CLAY’S
STRUGGLE FOR IDENTITY AGAINST RACIAL
STEREOTYPING
I
N AMIRI BARAKA’S
DUTCHMAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
VINDY KARTIKA DYAS PRIMANINGRUM
Student Number : 094214048
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
CLAY’S
STRUGGLE FOR IDENTITY AGAINST RACIAL
STEREOTYPING
I
N AMIRI BARAKA’S
DUTCHMAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
VINDY KARTIKA DYAS PRIMANINGRUM
Student Number : 094214048
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vii
َالصَاَةلِ
َالصَاَرَِ
لةسْتََِلنلوةلِ
(... and seek help in patience and prayer).
Al-Baqarah: 45
–
The mind is everything. What you think you become.
Buddha
–
viii For
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to give my gratitude to Allah SWT for the blessing and for
His guidance especially in my desperation during the hard times in finishing the
thesis.
I also want to devote my gratitude to my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan
Wijanarka, M. Hum. who guided me through the process of this thesis. I also give
my thanks to my co-advisor, Adventina Putranti, S. S., M. Hum. for her
willingness to read and review this thesis. I also thank my examiner, E. Arti
Wulandari, Ph. D. I also want to thank all the lecturers and staff of English Letters
Department.
My deepest thanks and gratitudes go to my parents; Widodo Dyas Irianto,
B. A. and Dorkas Kartiwi Wijayanti, for all your love and support, and putting me
through the best education possible. I appreciate your sacrifices and I wouldn’t
have been able to get to this stage without you both. Also for my sisters; Vicky
Ayu Dyas Purnama Sari and Vania Shinta Dyas Wijayanti for the supports,
prayers, and the unconditional love.
I would like to thank my fellow friends and colleagues for the helps and
good times through these years; Louisa Meigytha Manihuruk, Riza Azizah, Titus
Dewa Brata, Richard Octha David Taralalu, Matias Sri Aditya, Yoza Artha
Iskandar, Morgan de Krafft Feather, and all the names that I do not mention here.
Lastly, I would like to thank Reza Kurnia Iskandar for the times, supports,
and stories that we share together.
x
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ... 8
2. The Relation between Literature and Society ... 10
3. Theory of Identity ... 11
4. Racism and Racial Stereotyping ... 12
a. Race ... 12
b. Racism ... 12
c. Stereotypes ... 13
d. Racial Stereotypes ... 14
C. Review of the History of African American in 1960s ... 15
D. Theoretical Framework ... 18
xi
5. Awareness and Good Sense of Humor ... 28
B. The Experience of Racial Stereotyping ... 30
1. African American’s Racial Stereotypes as Seen in Lula’s Perspective ... 31
2. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Clay’s Suit and his Grandfather’s Job ... 33
3. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Plantation ... 34
4. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Belly Rub ... 36
5. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Uncle Thomas ... 37
C. The Struggle of Clay’s Identity towards Racial Stereotyping ... 39
1. Clay’s Responses toward Uncle Thomas and Belly Rub Stereotyping ... 40
2. Clay’s Responses toward Lula’s Statement about Blues ... 41
3. Clay’s Struggle for Discrimination toward his Belief ... 43
4. Clay’s Struggle to Keep being “Sane” ... 44
5. Clay’s Struggle for being Himself ... 45
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 49
xii ABSTRACT
PRIMANINGRUM, VINDY KARTIKA DYAS. Clay’s Identity Struggle
against Racial Stereotyping in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. Yogyakarta:
Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017.
This thesis analyzes Amiri Baraka’s famous play work entitled Dutchman.
The story centers around two interracial characters: a black man and a white woman. The black man, an African American, experiences racial stereotyping
from the white woman. In this thesis, the writer focuses on this black character’s
identity struggle against racial stereotyping.
There are three questions to formulate the main problems. First question is intended to examine the depiction of Clay Williams, the main character in Dutchman. The second one is to find out how Clay experiences racial stereotyping from other characters, especially from Lula, a white American woman. Lastly, the third question helps to analyze his struggle for identity against such racial stereotyping.
In this thesis, the writer applies socio-cultural historical approach. This approach is seen to be the most suitable one because it sees the writing through social, cultural, and historical perspectives. For that matter, the writer uses several theories such as theory of character and characterization, the relation between literature and society, theory of identity, theory of stereotype, and theory of 1960s. Clay has to surrender his black identity in order to blend with the whites. Through the story, Clay is portrayed as a young, nice, educated, innocent, yet naive black man who faces racial stereotypings delivered by a white American woman named Lula. Their interactions seem to run smoothly at the beginning, but gets heating up because of racist comments as the story goes. Lula includes
‘black’ labels by mentioning Uncle Tom, Blues music, plantation, rub belly, and murderer. Clay is actually covered in manners, speech, and dresses like the whites. He even refers himself to a white French poet, Baudelaire. However,
getting tired of Lula’s racial stereotypings about his life and black people in
general, anger strikes him blindly, as reflected on Clay’s long speech. He shows
xiii ABSTRAK
PRIMANINGRUM, VINDY KARTIKA DYAS. Clay’s Identity Struggle
against Racial Stereotyping in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2017.
Skripsi ini menelaah naskah drama terkenal berjudul Dutchman karya
Amiri Baraka. Cerita berpusat pada dua karakter utama yang berbeda ras: pria berkulit hitam dan wanita berkulit putih. Si pria berkulit hitam, orang Amerika keturunan Afrika, mengalami perlakuan stereotip rasis oleh si karakter lawan jenis. Dalam skripsi ini, penulis berfokus pada perjuangan identitas si karakter kulit hitam terhadap stereotip rasis yang dialaminya.
Ada tiga pertanyaan yang digunakan untuk menganalisa permasalahan utama. Pertanyaan pertama dimaksudkan untuk mengetahui penggambaran Clay
Williams, karakter utama dalam Dutchman. Kemudian, pertanyaan kedua
berpusat pada bagaimana perlakuan stereotip rasis yang dialami Clay, terutama yang dilontarkan oleh Lula, karakter berkulit putih. Rumusan masalah terakhir membahas perjuangan dalam melawan stereotip rasis yang dialaminya.
