THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COMBINING
REALISM AND THEATRE OF THE ABSURD
IN AMIRI BARAKA’S
DUTCHMAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
EMILIA TRISNA ARDIPUTRI
Student Number: 014214019 Student Registration Number:
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I realize that this thesis can not be finished without helps of many people
who care about me. Therefore, it is necessary for me to express my gratitude.
Firstly, I would like to thank my Lord and Jesus Christ who gives me a chance to
experience this wonderful life. Secondly, my sincere gratitude goes to my advisor,
Paulus Sarwoto, S.S, M.A. for his brilliant ideas, inspiration, and also his patience
during the consultation. Then the gratitude goes to Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S,
M.Hum. for the comments and suggestion.
I would like to thank my parents, drh. E. Sunaryo Kasman and Catharina
Putranti for their unconditional love, support, and understanding; my twin sisters,
Mawar and Melati for their unlimited love; Kasman and Mardisuwignyo big
family especially Hendy, QQ, and Ninin for their attention and togetherness; my
grandmother Marcella Sumarti for her never-ending prayer.
I must thank all of my friends from Bandar Lampung for the spirit and
endless friendship. I thank all my friends in my boarding houses at ‘Tantular 400’
Pringwulung, ‘Mintin’ Paingan (my best Chef Sitti) and at ‘Menur’ Gorongan for
sharing happy and difficult moments. I also thank all of the lecturers, staff and
friends in English Letters USD especially Kittie, Henny, Ayu and Ririn.
I am grateful to all of my good fellows for their lovely friendships that
make my life colourful and I never feel lonely. Last but not least, “Po” Abdullah
for his long-waiting and companion until the end.
vii
3. Theory of Structuralism in Literature ……….. 17
C. Theoretical Framework ……… 19
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ... 21
B. The Characteristics of Theatre of The Absurd …………... 36
1. Incoherent Dialogue ……… 36
2. Incomprehensible Action ……… 38
3. Combination of laughter with horror ……….. 39
4. Absurd Ending ……… 40
viii
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ………. 50
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……….. 53
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ABSTRACT
EMILIA TRISNA ARDIPUTRI. The Significance of Combining Realism and Theatre of the Absurd in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. Yogyakarta: Department
of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2006.
Every literary work has their own writing style or structure. There are some writing styles that have influenced literary work such as realism, theatricalism, minimalism (absurdist plays), or collecticism (feminist writing). The work analysed in this study is a play written by a famous black American playwright, Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones before) entitled Dutchman. Similar with the other black theatre, the theme of this play is about racism. The play is different because it combines two writing styles: realism and absurdist structure (known as theatre of the absurd). Through this combination, the play presents the life in United States during 1960s especially the issue of racism. The main aim of the study is to acknowledge the significance of combining the two writing styles.
In this study, there are three problem formulations. Firstly, to find and analyse the characteristics of racism in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman; second, to analyse the characteristic of theatre of the absurd in the play; and the last to reveal the significance of combining realism and theatre of the absurd.
The method used for doing the thesis is library research. To answer those problem formulations, Structuralist approach is applied in the study. Structuralism enables the writer to analyse the context of larger structures of the text. By using Structuralist approach, the characteristics of realism, theatre of the absurd can be analysed in the study. Moreover, the writer can analyse the issue of racism which shows one characteristic of realism.
ABSTRAK
EMILIA TRISNA ARDIPUTRI. The Significance of Combining Realism and Theatre of the Absurd in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. Yogyakarta: Jurusan
Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2006.
Setiap karya sastra memiliki gaya penulisan dan struktur yang berbeda. Ada beberapa gaya penulisan yang mempengaruhi karya-karya sastra, antara lain realisme, teartikalisme, minimalisme (absurdisme), atau feminisme. Karya sastra yang dikaji dalam skripsi ini adalah sebuah karya penulis kulit hitam terkenal di Amerika, Amiri Baraka (sebelumnya LeRoi Jones), berjudul Dutchman. Seperti drama karya penulis kulit hitam lainnya, tema drama ini adalah tentang rasisme. Yang membuat karya ini berbeda adalah karena drama ini menggabungkan gaya realisme dan absurdisme (yang dikenal dengan istilah ‘theatre of the absurd’). Dengan kombinasi ini, Amiri Baraka menggambarkan kehidupan nyata yang terjadi di Amerika pada era 1960an, terutama tentang isu rasisme. Tujuan utama penulisan skripsi ini adalah untuk menganalisa manfaat atau pentingnya menggabungkan dua gaya penulisan dalam sebuah drama karya Amiri Baraka ini.
Dalam skiripsi ini ada tiga pokok bahasan, yang pertama untuk mengetahui ciri-ciri drama realis yang terkandung dalam drama Dutchman; yang kedua untuk menganalisa gaya penulisan drama absurd yang tercermin dalam drama ini; dan yang terakhir untuk mengetahui manfaat penggabungan dua gaya penulisan dalam karya Amiri Baraka ini.
Metode yang digunakan adalah studi pustaka dan pendekatan struktural untuk menjawab pokok bahasan tersebut di atas. Strukturalisme memungkinkan penulis untuk mengkaji lebih luas tentang hal-hal yang berhubungan dengan karya itu sendiri. Dengan pendekatan struktural penulis dapat mengkaji realisme, absurdisme, dan terlebih lagi tentang rasisme yang terkandung dalam Dutchman.
Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa gaya realisme disampaikan melalui seting dengan gaya realistis dan isu-isu yang realistis pula. Seting dalam drama ini memiliki ciri drama realis. Sedangkan, isu realistis tersampaikan melalui lakon-lakon dan dialog para tokoh drama ini. Banyak lakon-lakon dan dialog dalam drama ini yang menyiratkan isu rasisme. Dialog-dialog itu juga menggambarkan perlakuan tidak adil yang diterima oleh masyarakat kulit hitam pada waktu itu. Bagaimanapun, karya ini bukan karya realisme murni karena dalam Dutchman
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the study
One kind of the literary work is play. Play is read daily by individuals such
as stage director, designers, actors, technicians, teachers, students, critics,
scholars, and the people in general. In contrast to novel and poetry, play is often
the most difficult type of prose or poetry to read because it is written not only to
be read but also to be performed by actors before audiences. Reading 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 happening in time and space, and, at the end the complete meaning of
all that has happened (Barranger,1994: 4).
Barranger in Understanding Plays wrote that most modern plays have their roots in realistic writing styles that have influenced the contemporary
American theatre, such as realism, theatricalism (expressionism and epic theatre),
minimalism (absurdist plays), and collecticism (feminist writing). Plays written in
our time have represented the multiple face of our contemporary world. However,
two broad performance styles- realism and theatriticalism have dominated the
modern theatre. One adheres to a candid representation of everyday reality and the
other uses the stage to call attention to life’s theatricality (1994: 636).
writing and theatre conventions of the past, especially the excesses of romantic
character and situation, realism demanded that playwright, through direct observation of the world around them, depict that world truthfully (Barranger,
1994: 540).
While in 1950 in France, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Arthur
Adamov, and Jean Genet pioneered new way of expressing their vision of an
“absurd” universe that resulted in another theatre movement namely the theatre of the absurd (Barranger, 1994: 636). Born in France, theatre of the absurd spread widely and quickly around Europe and even United States. Martin Esslin wrote a
footnote in his book Theatre of the Absurd which explains that finally this literary
movement brought its impact to United States:
…Under the impact of events like the assassination of President Kennedy, the rise in racial tension and above all, the war in Vietnam, the self-confidence and naïve optimism of the United States has received a severe jolt. And there has been a veritable flood of plays –and novels-written in the absurdist vein. To do this movement justice would require a study of its own. All that can be done here is to mention the names of some the outstanding young writers who have emerged in this field: Paul Foster (Tom Paine), Megan Terry (Viet Rock), Rochelle Owens (Futzl), Jean-Claude van Itallie (America Hurrah), LeRoi Jones (Dutchman), Ed Bullins (The Electric Niggers), Israel Horowits (This Indian Wants the Bronx). While these and other plays in a similar style owe a great deal to improvisational techniques, they also quite clearly derive from the dramatists of the Absurd discussed in this book (Esslin, 1969: 266-267).
The object of this analysis is a play entitled Dutchman. As cited in quotation above, this play is written by LeRoi Jones who has changed his name as
Amiri Baraka. Esslin includes him in the dramatist of the Absurd (and has a great
deal of improvisational techniques). Beside, this play is a part of black theatre. In
much the same way it was stimulated and influenced during the Harlem
Renaissance. The powerful thrust of black theatre since 1960 has been
accompanied by the development of new black playwrights, performers, critics,
historians, and producers, as well as by an infinite number of theatre companies,
amateurs, and semiprofessionals, professionals- along with an ever-growing and
varied black audience. The writer of the play analyzed in this thesis, LeRoi Jones
or now Imamu Amiri Baraka, has become the turning point of black theatre in
1960. Come with the dynamic emergence, brilliance, and style in The Slave, The Toilet, The Baptism, and The Dutchman, he influenced a whole generation of playwrights, black and white alike (Smythe, 1976: 705).
Baraka’s reputation as a playwright was established with the production of
Dutchman at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York on March 24, 1964. The play was in manner of a seemingly realistic one act play, although there were some
unrealistic elements. Clay’s big monologue became the text of the 1960 black
activist. The play also won the Obie Award for best play and film has made
(http://www.bridgeweb.com/blacktheatre/baraka.html).
It is written in Drama and Performance, An Anthology that Edward Parone, the director of the world premiere of Dutchman said:
“These plays were written by writers in love with language- the ordering of words that turns chaos into poetry, art: work that not only means something but is something, something that never existed before, work that not only characterizes an age but is among the most eloquent expression of it” (Vena & Nouryeh, 1996: 881).
Therefore it is interesting to analyze this play because beside its
unique play because it combines two different writing styles: realism and the
absurd. Baraka reveals the realistic issue of racism using the realistic setting.
However, the structure of theatre the absurd is seen in the play. Considering the
benefit of using each writing styles, the writer thinks that there must be a
significance of combining the two writing styles. Therefore, the study will be
done to analyze the significance when both writing styles combined.
B. Problem Formulation
By conducting the analysis, the writer tries to answer three questions as
follow:
1. What are the characteristics of realism found in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman?
2. What are the characteristics of ‘theatre of the absurd’ found in Amiri Baraka’s
Dutchman?
3. What is the significance of combining these two types of writing style?
C. Objective of the Study
The main aim of this analysis is to answer the questions as formulated in
problem formulation above. First, the writer wants to identify how the play
reveals the idea of realism. Second, to recognize the structure of the play which
describe the idea of theatre of the absurd. Then, the writer will analyze the benefit
of both writing styles. Finally after analyzing about two writing styles, the writer
D. Definition of Terms
In this section, the writer will explain some specific terms which are used
in this undergraduate thesis, in order to avoid misunderstanding.
