Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Question #3

What signs of racial tension do you see in the play so far?

19 comments:

Pier J. Rogers said...

The racial tension displayed in this section of the play is between blacks and other blacks. Seth is uncomfortable with the fact that other blacks are coming north with their "country style of living" (2462). In Seth's opinion the end of slavery gave black's the right-away to just act a fool and behave in any they pleased. There is also racial tension geared towards the whites who have also come to Pittsburgh. Seth is upset with the fact that whites have it so easy. It takes a black man forever to obtain what a white man got in a short amount of time.

Buschbacher said...

I agree with Pier in that there is racial tension between the characters, but I dont think that Seth has too much tension with whites. From the play it's self, I thought that Seth was frustrated more with young African Americans because they act like fools.

Nakia Harvey said...

Most of the racial tensions I see in the play so far is internal racial problems. Blacks in this play seem to have racial hostility with other blacks. Seth doesn't really appreciate blacks from the South traveling to North and acting out of line just because their "free".

T. Moore said...

The people in the play are talking down upon Blaks because of slavery. They feel as though it was slavery that brought about all the ignorance. They feel like now when it comes to working and freedom; Blacks give up everything for freedom. Then they begin comparing the whites with the Blacks showing how much power and respect is given to the Whites and not to the Blacks.

Sidney said...

The only racial tension I see so far is when seth comments on their style of living on page 2462. I agree with the rest on how the discrimination is coming from blacks about blacks.

Olivia Whitehead said...

I agree with Zuri about the Nigras thing. It was another way to say Negros it was just how they said it up north.

Mariah Young said...

In the play the racial tension I see, surprisingly is not in the use of the N word. It seems as though there is intra - racial tension ( tension among people in the race) that is shown in the form of annoyance by Seth

Ariel said...

I agree with Nakia. In African American Studies, we learned that older slaves or black people that were raised in the north, had an open hostility towards young freed slaves. They believed that the younger free gengeration had to have more respect towards their white superiors.

Kevin Bennett said...

Racial tension is displayed in the Play with what Seth said about other blacks. He is mad because blacks from the South come up North taking jobs and he is unhappy with how they live, in addition tension is shown between Whites and Blacks because according to Seth whites come up North and can earn a living very easily. Tesion is also shown witht the term Nigra that is used by Selig which he used to describe other blacks when talking to Bynum, Seth, and Bertha.

Kevin Bennett said...

I agree with Tukes on what she said about how Seth judged the other blacks based on there Southern living style. This clearly an example of racial tension and how it affects Seth.

Ashley H said...

I agree with Ms. Rogers because the first sign of racial tensions comes up with all the people migrating from the south to the north.

Alexandria Adams said...

I agree with all of the comments that were given. It is clear when the racial tension is there. The north and the south has a lot to do with this and I am sure that there will be more to come before the end of the story.

Tierra LaSha said...

There is a lot of racial tension shown in the play thus far. The most surprising aspect of it all, is that most of the racial tension goes on between people of the same race. The some of the blacks in the play have huge problems with other blacks. This can be seen most clearly with Seth and Jeremy. Seth does not like the fact that Jeremy has come to live in the north. He also believes that Jeremy deserves his punishent for being drunk. He has not sympathy for him at all. This may seem strange, because on may think that Seth should understand where Jeremy is coming from because they are both black, however, this is not the case. There is also a little bit of racial tension shown between Selig and Seth. Selig tries to take advantage of Seth for the merchandise materials. Seth, however, does not take it. This shows that Selig tries to get over on Seth because he is black.

Benjamin said...

This was very clear has one of the main characters Seth was kind of in a humorous rage talking about the "N Word" and how there where more blacks going to his community. I don't think he is really racist, but he is scared that his resources and way of life will change with new people invading.

Jay Harris said...

Some of the racial tension in the play is seen with the interactions with Seth, he mainly talked down on blacks throughout the whole first part and even tried to cheat Selig by trying to overcharge him

Ashley Rogers said...

There is definitely some black-on-black racial tension here. There seems to have been a divide between the African Americans based on class, the city born blacks being of better class than the country born blacks. Selig does call them nigras, but the fact that they can talk back to him and demand that he lowers his prices shows me that the black people in the city have more power because I really don't think they would be able to talk back like that down south.

Raycha Maxwell said...

I agree with Pier because Seth doesn't like that the southern blacks are coming to the north. He believes that they think they'll beable to come to the north in search of a anew freedom that still isn't there. He thinks that they'll just corrupt things for the ones who were already there with thir way of life. He lso doesn't like that the whites can so easily get a job while the blacks re struggling to live.

Anonymous said...

L'amar Greer

I believe that there is alot of racial tension present in this play so far especially with Seth and his differences with Blacks. I also agree with Pier when she refers to blacks coming to the north and living carelessly or "foolish".

Anonymous said...

The only racial tension i see in the play is when Selig comes in calling people Nigras. I also agree with Tukes and others and how blacks are showing discrimination to one another.