Dalam studi ini, penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosio-kultural historis. Pendekatan ini dipandang tepat karena melihat suatu karya sastra melalui perspektif sosial, kebudayaan, dan sejarah. Oleh karena itu, penulis menggunakan teori-teori yang berhubungan, misalnya teori tokoh dan penokohan, teori hubungan antara sastra dan masyarakat, teori identitas, teori stereotip, serta teori rasisme dan stereotip rasis. Di sini, gambaran singkat kehidupan orang Afrika Amerika pada tahun 1960-an juga tak luput dari perhatian. Untuk memudahkan analisa masalah serta mengumpulkan bukti-bukti, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian kepustakaan.
Secara singkat, tidaklah mudah bagi seorang pria Afrika Amerika yang hidup di tahun 1960-an untuk benar-benar menghindari isu maupun mengacuhkan kejadian seputar Civil Rights Act atau aksi hak-hak sipil. Clay harus menyerahkan identitasnya sebagai orang kulit hitam agar dapat berbaur dengan warga kulit putih. Dalam cerita, Clay digambarkan sebagai pria muda kulit hitam yang lugu, sopan, terpelajar, namun naif. Ia mengalami perlakuan stereotip rasial dari karakter wanita kulit putih bernama Lula. Interaksi mereka tampak lancar-lancar saja pada awalnya, namun bertambah panas seiring berjalannya cerita. Lula
menyertakan “label kulit hitam” pada Clay dengan menyebut Uncle Tom, musik
blues, perkebunan, rub belly, dan pembunuh. Clay menutupi dirinya dengan gaya,
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
A literary work is a result of personal experience. By reading a literary
work, the reader can understand about the process of life. There are some kinds of
literary works such as poems, novels, short stories, and play. Comparing with
other literary works, a play is often more difficult because instead of merely being
read, it is also designed to be performed by actors in the front of audiences. Milly
S. Barranger states that reading a play is a unique challenge. As readers, we must
visualize all of the elements the playwright has placed on the page to convey a
story to us: its characters in action and conflict, its happenings in time and space,
and, at the end the complete meaning of all that has happened (Barranger, 1994:
4).
Dutchman is one of the famous plays by Amiri Baraka (born Everett
LeRoi Jones and took the title Imamu when he became Muslim) and was first
performed at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York on March 24, 1964. It won
the Obie Award for the best American play of the season, and was made into a
film in 1966. This play tells of a twenty-year-old black man, named Clay
Williams, and thirty-year old woman, named Lula.
The story begins when Clay and Lula met in the subway train while Clay
staring from the train window, and it went on with Lula manipulating the situation
until she finally killed him. What happens throughout the play depicts the
relationship between both races, in which the main character is an African
American and Lula is a White American. From the relationship depicted in the
play, it shows how the main character, Clay - an African American, struggles for
his identity and his people. It also shows how the way Clay faced the problems
related to racial issues occurring in that era, especially racial stereotyping that can
be seen throughout the play.
Clay represents the black revolutionary spirit that Baraka possessed when
he wrote the play. Like Baraka at the time, Clay was a young black man living in
the big city. Clay was associated with the black revolution but he had not yet
learned to tame the wild spirit that pumped through his veins. He was a mild
mannered, sophisticated young man, much like Baraka.
The antagonist, Lula, represents white society as a whole. She is a
beautiful woman with long red hair. Women with red hair are often stereotyped as
aggressive and temperamental, and the red atmosphere around her (the hair, the
lipstick) seems to add a sense of seductiveness in addition to aforementioned
aggressiveness. Swift stated that “the red-haired of both sexes are more libidinous
and mischievous than the rest” (Swift, 1726: 340).
In February 2007, Hilton Als wrote an article about Dutchman in The New
issues at that time, yet became a controversial race play in 1964. As he describes
in the article
Reading Baraka’s script today is like watching an expert butcher at his
bloody chopping block. One hears a terrible kind of music as the
playwright slices through his characters’ flesh, bones, and cartilage. Lula
and Clay, the white woman and the black man who are the play’s
protagonists, screech and wail at each other in ghastly speeches, which
recall the bruising hooks and repetitions that Baraka’s contemporary Ornette Coleman laid down on his 1961 disk, “Free Jazz.” (Als, 2007)
The statement below is the reason why the writer chooses this play. It is worth
struggle over his racial identity. But since Lula has a preconceived notion of him,
the reader knows Clay will not make it out of the train alive, and many of her
statements foreshadow this violence that awaits him.
Racial stereotyping is one of the important elements in this research
because it is related to the reason for the actions that both of the characters did in
the play, which influenced Clay in struggling with his identity. Clay stands for the
Black in the play as does Lula for the White. The generalization that Lula states in
the conversation shows her capability in knowing the type of the Blacks.
From Dutchman, it is expected that the information about racial
and proves that Lula’s generalizing of African-Americans takes part on racial
stereotyping towards Clay’s identity. The aim of this research is to show how
Lula’s racial stereotyping conversation with Clay has an implicit meaning which
reveals Clay’s identity struggle.
B. Problem Formulation
From the description of the background of the study, the writer determined
the problem formulation that will be used for analyzing this thesis. Indeed, to
support the problem formulation, the writer needs to formulate some questions:
1. How is Clay depicted in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman?
2. What racial stereotyping does Clay experience?
3. How does Clay struggle for his identity against racial stereotyping
described in the play?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study has three objectives. Based on the problem formulation above,
the first objective is to analyze the depiction of Clay found in the play. The second
objective is to analyze the racial stereotyping that Clay experiences in the play.
The third objective is to examine Clay’s struggle for his identity from racial
stereotyping that appears in the play.
D. Definition of Terms
To help the writer understands this research, the writer should have a
better understanding about the definition of struggle, identity, and racial
Struggle, Mifflin states that struggle means to be strenuously engaged
with a problem, a task, or an undertaking. In other words, struggle is a
comprehensive process of surviving difficult situation or achieving certain goals.