1. Realism
According to Encyclopedia of American Literature volume III, realism is a movement in American literature which started in 19th century by the writers such
as Mark Twain, Henry James, and William Dean Howells. It was waned in the
early 20th century, but as a mode of writing fiction, it has persisted. Writers such
as John O’Hara, Hemingway, John Cheever, Ann Beattie, and Toni Morrison- to
mention a small, noteworthy sample- have continued to produce stories and
novels that are ‘realistic’ in the sense that they describe in minute detail their
characters’ milieu and manners and attempt to faithfully record actual patterns of
speech and modes of expression. These same authors and others have produced
works that are in part realistic while adding a symbolic / mythic dimension
(Rollyson, 2002: 206).
2. Theatre of the Absurd
According to Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, Theatre of the Absurd is the collection of dramatic works of certain European and American
dramatist of the 1950s and early 60s who embraced Albert Camus assessment, in
his essay Le Mythe de Sisyphe, that the human situation is essentially absurd, devoid of purpose. The term is also loosely applied to those dramatists and the
The ideas that informed the plays also dictated their structure. Absurd
playwrights ignored most of the logical structures of traditional theatre. Dramatic
action as such is negligible; what action occurs only serves to underscore the
absence of meaning in the characters’ existence. The combination of purposeless
behavior and ridiculous conversation gives the plays sometimes dazzling comic
surface, but there is an underlying message of metaphysical distress (Webster,
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The studies about Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman had been conducted by some other researchers. The first essay found in Mabel M. Smythe’s The Black American Reference Book is written by Helen Armstead Johnson. This essay entitled Black Influences in the American Theater: Part II, 1960 and After. In her essay, we will find LeRoi Jones or Amiri Baraka as the turning point of the 1960s
Black movement who influenced a whole generation of playwright, black and
white alike. Then, it contains the movement of LeRoi Jones or Baraka in the
Black American Theatre. Johnson includes Dutchman in “Protest” and the Contemporary Theatre. Black literature often contains element of ‘protest’. The
pattern of protest began to appear in a variety of forms, including romance and
satire, comedy and tragedy, and other modes of dramatic structure. About LeRoi
Jones’ Dutchman, she explained:
In fact LeRoi Jones’s The Dutchman comes within the boarder definition of protest, although his purely revolutionary plays would not. In The Dutchman the white girl listens to all that the black man says, although it is she, the protagonist, who is triumphant, the one who takes action. When the black man dies, another gets on the train, and we know that he too will die. The play ends up being a statement about the triumph of whites, one frequently made in black plays, no matter what the object of protest or how noble the aspirations of the characters (Smythe, 1976: 709-710).
Donald P. Costello who was Associate Professor in the Department of
Black Man as Victim. In this essay Costello gave comments on the four of Baraka’s play: The Baptism, the Toilet, the Slave and Dutchman. He writes that
The Baptism is a comedy of cruelty (not racial). While, in the three other plays;
The Toilet, The Slave, and Dutchman, Baraka creates Black man as a victim. In
The Toilet, the victim is a black boy named Ray Foots who can not express his love for a white boy named Karolis. In The Slave, as in his other play, Baraka makes the Black man as a victim, named Walker. Walker becomes the victim of
his own philosophy. When talking about Dutchman, he saw Clay as a victim of racial issue. Costello wrote:
The victim in Dutchman is Clay, and this is a play about hatred…….In an interview, Jones said, “Dutchman is about the difficulty of becoming a man in America.” The boy who is “desperately trying to become a man” is Clay, twenty-year-old Negro. Lula, beautiful young white woman on the make, sits next to Clay on the subway. In brilliant dialogue (by far the best art Jones has shown in any of his plays) Clay’s lack of place is revealed to the audience. He doesn’t belong, for he doesn’t acknowledge his blackness.
Costello then added that in Dutchman, as in his previous play’s The Toilet, Amiri Baraka speaks through controlled dramatic art
(http://www.nathanielturner.com/leroijones2.htm).
The next criticism is written by Nita N. Kumar. She is a professor in a
University of New Delhi. In her article The Logic Retribution: Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman, she wrote about racial issues such as black identity and rejection of the ‘white world’. In addition, she discussed about Lula as a postmodernist
The other essay is written by Hamilton, an English teacher in Cary
Academy, an innovative private school in Cary, North Carolina. In her essay, she
discussed about Baraka’s concept of “Revolutionary Theatre” as it applies to his
early play Dutchman
(http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2938/is_2-3_37/ai_110531672).
The last essay related to this study is written by a student, compiled from
http://allfreeessays.com/student/Bretch_Jones_and_Artaud.html. According to this
essay, LeRoi Jones in Dutchman uses realistic, naturalistic and non-realistic elements to convey social issues such as racism in his own disillusioned style.
And the writer of this essay thinks that Jones’ portrayal is supported by the
influences of Bertolt Brecht and Antonin Artaud, whose own disillusionment
enhanced their works and greatly diversified theatrical conventions. This essay
says that Bertolt Brecht influenced the non-realistic elements in Jones’ Dutchman: Jones was influenced by Brecht by producing a play in a revolutionary poetic style which scrutinizes ideologies of race. Jones also modelled Brecht’s style of character development….This effect explains the murder of Clay resulting form a society that has perpetuated institutionalized racism and segregation as historically acceptable.
Beside, Jones goal in mind while creating Dutchman has the same aspiration with Brecht’s; to provoke an audience into reforming society and to leave audience
with the need to take action against a social problem in order to complete an
emotional cleansing.
While, Antonin Artaud had an influence on Jones’ style for theatre and
language and carefully orchestrated theatrical action. The realistic side of Jones’s
Dutchman is the setting of this play, as stated in the essay:
Following in a realistic style, Jones sets the scene with a man sitting in a subway seat while holding a magazine. Dim and flickering lights and darkness whistle by against the glass window to his right. These aesthetic adornments give the illusion of speed associated with subway travel.
