Socratic Seminar - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Come to class with questions, ideas, and observations about the characters' lives in this play.
Have answers to these questions (yes, compose responses) - - and your own questions
1. How do you feel about Toledo’s criticisms of the black community and the band’s discussion of his comment, ”Ain’t nobody thinking about what kind of world they gonna leave their youngens. ‘Just give me a good time, that’s all I want.’ It just makes me sick”? Is Toledo too serious, too strident in these beliefs and his others, or is his voice an important one in the play, for us today?
2. On Toledo discusses the metaphor of African Americans being “a leftover from history.” Discuss this metaphor more fully. How does this metaphor impact the way a people might view themselves (identity), their past, and their futures? How do we see these ideas play themselves out in the tensions of the play? How does Levee relate to this notion of "Leftovers?"
3. What foreshadowings do we have throughout the play of Levee’s downfall? Ultimately, what does Wilson want us to consider about Levee’s fall? As readers, in what ways are you sympathetic/empathetic with Levee and in what ways do you feel he has brought his troubles on himself?
4. Are Levee’s final actions justified in the rising action of the play? What does Wilson want us to consider in terms of themes?****
5. Compare the ways Levee, Cutler, Toledo, and Ma go about living their lives and what they think about themselves in relation to the world. Why do they think as they do? What evidence from the play can you use to support your answer?
6. What is Wilson saying through Levee’s demise at the end? What has brought this about? Is he a victim of circumstance or does he bring about his own downfall? Is he tragic in that some flaw leads to downfall or is he the hapless pawn of society?
7. At the beginning of the play, Wilson alludes to the moon falling through a window and breaking into thirty pieces of silver (xvi). What does he mean by the allusion and how does this idea influence the various characters in the play?
8. Wilson seems to be saying two contradictory things in this play: 1) you have to know where you’ve come from in order to make any kind of progress; you have to own your own history, and 2) If you want to participate in life, you have to deny your identity; you have to forget. Which characters represent each argument. Are there any "bridge" characters that reconcile the two?
HINT!!!!! - Questions 4 - 8 will be submitted in a formal context (typed) on 10/31
.
ReplyDelete