This might take a long time and tiring process that could require serious thinking
and action. (Mifflin, 1996: 1782)
Identity as Harry H. L. Kitano states, it is “how an individual perceives
and feels about “self remains” that serves as the end result of a process of
socialization that includes the family, the community, the ethnic group, and the
society.” (Kitano, 1985: 82)
Racial Stereotypes are automatic and exaggerated mental pictures that we
6
reviews the Dutchman play as a depiction of racial tensions that happened in that
time. As he describes in the article,
Earlier I suggested that Dutchman remains a topic for debate, as the most
written about of all of Baraka’s plays. And yet, because the language and
characters of the play clearly depict the racial tensions present in America during the 1960s, I find a majority of these debates problematic. (Kern, 2014: 33)
As he stated above, this play seems to have issues depicted through the
explanation. He also states “Here, besides exposing her own extreme racism, Lula
criticizes Clay for assimilating and relinquishing his ownership over a unique
Black identity; ironically, this complete lack of ownership over identity was the
same fate suffered by American slaves.” (Kern, 2014: 38). Through his statement,
the writer finds an insight that his research has a same play work used by the
research helps the writer to know and understand about the play better, because it
also involves historical stories related to both the play and the event at that time.
Emilia Trisna Adiputri, a student of English Letters at Sanata Dharma
University in 2006 did her undergraduate research about this play. In her research,
she studies the significance of combining realism and theater of the absurd. She
states that
The combination of realism and theatre of the absurd in Amiri Baraka’s
Dutchman makes this play achieving its purpose to deliver message about racial discrimination which continuously exist. Both realism and theatre of the absurd has their own contribution to the play. Realism with its lifelike setting makes the author easier in portraying the condition and situation of subway which represent United States in 1960s, especially relationship between Whites and Blacks. (Adiputri, 2006: 51)
Underlining the title that has a same play work used by the writer, her thesis helps
the writer understand how the flow of the play goes and helps the writer
understand the play more deeply from another perspective. Indeed, from her
thesis, it helps the writer understand racial issues from a different perspective.
One of the statements about racial issues found in her thesis is “... this play
achieving its purpose to deliver message about racial discrimination which
speech and manners of the white bourgeois society. His aspirations enslave him. (Diyaiy, 2009: 14)
The statement concerns the same perspective as the writer that Clay’s covers his
Black identity through devices usually worn and used by Whites. Clay’s dilemma
about his identity shows that he wants to have awareness in his society that judges
him by the color of skin. He knows that living as a Black Man in America is not
easy, especially in that era where all Black people struggled for their freedom as
mankind. This article helps the writer understand the issue of self that Clay
struggled with.
From the aforementioned study and review, Dutchman becomes a
significant work which talks about the situation of African American life in that
time, in the 1960s. Based on the related study above, the writer will use all studies
to help the writer to analyze the racial stereotyping towards Clay’s identity.
B. Review of Related Theories intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the person
says and their distinctive ways of saying it – the dialogue – from what they
moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation (Abrams, 1999:32).
Furthermore, Abrams explains that character may remain stable in their outlooks
and disposition from the beginning until the end of the story, or they may undergo
some radical changes.
Another theory of character and characterization comes from Christopher
Russell Reaske. The combination of speeches and actions throughout a play, small
asides and jokes, the short angry speeches, the lengthy diatribes help our mind
understand the characters in a drama as people who might really exist (Reaske,
1966: 40). Reaske also states there are some devices of characterization made by
the dramatist to help us analyze the characters in a drama.
a. The Appearance of the Character
In the prologue or in the stage directions, playwrights often give
description on the characters’ physical sense. We can learn from the stage
directions how they look, how they walk onto the stage and how they are dressed
up. For short, from their appearances, we can obtain our first understanding of
certain characters in a drama.
b. Asides and Soliloquies
All of the further characterization is established through dialogue. We
learn how they speak, and we understand them specifically when they speak in
short asides or in longer soliloquies. From these, we can tell if the characters are
c. Dialogue between Characters
The language or diction that the characters use when they talk to other
characters throughout the drama also gives contributions in revealing their
personalities.
d. Hidden Narration
The playwrights always implicitly give a clue about the characters through
other characters. If often occurs in a drama when a certain character narrates
motivations in behaving that way (Reaske, 1966: 44-48).
The explanation about character and characterization above helped the
writer to analyze Clay’s depiction as an African American man in the play.
2. The Relation between Literature and Society
Literary works have been very important for people in this living world.
Literature is also one media to express many things in many aspects in the society,
and society makes the story alive. Literary work has been a very close “friend”
with society in years, and they related to one another. From Rene Wellek and
Austin Warren, they state that
have arisen only in society. But, furthermore, literature ‘represents’ ‘life’;
and ‘life’ is, in large measure, a social reality, even though the natural
world and the inner or subjective world of individual have also been
objects of literary ‘imitation’... But literature is not a reflection of the social process, but the essence, the abridgement, and summary of all history. Much the most common approach to the relation of literature and society is the study of works of literature as social documents, as assumed pictures of social reality. Used as a social document, literature can be made to yield the outlines of social history. For example is social picture of American life (Wellek, 1956: 94-103).
According to the explanation above, the writer sees that the literature is closely
related with the society, especially American life in the 1960s, and what happened
in society can be revealed from literary work. The society in literature can
somewhat represent real-life society, as the poet is a member of the society and
the fact that literature has a social use.
However, as the society in the literary work is not always same as the
society in real life, the author does not make the content and the detail of the work
same with the real life. This can happen only coincidentally.
3. Theory of Identity
There are some theories about identity, one of which comes from Harry H.
L. Kitano. He states that identity is “how an individual perceives and feels about
“self remains” that serves as the end result of a process of socialization that
includes the family, the community, the ethnic group, and the society” (Kitano,
1985: 82). Therefore, an identity is constructed with elements that make a person
distinguishable from the others such as name, gender, race, and social status.
Another theory comes from Hans Bertens, which draws on Lacan’s theory
we happen to find ourselves more or less creates us as subjects and thereby
situates us as individuals. However, since the social and personal configuration in
which we find ourselves at a given point will inevitably change, identity is not
something fixed and stable, it is a process that will never lead to completion.
Identity is not only subject to constant change, it can also never be coherent.