Then, Artaud had directed his fury against a society which was in a state of
constant confrontation by favouring controlled writing against dream imagery.
Jones’ use of dialogue, as spoken by Clay and Lula in Dutchman is an example of Artaud’s style of fury.
As explained above, according to the last essay, Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman
is influenced by the style of Antoin Artaud who was a symbolist and Bertold
Brecht who was an expressionist. Brecht had influenced the non-realistic elements
of this play and its character development while Artaud had influenced Jones’
racy dialogue and violent gestures elemental in his Theatres of Cruelty. To
elaborate that essay, this undergraduate thesis will analyse elements of realism
and theatre of the absurd in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman; its realistic setting and theme, and its structure of theatre of the absurd. Furthermore, this study will
analyse the significance of mixing realistic and non-realistic elements.
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory of Realism
As a revolt against writing and theatre conventions of the past, especially
playwrights, through direct observation of the world around them, depict that
world truthfully. The “real” meant essentially the impersonal and objective
observation of the physical world and direct scrutiny of contemporary life and
manners. The realist focused on the observed, material world around them and on
contemporary social issues. Realistic playwright emphasized details of
contemporary life based on the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and
touch, and brought a new kind of recognizable truth to the stage by introducing
subjects and characters not previously considered acceptable, especially for
tragedy. The new realism shocked audiences and created by presenting such
subjects as prostitution, poverty, ignorance, disease, judicial inequities, and
adverse industrial condition (Barranger, 1994: 540).
Realism is closely linked as styles for effecting truthful, empirical
depictions of life on stage. The movement away from the artificiality of romantic
plot and character toward a drama of inner and outer truth is by and large the story
of modern playwriting (and performances styles). Such playwright as Henrik
Ibsen used the conventions of the well-made play with its compressed structure,
family secrets, and end-of-act crises as a vehicle to present the new subjects and
characters. There are several points of realism can be observed from realistic
works as Henrik Ibsen’s. First, the new subjects dealt with corrupt business
practices, social repression, exploitation, inherited disease, neurotic behaviour,
conditioned mores, and outdated beliefs. Second, the new subject spawned a new
kind of tragedy and tragic hero. Modern tragedy engages heredity (the past in the
Then, in new realistic text, dialogue approximates everyday conversation, dispensing with verse, soliloquies, and asides. In addition, the text’s signs and
symbols are taken directly from the play’s environment (Barranger, 1994:
541-542).
The well-made play which had been used by realist playwright appeared in
Paris, led by Eugène Scribe. Under Scribe’s hand, the French style of play at that
time acquired the apt name of la pièce bien faite, or ‘the well-made play’. This
term eventually represented any mechanical playwriting which placed too much
emphasis upon an efficient plot. Then, the well-made plays of Émile Augier and
Dumas fils added a new dimension to this drama by using the formula to make moral point. The focus of the stage in well-made play was always on a leading
character, the hero or heroine or both, with whom the audience was expected to empathize. In the exposition of the hero’s situation, the audience was toll all it needed to know what had happened in the past, before the curtain rose. Thus, they
could understand and accept the subsequent complication of the action that usually caused by the hero’s rival, the villain, or some form of obstruction.
Matters would grow worse, and tension would be built up as hero’s fortunes
seemed destined for disaster. This reversal was designed specifically to create suspense, and would delay the resolution of the play. However, the story usually turned upon some secret, of which the audience was aware, but of which hero
knew nothing until the truth was conveniently revealed at the critical moment.
Finally, the enemy would admit defeat and the hero could celebrate his triumph.
Emile Zola who was a famous French realist had contributed the
significance of setting in realistic play. As written in Styan’s Modern drama in theory and practice, Zola had stated that:
Stage scenery might be nothing but canvas and paint, but it was the theatre’s equivalent of the element of description in the novel. Moreover, scenery on the stage remained vividly before the eyes for as long as the curtain was up, a background and environment for the characters which would be faithful to the author’s conception. A factory, a mine, a market, a railway station or a race track could supply all the colour and life any play could desire, even when the aim was not one of decoration, but of dramatic utility.
In his thinking about realism, Zola believed that it was necessary for every play to
have its appropriate setting; he could not conceive that an abstract or neutral
background might heighten the detail and particularity of dialogue and behaviour.
For him the rule was that a lifelike setting encouraged lifelike costumes, which
encouraged lifelike dialogue (Styan, 1981: 9-10).
The depression years of 1930s in America brought a new realistic
tradition; the drama with social protest, or even propaganda. Designers of such
plays of social realism, like Mordecai Gorelik, would always research the actual
locale of the play, whether it was a street or a dockyard, a farm or an iron foundry,
and then attempt to create the idea as well as the atmosphere of the subject in the
setting they designed (Styan, 1981: 125).
2. Theory of Theatre of the Absurd
writers such as Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Arthur Adamov, and had
observed certain common attitudes toward the predicament of human beings in the
universe in writings of this group of dramatists following the Second World War.
Albert Camus had earlier summarized the predicament as “absurd” in his essay
The Myth of Sisyphus (1941) which diagnosed humanity’s plight as purposeless in an existence out of harmony with its surroundings. In most dictionary definitions,
absurd means ‘out of harmony with reasons and propriety’. Esslin added ridiculous, incongruous, and unreasonable. While, in Notes and Counter Notes: Writings on the Theatre, Ionesco redefined absurd as ‘anything without a goal’, cited by Barranger:
…when man is cut off from his religious or metaphysical roots, he is lost; all his struggles become senseless, futile and oppressive (Barranger, 1994: 636).
