AugustWilson.net
CHAPTER SIX: Mythological Conversions in Two Trains Running
By Michael Downing
March 1, 2004
"I try to keep all of the elements of the culture alive in my work, and myth is
certainly a part of it. Mythology, history, social organizations, economics--all
of these things are part of the culture."
---August Wilson
"Wilson creates folklore, therefore, that is recognizable even in its surface
unfamiliarity. It writes the history of a people tied to the South, to racism
and oppression, but simultaneously to a strength that transcends those limiting
categories."
---Trudier Harris
The conversions from stereotype to archetype in Two Trains Running are similar
to the conversions in The Piano Lesson insofar as there are conversions of
character as well as conversions of concept. The conversions of character, quite
naturally, involve the various characters in the play: Memphis Lee, Risa,
Sterling, West, Holloway, Wolf, and Hambone, who all experience varying degrees
of conversion from stereotype to archetype.
The conceptual conversions involve, most notably, the conversions of the
stereotypes of laziness and gambling. As in many of his plays, Wilson achieves
his dramatic conversions by providing a voice, a voice which provides detailed
information about the specific historical, political, and social situations as
they relate to the African American experience. This information then serves as
a context toward understanding the genesis and persistence of pejorative racist
stereotypes. In providing this background, Wilson is effectively creating new
myths from his own African-American perspective. In an interview with Sandra
Shannon, Wilson says, "the one thing we did not have as black Americans was a
mythology. We had no origin myths" ("Blues" 545). The effect of Wilson's
mythological revision is to erase existing stereotypes and reinscribe them with
myths of origin that have been generated by a voice which emerges from within
the line of African ancestry, not from without. According to Trudier Harris,
When Wilson uses secular mythology as the source of religious conversion and
overwrites Christianity with African American folkways, he merges the secular
and the sacred in ways that few African American authors have attempted. (65) In
reconstructing the mythological terms in which African Americans have been cast
for centuries by whites, Wilson is able to convert both concept and character
from profane stereotype to holy archetype.
The mythical conversion of laziness in Two Trains Running begins surreptitiously
as each character takes the stage. Wolf, it seems, would rather "run numbers"
than work what would be considered by a mostly-white audience as a "regular"
job. Risa, although she works a daily shift in the restaurant, moves very slow
ly
and is constantly hounded by Memphis to move more quickly, suggesting at least
some degree of laziness. Memphis Lee, while able to summon the energy to hassle Risa, shows little inclination toward doing any cooking or cleaning himself.
Holloway is retired and spends most of his time sitting in Memphis Lee's
restaurant. Sterling has just been released from prison for bank robbery,
suggesting that he is more inclined to steal for his living than he is to work,
and except for his fence-painting job of "nine and a half years ago," Hambone
does not work (29). As with the watermelon joke at the beginning of Fences, the
truckload of watermelons at the beginning of The Piano Lesson, and the "heebie-jeebie"
pigeon rituals of Joe Turner, Wilson once again demonstrates that he is not
afraid to retrieve an existing stereotype and dramatize that stereotype with the
intention of converting that stereotype into a cultural archetype.
To cite this page:
Downing, Michael. "Chapter Six: Mythological Conversions in Two Trains Running." AugustWilson.net. Date of Publication. Today's Date. URL.
All original information on this site is protected by copyright and belongs to its respective owners.