(Bertens, 2008:127)
4. Racism and Racial Stereotyping
As the title of this thesis includes the issue of racial stereotyping, which is
related and connected to race and racism, the writer will explain about race,
racism, stereotype, and racial stereotypes that will help the writer to analyze the
problem.
a. Race
Before the writer explains about racism, it is important to know what race
is. Race can be divided into two different meanings, based on Allan G. Johnson’s
book. His statement is “first is as the biological concept, race refers to people who
share a genetic heritage that results in distinct physical features, such as the color
of skin, eyes, and hair, or shape of the nose or eyes. Second is as an ascribed
social status to which they attach values, attitudes, and norms that produce
important consequences for the occupants of different racial statuses” (Johnson,
1986: 353).
A term related to race is racism. It appears because of the differentiations
among the races in society. Newman states that racism is “any attitude, belief,
behavior, or institutional arrangement that tends to favor over one race or ethnic
group over another” (Newman and E.N.Layfield, 1995: 9). He also states four
types of racism, first is attitudinal racism – is general dislike of a certain race or
group without reason. Second is ideological racism – believing some races
superior to others (for example: Adolf Hitler). Third is individual or group racism
(for example: Klu Klux Klan). The last is institutional racism creating patterns of
injustice and inequality because of skin color (for example: US voting in 1960 and
high prices of some colleges).
Through the explanation about racism above, it can be concluded that
racism is the way that a people or an individual treats another people or individual
based on his or her race. Racism establishes people’s mind-set to tend to see other
people differently.
c. Stereotypes
Racial stereotype is one of the most important issues in this thesis. But
first, the writer has to explain stereotypes. The writer found a definition of
stereotypes from Joe Feagin. He defines the stereotypes as “an overgeneralization
associated with racial or ethnic group that goes beyond existing evidence”
(Feagin, 1978: 12).
From the statement above, this means that the basic feature of stereotyping
is overgeneralization, meaning that people only take some facts about some races
from Nelson about stereotypes, he states “stereotypes represent the traits that we
view as characteristic of social groups, and particularly those that differentiate
groups from each other. . . Stereotypes are problematic because they are negative,
innacurate, and unfair – they would simply be part of the study of person
perception more broadly if they weren’t.” (Nelson, 2009: 2)
That is why stereotypes usually only consist of thought and perspective,
not scientifically proven facts as it tends to use overgeneralization and goes
beyond evidence. Yet stereotype also has negative traits within generalization
toward groups or individuals.
d. Racial Stereotypes
A short explanation about racial stereotyping comes from a journal article
by Laura Green that she wrote on the online zine from Virginia Commonwealth
University. In her article titled “Stereotypes: Negative Racial Stereotypes and
Their Effect on Attitudes Toward African-Americans”, she quoted a statement of
racial stereotype from S. K. Jewel’s that
Racial stereotypes are constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share given characteristics. These attributed characteristics are usually negative. (Green, 1998-99)
From the explanation above, racial stereotype is a belief constructed by the
members of a race. The belief that usually goes into a negative perspective by
looking at the characteristics of a race, in this case is African American. Racial
stereotypes indicate, lower standards for a group indicate lower expectations,
which lead to anchoring of within-group subjective rating scales at lower levels of
Racial stereotypes are also automatic and exaggerated mental pictures that
we hold about all members of a particular racial group. When we stereotype
people based on race, we do not take into account individual differences. Because
our racial stereotypes are so rigid, we tend to ignore or discard any information
that is not consistent with the stereotype that we have developed about the racial
group. (Overcoming Racial Stereotypes, Sept 10, 2016).
C. Review of the History of African American in 1960s
The story of African Americans is a touching story. In beginning, African
Americans first landed in Jamestown, Virginia in the 16th centuty, during the
colonial times. They were imported as slaves and treated as property to be bought
and sold. Americans needed people who could work all the time with low pay.
During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, slavery became a national institution
rather than regional institution (Encyclopaedia Americana, 1978: 28)
The Africans who came to the land of America and became slaves
experienced a really tough life, lost their freedom in every aspect of life, such as
losing freedom in citizenship, freedom in expressing emotions, and freedom in the
right to be humans. Americans generally assumed that blackness meant poverty,
ignorance and lack of middle-class, and mainstream. Black people were regarded
as the poorest group of people and the most powerless part in the working class.
They were defined as a racial group that had been made as subject to
discriminatory treatment because of race. (Ethnic Relations in America, 1982: 50)
According to Adalberto Aguirre, Jr. And Jonathan H. Turner, they state
slavery became a “positive good”, protecting Africans from their “savage
impulses”, and responding to their “childlike dependency”. Yet, even in the abolitionist North, stereotypes portrayed Africans as ignorant, lazy, and immoral. During this period the “black Sambo” stereotype evolved, which portrayed black people as childlike, helpless, shuffling, and fumbling (but with potentially aggressive tendencies). (Aguirre, 2011: 110)
nonviolent resistance in the late 1950s. The Civil Rights movement has begun to
gain more serious momentum in the United States by 1960. In the same year, John
F. Kennedy made a passage of new civil rights legislation part of his presidential
campaign platform.
In 1964, Golden wrote a book which tells about African American life
after the signing of the Civil Rights Act. He states that African Americans’ fight
for the right to enter public school was not a fight for education. They fought for
life and death as well, because entering public school was the first step to
obtaining adequate hospital care. “Public schools are the first step, adequate
He states that not only educational and health issues are what they should
fight for. The discrimination against African Americans was also done by the
government. He states that for thirty years, Southern legislators and legislatures
had led a legal war against African American people.
They disfranchised the Negroes, denied them in school, hospitals, and access to tax-supported facilities and public accommodations. (Golden, 1964: 38)
He also tells about white men who lynched African Americans and who regularly
defiled African American women were not prosecuted, as the Southern
government refused to. Those treatments were considered good things by the
Southern politicians as they “boasted of their parental love, knowing all the time
that their strategy would help maintain the status quo” (Golden, 1964: 39).
Furthermore, Golden writes another facts regarding racial discrimination
experienced by African American people in daily life. In 1960, African American
people had to buy shoes in a store owned by Whites because there where no shoe
stores owned by African Americans. They had to pay expensives price to buy
shoes.