The theme of theatre of the absurd is almost same with the work of writers
or philosophers like Giraudoux, Anouilh, Salacrou, Sarte, and Camus: sense of
metaphysical anguish at the absurdity of the human condition. Although their
theme is almost the same, these writers differ from the dramatist in the way they
express it, as Martin Esslin had explained:
Yet these writers differ from the dramatists of the Absurd in an important respect: they present their sense of the irrationality of the human condition in the form of highly lucid and logically constructed reasoning, while the Theatre of the Absurd strives to express its sense of the senselessness of the human condition and the inadequacy of the rational devices and discursive thought.
In other word, while Sarte or Camus express the new content in the old
goes up a step further in trying to achieve a unity between its basic assumption
and the form in which these are expressed (Esslin, 1969: 5-6).
Martin Esslin in his book The Theatre of the Absurd has differentiated characteristics of theatre of the absurd with the characteristic of a good play. If a
good play must have a cleverly constructed story, theatre of the absurd has no
story or plot to speak off, if a good play is judged by subtlety of characterization
and motivation, theatre of the absurd are often without recognizable characters
and present the audience with almost mechanical puppets; if a good play has to
have a fully explained theme, which is neatly exposed and finally solved, theatre
of the absurd often has neither a beginning nor an end; if a good play is to hold the
mirror up to nature and portray the manners and mannerisms of the age in finely
observed sketches, theatre of the absurd seems often to be reflections of dreams
and nightmares; if a good play relies on witty repartee and pointed dialogue,
theatre of the absurd often consist or incoherent babblings (Esslin, 1969: 3-4).
Related to the significance of the absurd, Martin Esslin wrote that
“Theatre of the Absurd fulfils a dual purpose and presents its audience with a two-fold absurdity. In one its aspects it castigates, satirically, the absurdity of lives lived unaware and unconscious of ultimate reality. In its second, more positive aspect, behind the satirical exposure of the absurdity of inauthentic ways of life, the Theatre of the Absurd is facing up to a deeper layer of absurdity- the absurdity of the human condition itself in a world where the decline of religious belief has deprived man of certainties” (Esslin, 1969: 351-352).
According to Esslin, theatre of the absurd has double purpose. At first, it
castigates the absurdity of life. Secondly, it faced up the absurdity of human
In Chapter IV subchapter B, this study analyzes about the structure of
theatre of the absurd. According to Richard Goldstone in Contexts of the Drama, structure is the matter of the arrangement and emphasis of events in the play.
Every play contains its own structure. The structure of the most important
dramatic work of the twentieth century is unrelated to the dramatic structure of
anything that came before. Pirandello, Brecht, and Samuel Becket all turned their
back upon the conventions governing conventional dramatic structure (Goldstone
1960: 3-4).
According to Barranger, Dramatic structure is the overall pattern that gives a special shape to a drama, either compressing or expanding the mystery of
human behaviour into a semblance of time, space, and living presence. There are
some varieties of dramatic structure; climatic, episodic, situational, and reflexive.
These terms are descriptive of plays by Sophocles, William Shakespeare, Samuel
Beckett, and Heiner Muller. A play’s structure gives form to the physical,
psychological, and philosophical experiences contained collectively in the text’s
action, plot, characters, speech, and locales. Barranger includes absurdist plays in
the situational play structure. In absurdist plays, situation shapes the action, not
plot or character. The problem of absurdist writers was to find a dramatic structure
to present a world devoid of clear-cut purpose with infinitive possibilities for
bitter truths. Situation, then, became the mirror of an unchanging reality with an
infinite number of interpretations. Absurdist play structure must, therefore, reject
logical progression and reveal irrationality of the human condition. However,
unchanged at the play’s end, these rhythms move in a recurring cycle beginning
with a situation that develops (a) increasing tension, (b) leading to some type of
explosion, (c) and returning to the original situation. Moreover, the characters in
absurdist plays often repeat the same dialogue, in reverse, in the final moments of
each part. For example, in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot: Estragon, Vladimir: “Well, shall we go?”
Vladimir, Estragon: “Yes, let’s go.”
Stage directions: They do not move. (Barranger 1994: 263-265).
3. Theory of Structuralism in Literature
Structuralism is an intellectual movement which began in France in the
1950s, imported into Britain in 1970s and spread widely throughout the 1980s.
According to Peter Barry in Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, the essence of structuralism is the belief that things cannot be understood in isolation, they have to be seen in the context of the larger, abstract
structures they are part of (Barry, 2002: 39-40). Thus, the structuralists approach
to literature not only interprets individual literary work but understanding the
larger, abstract structures which contain them. These structures are usually
abstract such as the notion of the literary or the poetic, rather than ‘mere’ concrete
specifics like a conventional literary history (Barry, 2002: 39-40).
In his beginning explanation about Structuralism, Barry uses the crude
analogy of chickens and eggs. Donne’s poem “Good Morrow” is taken for the
example. In the case of that poem, the relevant genre is the alba (a poetic form dating from the twelfth century in which lovers lament the approach of daybreak
without some notion of the concept of courtly love, and further, the alba supposes knowledge of poetry. Barry regards the containing structure (alba, courtly love, poetry itself as a cultural practice) as the chicken and the individual example
(Donne’s poem in this case) as the egg (2002: 40).
It is Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 – 1913) who become a
key figure in the development of modern approaches to language study included
structuralism. One of them gives the structuralists a way of thinking about the
larger structures which are relevant to literature. He uses the terms langue and
parole to signify, respectively language as a system or structure on the other hand, and any given utterance in that language on the other. Now, structuralists make
use of the langue / parole distinction by seeing the individual literary work as an example of a literary parole (such as a novel). It only makes sense in the context of some wider containing structure. So, the langue which relates to the parole
(such as a novel) is the notion of the novel as a genre (Barry, 2002: 44).
