white angel he concluded with.
Race as a social construction has been a force that African Americans will face continually throughout time, especially through the mass media. A number of black films and television shows get greenlit because of the cooning and befoonery that still exist today from plays such as Uncle Tom's Cabin. Character's are not treated as slaves in a forum as they were in the 1800's but the rules are still the same (JUST NOT WITH CHAINS).
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