Another discrimination happened in church as they had no proprietary
rights, although they spoke the same language as Whites. Golden states that “the
colored man’s church, mainly Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian, was
controlled and dictated to by white men who deprived Negroes of religious
African American people had to make their own way to fight the racial
discrimination, so they made some of their people become lawyers. They had to
do that because it was needed to guide and guard their rights on the law and
justice fronts. Again, Golden states that these African American lawyers were the
vanguard who initiated the legal study and interpretation of civil rights.
By understanding the history of African Americans above, it can be
concluded that their struggle and fight for their rights could only pay off when
they were accepted by Americans, especially White Americans. Their successes in
getting the freedom leads the Americans to realize that they also have powers, in
many aspects.
D. Theoretical Framework
This part will explicate the contribution of the theories applied in this
analysis. The writer uses the theory of character and characterization, the relation
between literature and society, theory of identity, and racism and racial
stereotyping to help this research for answering the problem formulation. The
distribution of theories will be explained in the following paragraphs.
The writer uses theories of character and characterization to obtain a better
understanding of the depictions of Clay in the play related to this study. Using
these theories, the writer will be able to explicate the nature of the depiction in the
play.
The relation between literature and society is used to help the writer
understand the connection between literary work and society in the play of
The theories of identity are used to analyze the identity of Clay, helping
the writer to explain Clay’s identity struggle towards Lula’s racial stereotyping.
The explanation about racism and racial stereotypes is used to show how
Lula uses racist speech that causes Clay to do sorts of things that show the
defensive attitude as an African American man.
Last is the review of the history of African Americans. It is used to help
the writer to know more about African Americans life in that era, and about racial
issues they encountered. This theory helps the writer to see more deeply their
20
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman was written and composed in the early 1960s,
near the beginning the author’s involvement with the Black Nationalist
movement. It was first performed in 1964 at the Cherry Line Theatre and won the
Village Voice’s Obie Award for the Best American Play of the 1963-64 season. It
is also the author’s (Amiri Baraka) last major work under his birth name, LeRoi
Jones.
This play tells about two characters who met inside the subway train, Clay
and Lula. Clay is a young black man, and Lula is a middle-aged white woman. In
this play, these two characters talk about something that leads to sexual
conversation. However, in the end of the play, Lula kills Clay with a knife.
B. Approach of the Study
In analyzing this particular research, the writer uses s socio-cultural
historical approach. This approach concerns itself particularly with literature that
represents and concentrates on writings from social, cultural and historical point
of views. Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods address the socio-cultural
historical approach. They state that the socio-cultural historical approach is the
only way to locate the real work in reference to the civilization that produced it.
that this approach leads us to an ethical judgement concerning the truth of the
author’s statement (Rohrberger, 1971: 9-10)
By learning historical background of the play, the reader can connect it to
a situation that happened in history dependent on the time that the author uses in
the play. It can be said that society and culture in story also reflect to the society
and culture in history.
The purpose of this approach is to discuss the novel in the social condition,
culture, and historical context. The purpose of applying this approach is to know
about social conditions, culture, and historical context in the play work, especially
about the struggle for identity againt racial stereotyping in the era of Civil Rights
Act in the U. S. Racial stereotyping suffered by Blacks is closely connected to the
society and culture practiced in the society in the play work.
C. Method of the Study
This part is about the procedures that were taken in analyzing the work. In
the first step, this study uses the library research. This is a method of collecting
data by reading books, articles, essays, websites that are collected in sentences.
The writer has chosen some books to support the research.
As mentioned the research methodology involves collecting data. The
primary data is the most important one, so the writer uses Dutchman by Amiri
Baraka as the primary data. The second data is taken from books, articles, and
Some theories are also used as the references for the purpose of analysis.
The writer uses books from M. H. Abrams, Christopher Russel Reaske, Rene
Wellek and Austin Warren, Allan G. Johnson, Hans Bertens, Joe R. Feagin,
Newman and E. N. Layfield, Harry H. L. Kitano, and H. Golden. Those books
support the writer in analyzing the depiction of Clay, identity struggle and racial
stereotyping. Further information is collected from websites and previous studies.
In the process of writing this study, the writer went through several steps.
The first step was close reading and re-reading of the play, in order to understand
more about the story. The second step was choosing the topic. After choosing the
topic, the writer started to find the background of the study and also the problems
related to the topic. To solve the major problems, some theories were chosen.
The writer used the theory of character and characterization in the scope of
the depiction question. The relation between literature and society is used to help
the writer to make a connection between the play and the society of African
American in the real life.
The theory of racism and racial stereotype in the scope of racial
stereotyping, and used to have a better understanding about the practice of racial
stereotyping that Clay experienced. Theory of identity is used to understand of
Clay’s struggle for his identity. The review of history of African American is the
1960s is used to help the writer to know more about racial issues that happened in
that era. It also to help the writer to see how they keep struggling against racial
discrimination. In the last part of this research, the writer gives conclusion of the
23
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
Dutchman is a play work written by Amiri Baraka that tells the short story
of an interracial couple, one of whom is an African American man and, who
experiences racial stereotypes from the other one, a White American woman,
ending with the murder of the African American Man, killed by the White
American woman.
This chapter presents the analysis of the study. The analysis in this chapter
is divided into three subchapters based on the problems that are formulated in the
first chapter. In the first subchapter, the writer analyzes the racial stereotyping that
experienced by the male main character, Clay. In the second subchapter, the writer
analyzes the racial stereotyping that Clay experiences. In the third and last
subchapter, the writer analyzes the struggle of Clay’s identity against racial
stereotyping.
A. Clay’s Depiction
In this part, the writer’s analysis is about the depiction of the male main
character, Clay Williams. This first analysis is used to support analysis of the next
problem formulations. As the writer explained in the Chapter II, character is one
of the important elements that make the story come alive. Character is one of the
The definition of characters is taken from M. H. Abrams statement in his
book. He statesthe characters are
The persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are
maker of the story and gives the reader information about people in the story from
dialogue, action, and motivation. The way a person speaks and behaves also
reflects their character’s background.
There are two characters in the play. The first is Clay Williams, he is a
middle-class African American man living in New Jersey. The second is Lula, a
red long-haired White American woman. The writer tries to examine the depiction
fo Clay using the theory of character and characterization that is stated in the
Chapter II. First, the writer examines the personal appearance and the personality
of Clay. In this discussion, the writer only examines Clay’s depiction because he
is the main character who experiences racial stereotyping from Lula, the other
main character.