What makes the structuralists different from liberal humanist is that their
comments on structure, symbol, and design become paramount, and are the main
focus on the commentary, while the emphasis on any wider moral significance,
and indeed on interpretation itself in the broad sense, is very much reduced. What
structuralists critics do is firstly analyse prose narratives, relating the text to some
larger containing structure. Second, they interpret literature in terms of a range of
underlying parallels with the structures of language, as described by modern
4. Theoretical Framework
Theories and related studies discussed above have been useful for the
research conducted by the writer. By doing review of related studies, the writer is
able to find opinion of the critics about the work analysed. Finally, it is
acknowledged that this research is worth studying and will be useful for readers.
Beside, they add more information about the literary work analysed in the study.
Then, theory of realism help the writer to understand the characteristic of realistic
play which is become the discussion of the first problem formulation and will be
analysed in chapter IV subchapter I. Theory of theatre of the absurd helps the
writer to recognize the characteristics of theatre of the absurd. Thus the writer will
be able to answer problem formulation number two and analyse the characteristic
of theatre of the absurd in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. While, theory of Structuralism help the writer to understand the method of analysing a literary
work using structuralists approach and then for apply it on this study. Peter Barry
wrote that:
“You will see that your structuralist approach to it is actually taking you further and further away from the text, and into large and comprehensive abstract question of genre, history, and philosophy, rather than closer and closer to it” (2002: 20).
So, in this study, Structuralism enables the writer to relate the play itself with the
larger structures; realism and theatre of the absurd. If the writer has to apply the
parable off chicken and egg, the writer considers the containing structure (the
writing styles, racism, the structure of theatre of the absurd) as the chicken and the
theatre of the absurd. Further, the discussion about realism demands the writer to
explore the concept of realistic setting and issue of racism. If successfully analyse
the elements of realism and theatre of the absurd, the significance of combining
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this analysis is Amiri Baraka’s play Dutchman. This is a one-act drama produced and published in 1964 under the playwright’s original
name LeRoi Jones. The play won Obie award as best American off-Broadway
play of 1964 and it was made into a film in 1967 (Webster, 1995: 19). Beside, a
character’s big monologue became the text of the 1960 black activist. For this
analysis, the writer takes it from The New Writing in the USA, edited by Donald Allen and Robert Creeley and first published by Penguin Books in 1967. LeRoi
Jones’ or Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman is in page 109-127.
The setting of Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman is in a subway. The main characters are Clay, twenty years old Negro, and Lula, a thirty years old white
woman. At the beginning of the play, Lula seems attracted to Clay, but as the
story goes it can be seen that Lula imagines Clay as a white man. When Clay
refuses Lula’s play by delivering statement about his black identity, Lula murders
him. In the end of the play, when the train stops at the station, there is another
unsuspecting young Negro man enters the subway and sits down.
Actually, through the story in the subway, Dutchman is a realistic play which reveals the condition of Black people in the United States in early 1960s. It
portrays how a subway still became a dangerous place for the Blacks although in
Amiri Baraka didn’t use a well-made structure which usually used by realist
playwright. The structure of this play can be included in the structure of theatre of
the absurd.
B. Approach of the Study
For conducting the analysis about writing style in Amiri Baraka’s
Dutchman, the writer thinks that the most appropriate approach is Structuralism. Structuralism is an intellectual movement which began in France in the 1950 and
is first seen in the work of the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908- ) and
the literary critic Ronald Barthes (1915-1980). It was imported into Britain mainly
in the 1970s and attained widespread influence, and even notoriety, throughout the
1980.
According to Peter Barry in Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, in the structuralists approach to literature there is a constant movement away from the interpretation of the individual literary work and a
parallel drive toward understanding the larger, abstract structures which contain
them, as Pierre stated:
It is difficult to boil structuralism down to a single ‘bottom-line’ proposition, but if forced to do so I would say that its essence is the belief that things cannot be understood in isolation – they have to be seen in the context of the larger structures they are part of (hence of term ‘structuralism’) (Barry, 2002: 39-40).
Then, structuralists’ focus of commentary is on structure, symbol and design
Guerin in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature wrote that Structuralism seems scientific and objective because it identifies structures,
system of relationship, which endow signs (e.g., words) or items (e.g., clothes,
cars, table manners, rituals) with identities and meanings, and shows us the ways
in which we think. Accordingly, structuralists have developed analytical,
systematic approaches to literary text that avoid traditional categories like plot,
character, setting, theme, tone, and the like (1999: 332).
C. Method of the Study
In analysing this topic, the writer used library and internet research. The
first step in doing this analysis was completely read the play itself, Amiri Baraka’s
Dutchman. After that, the writer collected some books and materials related and needed for this analysis. The primary data is Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman which taken from Donald Allen’s compilation The New Writing in the USA. The other book that has been very useful in conducting this analysis is Milly S. Barranger’s
Understanding Plays. From this book, the writer understood some writing styles in play writing, especially realism and theatre of the absurd that would be analysed in this thesis. Beside those primary data, there were some secondary data
such as encyclopaedia in which helped the writer to find the definition of some
Amiri Baraka as a black playwright. To learn Structuralism, the writer used Peter
Barry’s Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory and Guerin’s A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Of course there were some other books that were really helpful for completing this undergraduate
thesis, such as Martin Esslin’s Theatre of the Absurd and Styan’s Modern Drama in Theory and Practice Volume I: Realism and Naturalism. Along with these, the writer did some times internet research to find criticism on Amiri Baraka’s
Dutchman.
