AugustWilson.net
Restoring the Myths: A Dissertation
By Dr. Michael Downing of Kutztown University
August 1, 2003
The title of my doctoral dissertation is: Restoring the Myths: Converting Stereotype to Archetype in Five Plays of August Wilson (1997). The plays included in this study were Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Two Trains Running, Fences, The Piano Lesson, and Joe Turner's Come and Gone.
I plan to revise the dissertation into book form and then, at some point, publish a second book on the remaining plays: Jitney, Seven Guitars, King Hedley II, Gem of the Ocean, and Radio Golf.
The theoretical approach to my dissertation began with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. In his book, Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the Racial Self, Gates identifies--and then calls upon--African American writers and artists to be "mythmakers." For me, after having seen and/or read numerous plays by August Wilson, it was easy to see that Mr. Wilson--whether he was aware of Gates' ideas or not--was creating a mythology. He was, in fact, creating a representative history of the 20th Century for a people with a "dream deferred."
Wilson's was a mythology that provided a new system where blacks can flourish and grow in their own way, according to their own rhythms, their own beliefs, and their own language. It's part music, part history, and part fable. It's a sociology lesson and a celebration. To me, his work was all of these elements.
More specifically, the thesis of my dissertation (as you can tell from the title) is that Wilson's technique followed a certain pattern. He would consistently take negative, racist stereotypes and turn them into something sacred.
For example, The Piano Lesson begins with Boy Willie and Lymon Jackson driving a truckload of watermelon from the American south to Pittsburgh. Most people would agree that the connection between American blacks and watermelons has long been ugly, stereotypical, and racist.
Wilson, however, does not shy away from the subject matter. The audience soon learns that the watermelons are going to serve Boy Willie in an important way: Once sold, the money from the melons is going to be combined with money that Boy Willie already has. Once he sells the family's heirloom piano, Boy Willie will have enough money to "buy some land" and have a future.
In this way, the watermelons are rescued by Wilson as they move beyond the derogatory stereotype that white history has assigned, toward a more sacred "archetypal" role within Wilson's mythology. In other words, the watermelons become essential and holy, rather than representations of poverty and bigotry.
And instead of attempting to hide or ignore the role of such stereotypes within the African American experience, Wilson celebrates them and gives them value as part of the social fabric and history.
The thesis of the dissertation is that Wilson consistently converts pejorative racist stereotypes into sacred archetypes which then function as enduring, positive symbols within his emerging mythology. He repeats this process in play after play.
For more information on my dissertation, visit introduction page.
To cite this article:
Downing, Michael. "Restoring the Myths." AugustWilson.net. Date of Publication. Today's Date. URL.
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