To examine his depictions, the theory of characterization taken from
Reaske’s book is applied. There are five ways to study their characteristics and the
the character, asides and soliloquies, dialogue between characters, hidden
quotation of narration, it is clear that Clay is an African American man. He is also
a nice man as he responded Lula’s “hello” nicely as he read his magazine.
LULA. Hello.
CLAY. Uh, hi’re you?
LULA. I’m going to sit down. . . . O.K.?
CLAY. Sure. (Baraka, p. 1-2)
By reading his response, it shows that he is a nice Black man. He is putting aside
the racial issue between African Americans and White Americans that appears in
that time. Indeed, Lula knows that he is a nice man, so she takes advantage and
starts to lure him into her own “game”, her imagination of Clay as a White man.
2. Naive Man
Clay is a twenty-year-old African American man who still has a young
spirit. In the year where he is looking for his “real-self”. As the conversation goes
along with the “game” that Lula plays toward Clay, another character that the
writer finds about Clay that he is a naive young man.
CLAY. [Cocking his head from one side to the other, embarrassed and try
to make some comeback, but also intrigued by what the woman is
a kind of gentle sidewalk throb] Really? I look like all that?
LULA. But it’s true, most of it, right? Jersey? Your bumpy neck?
CLAY. How’d you know all that? Huh? Really. I mean about Jersey ...
and even the beard. I met you before? You know Warren Enright? LULA. You tried to make it with your sister when you were ten.
[Clay leans back hard against the back of the seat, his eyes opening
now, still trying to look amused]. But I succeeded a few weeks ago [She starts to laugh again](Baraka, p. 2)
As Reaske states, a way to define a characteristic of a person is by examining the
dialogue between characters. At the beginning of the conversation, Clay seems
innocent and stupid in reacting to Lula’s statement. He can not cover his young
spirit and answers Lula’s question with excitement. However, his excitement
towards Lula’s question can not hide his knowledge as an educated man.
As the play goes on, the writer sees that Clay actually pretends to be
innocent and stupid to cover his capability to adapt Lula’s more limited capability
to carry out the conversation. From the dialogue above, it can be seen that Lula
begins to enjoy her “game” towards Clay and laughs at Clay’s innocence and
stupidity, although he knows and aware of what he is doing with Lula, also the
condition of African American and White American people in that time.
3. Middle-class and Educated Man
Living as black people in America is not easy, since they first came to the
land of liberty with many struggles as slaves. The situation is almost the same
with Clay who struggles to gain his status as an African American man in society.
He is a free man, he wants to abolish the systematic connection of an African
American man equaling a slave. He goes to college and he refers to himself as
LULA. And who did you think you were? Who do you think you are now?
CLAY. [Laughs as if so make light to the whole trend of the
Conversation]. Well, in college I thought I was Baudelaire. ButI've
slowed down since. (Baraka, p. 5)
Based on the conversation above, the writer finds that Clay is an educated African
American man. An educated African American man in that time means he was not
in the lower-class, his class status brings him to the college to gain knowledge in
education. Following with the statement of Clay’s long speech, “. . . If I’m a
middle-class fake white man ... let me be. . .” (Baraka, p. 8), which shows Clay is
a middle-class man. He also tries to imitate himself to a poet and critic who was a
White French man, Baudelaire. Although, the others used to imitate Averell
Harriman, who was a White American Democratic Party politician, diplomat, and
businessman. Baudelaire addressed his literary works through themes such as sex,
death, metamorphosis, lost innocence, the corruption of the city and melancholy,
all themes familiar to Clay, since he goes to college and is interested to poetry.
4. Identity Issues Experienced by Clay
The writer finds another depiction of Clay in the play that he has an
identity issues with himself as an African American man. The suit he is wearing
during the event, a three button suit, which shows his class status in the society as
a middle-class African American man, instead of dressing like a White American.
Reaske states the appearance of a character is a device that can be used to
analyze the character “we can learn from the stage directions how they look, how
LULA. ... Did your people ever burn witches or start revolutions over the price of tea? Boy, those narrow-shoulder clothes come from a tradition you ought to feel oppressed by. A three button suit. What right do you have to be wearing a three button suit and striped tie? (Baraka, p. 5)
Lula’s statement about the suit he is wearing during the event becomes evidence
that Lula accuses Clay of wearing the suit which usually being worn by the White
Americans, her people. In fact, he is an African American man, and for Lula, he
is not supposed to wear the same suit as her people.
Also on the statement about Baudelaire, it shows that he differentiates
himself from the stereotypes about African American men. This is evidence that
Clay has identity issues as an African American man by referring to himself as a
White poet. This is also evidence that indicates Clay wished to be equal with
knowledge and vocabulary that support his intelligence. Lula might actually
pretend not to understand him in order to reduce his intelligence to the role of
“game” she has prepared. Whether he is aware of this possibility or not, Clay does
not really care about it. However, another depiction that writer found about Clay
LULA. Clay? Really? Clay what?
CLAY. Take your pick. Jackson, Johnson, or Williams.
LULA. Oh, really? Good for you. But it’s got to be Williams. You’re too
pretentious to be a Jackson or Johnson. (Baraka, p. 4)
Owning the self-derision and humor are such remedies to sadness, which was
widely used by the African American men in that era, incarnated by Clay. He
understands that things and events only have the importance that people grants
them. Additionally, the statement that self-derision as an African American man is
to keep from being sane.
CLAY. .... And I’m the grezt would-be poet. Yes. That’s right! Poet.
Some kind of bastard literature ... all it needs is a simple knife thrust. Just let me bleed you, ... A whole people of neurotics, struggling to keep from being sane (Baraka, p. 9)
As Clay states above, he is aware and concerned about the condition of African
Americans in that era. Black movements had spread widely and rapidly across the
U. S. It is he who should control himself for being sane, to face the situation
between him and Lula. Being sane would mean revenge, but violence never
seemed to pay off for the African American man until then – and violence causes
violence. Yet he consciously understands that he still has a spirit and identity as
an African American man.