After all materials collected, the writer started to learn about them. Firstly
the writer learned about realism and theatre of the absurd and recognized their characteristic. Then, the writer started to conduct the analysis which rose from
three problem formulations that had been formulated before. The analysis was
done by answering and discussing those problem formulations. The first problem
formulation which is related to realism was answered by analyse the elements of
realism. The second problem formulation was answered by using the theories of
the structure of the theatre of the absurd. While, the last problem formulation was
answered by explore the two previous analyses. It presents the significance of
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter will present the analysis of the study. This analysis is divided
into three subchapters based on Problem Formulations. First subchapter consists
of the characteristics of realism and the second analyzes the characteristics of
theatre of the absurd. Finally, the last subchapter will perform the significance of
combining realism and the theatre of the absurd.
The analysis of the study uses structuralist approach. According to the
structuralist approach, things can not be understood in isolation- they have to be
seen in the context of the larger structures they are part of (Barry, 2002: 39). In
analysing Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman using structuralist approach, the writer relates the play itself with realism and theatre of the absurd. Then, the analysis of
realism explores about racism. Further, the analysis of racism in this study
discusses about the history of black American.
A. Realism in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman
In this subchapter, the analysis will discuss about some characteristics of
realism found in the play. The analysis is done by exploring the characteristics of
realism using the theory of realism as presented in Chapter II. The first element of
realism discussed here is the realistic setting, the second is the realistic issue of
discussions, the writer analyses and reveals that Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman
contains the elements of realism.
1. The Realistic Setting
The first element in Dutchman which is analysed here connected with the characteristic of realism is the setting. The setting which is being analysed is
either setting of place or time. It is appropriate to discus about setting because the
writer thinks that a setting is very important in a play, especially realistic play.
Emile Zola, as cited in Styan’s Modern drama in theory and practice said that a realistic play should have a lifelike setting (Styan, 1981: 9-10). The setting of time
of Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman is in America during 1960s. Through the setting, Amiri Baraka portrays the real condition of subway in US at that era. Its setting of
subway indicates one characteristic of realism because it is a usual transportation
that in America in the contemporary life. Then, the scene of the beginning defines
the condition in contemporary time when this play was made.
In the flying underbelly of the city. Steaming hot, and summer on top.outside. Underground. The subway heaped in modern myth.
Subway, a passenger, and station activity described in the scene above supply the
setting of subway station in America in contemporary time. The scene represents
the idea of lifelike setting which being one characteristic of realism.
The writer thinks that Baraka chose the setting on the subway also because
1960s was the beginning of ‘freedom to travel’ in America. By the concept of
‘freedom to travel’, there was no more segregation between white people and
black people in using public facilities. Constance Baker Motley in Smythe’s The Black American Reference Book wrote about this issue in his essay The Legal Status of Black America. His essay says that by the end of 1961 the courts and the Interstate Commerce Commission had outlawed all segregation in transportation,
and racial restrictions in interstate transportation had virtually disappeared
(Smythe, 1975: 101). Maybe, with the setting of subway Baraka wants to reveal
the real condition of this event. It can be seen in the play that in the subway Lula
(a main character of Dutchman, thirty year-old white woman) feels free to enter the subway and sits beside a black boy. On the other hand, Clay (another main
character, twenty year-old Black) as well feels free to travel by subway used by
whites:
…She stops beside Clay’s seat and hangs languidly from the strap, still managing to eat the apple. It is apparent that she is going to sit in the seat next to Clay…
…Clay sits as before, looking just beyond his magazine, note and again pulling the magazine slowly back and forth in front of his face in a hopeless effort to fan himself…
Lula : Hello. Clay : Uh, hi’re you?
Lula : I’m going to sit down…OK? Clay : Sure.
However, conflict between white and black still cannot be avoided. As the play
develops, their conversations escalate to become more racist and finally in the
ending of the play the white woman murders the Black boy. This condition shows
the relation between black and white in 1960s. Although they tried to make a
peace, conflict and injustice are difficult to be avoided.
2. The Realistic Issue: Racism
Barranger said that realism demanded playwright to depict the
contemporary life and contemporary social issues (1994: 540). According to
Barranger, in new realistic text, dialogue approximates everyday conversation, dispensing with verse, soliloquies, and asides. In addition, the text’s signs and
symbols are taken directly from the play’s environment. (Barranger, 1994:
541-542). Baraka uses main character’s everyday conversation to reveal his idea of
racism.
There are two main characters of this play; Lula, a thirty-year old white
woman, and Clay, a twenty-year old Negro. At the beginning of the play, Lula
enters the subway and sits beside Clay. Very soon they talk each other and their
conversation goes smoothly as if there were no problems about their race, even
Lula seduces and shows her interest to Clay.
LULA : That’s why I came looking through the window…so you’d have more that to go on. I even smiled at you.
CLAY : That’s right.
LULA : I even got into this train, going some other way that mine. Walked down the aisle…searching you out.
The conversation above shows Lula’s attention to Clay. But, Clay seems confused
about Lula’s attitude toward him. Clay deems it is funny for a beautiful white
woman like Lula to be interested in him.
CLAY : Really? That’s pretty funny
LULA : That’s pretty funny…God, you’re dull. (p.112)
This condition describes that at that time, it was strange for a white female to be
interested in a black male.
In their conversation, Lula often uses rough and racist words such as
nigger. Although in the first time she seems kind and not racist, but as the play develops, she often mock Clay. Lula considers Clay always think about sex.
LULA : You think I want to pick you up, get you to take me somewhere and screw me, huh?