Clay is seen to be a nice African American gentleman. He answers and
responds to Lula’s questions in the most polite way possible. He puts aside any
racial issues happening at that time, and keeps being nice until Lula drives him
mad by telling him racial statements his ‘kind’. Yet, Clay is a naive young man.
Clay shows how naive he is by responding to Lula’s statement during Scene One
it excitingly and innocently. Educated middle-class man also becomes an aspect in
Clay’s depiction. His statement about going to college, and the suit he is wearing
during the event, shows his social status as a middle-class African American man.
Though he is depicted that way, he can not cover something that is important for
this research: identity. Through the play, the writer finds evidences that Clay has
identity issues as an African American man. However, above everything he is
depicted in the play, indeed, he is still seen as someone with good sense of humor.
Apart from that, he is still aware about happening issues during that time,
including occurences he is involved in.
B. Clay’s Experiences of Racial Stereotyping
Dutchman is nevertheless only a theatrical play: a representation of reality.
The experience of racial stereotyping that appears in the play has to be replaced in
reality so that we can judge its relevance or applicability.
The publication of such a play in 1964 was not innocent. This year saw the
passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which banned discrimination based on
race, color, religion, or natural origin in employment practices and public
accommodations. The situation depicted in the play is indeed a very topical one.
The 1964 spectator was also aware of the fragility of such a depiction.
Seeing a White American woman sitting next to an African American man in a
subway was still an unusual situation that caused tensions. Apart from the
drunken man, the other passengers who gradually appear on the setting probably
sense the dangerous characters of Lula and Clay’s meeting and prefer to ignore it.
The passing of an Act does not mean immediate practical application, it is just the
official beginning of a process. It will take months, years before people accept it
as the normal course of things.
This part will analyze the racial stereotyping that Clay experiences. It is
such a portrayal of the relationship situation between African American people
and White American people, in which African American people encounter so
many racial issues with White American people. Based on Joe Feagin’s book,
stereotype is “an overgeneralization associated with racial or ethnic group that
goes beyond existing evidence” (1978: 12).
It is clear that stereotype involves racial issues. On the other hand, racial
stereotyping is a “constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share
given characteristics. These attributed characteristics are usually negative”
(Green, 1998-99). Thus, racial stereotyping is one of the types of stereotype which
contains racial issues that influence one another. Some people might use
stereotype as a tool to get know someone based on their races, ethnics, even their
skin colors. In fact, it cannot be proven that someone has similar personality with
others by generalizing from their races.
1. African American’s Racial Stereotypes as Seen in Lula’s Perspective
Lula seems to have an eye for and be very interested in Clay from the first
time she sees Clay inside the train. As she walks inside the train and take a seat
beside Clay, the conversation goes along as the train runs to another station. They
actually could have been friends, a White American woman and an African
Lula seems to have studied a lot of characteristics of African American
people as she manages to make Clay believe that she knows him by mentioning
details of his life that applied in reality to many African American men of that era.
Her statements of African American characteristics that she stereotypes towards
Clay are the evidence of racial stereotyping that appears in the conversation
between them. The evidence of racial stereotype that Lula says about Clay is
LULA. You look like you been trying to grow a beard. That’s exactly what
you look like. You look like you live in New Jersey with your parents
and are trying to grow a beard. That’s what. You look like you’ve been
reading Chinese poetry and drinking lukewarm sugarless tea. [Laughs,
uncrossing and recrossing her legs.]You look like death eating soda crackers. (Baraka, p. 2)
From the excerpt abpve, Clay seems embarrassed about what Lula states about his
life, based on her knowledge about African American men’s life at his age. Lula
finds a space to crawl deeper in revealing Clay’s real identity.
Further statements from Lula make Clay astonished that he could not
believe she knows what had happened in his personal experience, although Lula
states that she lies.
LULA. But it’s true, most of it, right? Jersey? Your bumpy neck?
CLAY. How’d you know all that? Huh? Really. I mean about Jersey ...
and even the beard. I met you before? You know Warren Enright? LULA. You tried to make it with your sister when you were ten. (Baraka, p. 2)
From that conversation, Lula stereotypes about Clay makes him amused. Clay
does not believe that Lula seems “know” about his childhood memories with his
“magically” makes Clay believes that she knows him very well. Indeed, he still
could not be more amused that he states
CLAY. What’re you talking about? Warrentell you that? You’re a friend
of Georgia’s?
LULA. I told you I lie. I don’t know your sister. I don’t know your sister.
I don’t know Warren Enright.
CLAY. You mean you’re just picking these things out of the air?
LULA. Is Warren Enright a tall skinny black black boy with a phony English accent?
CLAY. I figured you knew him.
LULA. But I don’t. I just figured you would know somebody like that.
[Laugh]. (Baraka, p. 3)
Clay still does not believe what Lula is saying about his friend named Warren
Enright; she knows Clay is on the way to Warren’s house. Yet he puts such humor
replies in responding Lula’s statement. Lula claims that she knows Clay because
he is a merely a well-known type, the black man who repudiates his racial identity
to adopt a white culture (Diyaiy, 14: 2009).
However, Lula’s racial stereotypes over Clay do not stop at that
conversation and the writer finds that Lula is enjoying playing her “game” with
Clay’s depiction as a naive man, and his “well-known” life.
2. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Clay’s Suit and his
Grandfather’s Job
Clay seems not to even take her statements seriously, yet that conversation
is just a beginning of Lula’s generalizing about Clay in the play. The stereotype
goes farther when they have conversation about Clay’s three button suit, his
Clay’s outfit and the general debilitating tone she addresses him with fully belong
to this discourse
LULA. Everything you say is wrong ... What’ve you got the jacket and tie
on in all this heat for? And why’re you wearing a jacket and tie like
that? Did your people ever burn witches or start revolutions over the price of tea? Boy, those narrow-shoulder clothes come from a tradition you ought to feel oppressed by. A three button suit. What right do you have to be wearing a three button suit and striped tie? Your grandfather
was a slave, he didn’t go to Harvard. (Baraka, p. 5)
From the Lula’s statement above, Lula seems try to annoy Clay by speaking about
the suit he is wearing and about his grandfather, which contain racial issues. She
insults, embarrasses, humiliates, and blames him for repudiating his identity
(Diyaiy, 15: 2009). Yet she belittles and criticizes the way Clay wears the suit
because the suit he wears belongs to White American people. It can also be
concluded as the writer stated in the depiction scope that he has an identity issue.
Hence, Clay’s answer in this monologue is “You don’t know anything
except what’s there for you to see. An act. Lies. Device. Not the pure heart, the
pumping black heart” (Baraka, p. 9). Still in a hostile environment and with such a
terrible heritage, the African American man of the 1960s while remaining in
constant danger, was also starving for existence. He had to find a place in society
in such ways.
3. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Plantation
The way Lula describes what Clay looks like, and another history of the
that happened at that time in the U. S.. The writer finds further possible historical
evidence related to racial stereotyping in the utterance below
LULA. ‘Cause you’re an escaped nigger.
CLAY. Yeah?
LULA. ‘Cause you crawled through the wire and made track to my side.
CLAY. Wire?
LULA. Don’t they have wire around plantations?
CLAY. You must be Jewish. All you can think about is wire. Plantations
didn’t have any wire. Plantations were big open whitewashed places
like heaven, and everybody on ‘em was grooved to be there. Just
strummin’ and hummin’ all day (Baraka, p. 8)
From the excerpt above, it can be concluded that Lula is trying to stereotypes
African American people history as slaves on Clay. Through her statement about
wire, Lula is trying to ridicule Clay of his “slave origins”, as we know African
American people have a very long history of slavery and her sarcasm about going
out of the wire and plantation may most likely be related to that certain part of
history. Along with his responses toward Lula’s statement, it shows how Clay
replies it nicely as a common conversation.
The statement above takes the writer back to Aguirre’s statement that “...
stereotypes portrayed Africans as ignorant, lazy, and immoral. ... which portrayed
black people as childlike, helpless, shuffling and fumbling but with potentially
aggressive tendencies.” (Aguirre, 2010: 110) which can be seen from Lula’s
statement regarding escaped nigger, meaning a slave. Yet, through her statements
that Lula says to Clay, it can be seen that she sees Clay in such ways like a
childlike and helpless Black man. She controls the “game” toward him through
conversation just like parents use toys to lure their children into doing what they
4. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Belly Rub
By adding more and more racial stereotypes toward Clay, she also
mentions and mocks some labels or persons for the purpose of upsetting Clay.
There is one statement that Lula says during her dancing and singing blues scene,
asking Clay to join her
LULA. . . . And that’s how the blues was born. Yes. Yes. . . Let’s do the
nasty. Rub bellies. Rub bellies. ... Come on, Clay . . . let’s do the thing.
Uhh! Uhh! Clay! Clay! You middle-class black bastard. Forget your
social-working mother for a few seconds and let’s knock stomachs.
Clay, you liver-lipped white man. You would-be Christian. You ain’t
no nigger, you’re just a dirty white man. Get up, Clay. Dance with me,
annoyed instead of having awareness of what she says about him. The argument
about belly rub is a severe critique on White American’s propensity to try to
appropriate to themselves anything they find interesting in another culture, often
inadequately but with the pretension to know what they are doing. “Belly rub”
nowadays like in the 1960s had a sexual meaning.
However the term applies in Dutchman to a sexy dance practiced at the
time mostly by African Americans on particular occasions and rather than
exclusive circles. Just like boogie-woogie, the style caught White American’s eye
5. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Uncle Thomas
Lula statements about belly rub does not make her satisfied enough in
mocking, humiliating, and discriminating Clay in front of the passangers, who
most of them are Lula’s people. Another statement labelling African Americans
with a racial stereotype to mock Clay, was when Lula called Clay an Uncle
Thomas.
LULA. Screw yourself, Uncle Tom. Thomas Woolly-Head. . . . There is Uncle Tom . . . I mean, Uncle Tom Woolly-Head. With old white matted mane. He hobbles on his wooden cane. Old Tom. Old Tom. Let the white man hump his ol’ mama, and he jes’ shuffle off the woods and
hide his gentle grey head. Ol’ Thomas Woolly-Head” (Baraka, p. 8).
“Uncle Thomas” has become a racist Black stereotype since the story of Uncle
Tom was published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The novel tells about the life of Uncle Tom as a slave. He is a well educated slave
and very obedient to his slave master so he does not get into too much trouble. On
a moment, Tom is sold to another slave owner because his slave master had to pay
off a debt that he owed. He begins to work hard so he can become a free man
because he wants to get back to his family and live a normal life again.
As the writer finds out more about Uncle Tom, he is quite an overeager
Black person to win the approval of the whites. Yet for Lula, the mockery about
Uncle Tom is her way to disgrace Clay in front of people in the train, especially
her white people. She knows exactly her position, she feels inferior and
surrounded by another inferiors, the white people. Lula is taking further advantage
of Clay to dig out his real identity through such ways include stereotyping and
Clay is an African American man who needs acceptance from White
American society for his existence as an African American man. He has to work
hard to escape from the chains that linger on his black wrists to have a normal life
equal to White Americans. His position is like a joke in front of all the white
passengers inside the train. He tries to preserve his identity in order to keep being
sane, a sane black man living in America. The way he faces several racial
stereotypes that he gets and accepts from Lula is something impossible for most
African Americans to do.
The writer concludes that Clay really experiences racial stereotyping
through happenings in the play. Lula seems to have knowledge about African
American men in general and tends to apply such knowledge on Clay. By
showing her capability in “identifying” African American man’s perspective
towards Clay, she indirectly drives the statements of her knowledge as the
portrayal of racial stereotypings. Beside “identifying” her perspective and
knowledge of African American men, Lula’s racial stereotyping refers to Clay’s
suit and his grandfather’s job. She states the suit worn by Clay is the suit that
belongs to white people. She also tells Clay that his grandfather was just a slave
and did not go to Harvard, meaning that she humiliates Clay’s ancestry of
uneducated African American slave. Lula also mentions racial comments about
plantation, which most likely relates to the history of United State’ slavery era, as
well as when she sings about rub bellies in blues-y tune. Blues music was widely
popular in the plantations. African slaves sang blues music while working there.