The writer thinks that the dialog above portrays the relation of a black man and
white woman in the society of that era. In this part of dialogue, Baraka portrays
white’s estimation and suspicion toward black. Moreover, white woman’s
suspicion in relation with black man’s sexual desire. Frantz Fanon, in his book
Black Skin White Mask gives a description about this issue. About the relation between black man and white woman, Fanon describe that it is a pride for a black
man to have relationship with a white woman. For the example, Fanon explains
about the social tendency of black immigrant in France. He explains that black
immigrant who came to France (especially thirty years ago) wished to have a sex
with a white woman. Even their first activity in their arrival there is to have a sex
Talking recently with several Antilleans, I found that the dominant concern among those arriving in France was to go to bed with a white woman. As soon as their ships docked in Le Havre, they were off to the houses. Once this ritual of initiation into “authentic” manhood had been fulfilled, they took the train for Paris (Fanon, 1967: 72).
Considering the fact above, maybe, Lula’s suspicion is natural at that time. Lula
says that Clay’s thinking about sex because she knows that a black boy like Clay
dreams to go to bed with a white woman like her.
In this play, Clay is described as a twenty-year old black. He is too
innocent and believes Lula’s big talk as when he believes that Lula knows his
brother.
CLAY :
(Cocking his head from one side to the other, embarrassed and trying to make some comeback, but also intrigued by what the woman is saying…even the sharp city coarseness of her voice, which is still 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) (p. 112).
From the dialogue above, it can be seen that Lula begins to humiliate Clay and she
laughs for Clay’s stupidity.
Again, when they introduce each other their names, Lula mocks Clay as a
Black, Lula guess Clay’s name by usual Black names.
LULA : I bet your name is … something like … uh, Gerald or Walter. Huh?
LULA : Llyod, Norman? One of those hopeless colored names creeping out of New Jersey. Leonard? Gag…
CLAY : Like Warren?
LULA : Definitely. Just exactly like Warren. Or Everett. CLAY : gag…
LULA : Well, for sure, it’s not Willie. CLAY : It’s Clay
LULA : Clay? Really? Clay what?
CLAY : Take your pick. Jackson, Johnson, or Williams
LULA : Oh, really? Good for you. But it’s to be Williams. You’re too pretentious to be a Jackson or Johnson
(p. 115)
Lula says that the family names Jackson or Johnson are too pretentious for Clay
because they are names for high class people.
Clay is under-estimated by Lula because he is a Black. In the next
conversation, Lula asks Clay to enter in her imagination and asks him to follow
whatever she says.
LULA : (Starts laughing again)
Now you say to me, “Lula, Lula, why don’t you go to this party with me tonight?” It’s your turn, and let those be your lines.
CLAY : Lula, why don’t you go to this party with me tonight, Huh?
LULA : Say my name twice before you ask and no huh’s.
CLAY : Lula, Lula, why don’t you go to this party with me tonight? (p. 115)
Clay, who is seduced just follow what Lula asks. Even, Lula says that everything
Clay says is wrong and furthermore in the same part, Lula mocks the way he
dresses.
LULA : Everything you say is wrong. (Mock smile.)
That’s what makes you so attractive. Ha. In that jacket with all the buttons. funnybook
(More animate, taking hold of his jacket.)
people ever burn witches or starts revolutions over the price of tea? Boy, those narrow-shoulder clothes come from a tradition you ought to fell oppressed by. A three-button suit. What right do you have to be wearing a three-button suit and stripped tie? Your grandfather was a slave, he didn’t go to Harvard (p. 116-117).
In the conversation above, Lula said that a Black like Clay has no right to wear a
three-button suit because only white people who have that right. White people
who had gave a big contribution to the country, who burn witches (in Salem
witchcraft issue) and started revolution over the price of tea (Boston Tea Party),
while Blacks was only slave of them.
Moreover, Lula mocks Clay with very racist words.
LULA : I bet you never once thought you were a black nigger. … A black Baudelaire. (p.117)
In scene two, Lula’s behaviour becomes worse. Some other people
entering the subway but they did not notice it. She makes Clay deeply enter to her
imagination about doing sex in her house. Clay is influenced by her seduction.
CLAY : Hey, I didn’t even notice when those people got on. LULA : Yeah, I know.
CLAY : Man, this subway is slow. (p. 120)
Clay is so hypnotized that he does not notice about his surrounding and he wants
to reach Lula’s house soon so he thinks that the subway is slow although the
subway is actually is fast. While, other people in the subway looking at that
couple with uncertain interest. Maybe they feel weird that a beautiful white
woman can have a relation with a Black boy.
CLAY : Wow. All these people, so suddenly. They must all come from the same place.
LULA : Right. That they do.
CLAY : Oh? You know about them too?
LULA : Oh yeah. About them more than I know about you. Do they frighten you?
CLAY : Frighten me? Why should they frighten me? LULA : ‘Cause you’re an escaped nigger.
(p. 121-122)
This part shows how the treatment of white people to the black in 1960s. Black
people was still under estimated and they afraid of white. Even, white woman like
Lula can be free using a racist word nigger. Afterwards, Lula begins to act more impolite. She rises from her seat and singing loudly and her song is full of abusive
words to black people.
…And that’s how the blues was born. Yes. Yes. Son of a bitch, get out of the way. Yes. Quack. Yes. Yes. And that’s how the blues was born. Ten little niggers sitting on a limb, but none of them ever looked like him… (p. 122)
Beside abusive words, Lula asks Clay to enact his black identity.
…Come on Clay..let’s do thing. Uhh! Uhh! Clay! Clay! You middle class black bastard. Forget your social-working mother for a few second 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… (p. 123)
Lula’s song is actually a mockery to Black; social-working class, liver-lipped.
The writer can conclude that Lula is able to have a relationship with Clay because
she imagines Clay as a White and asks Clay to do so. Lula asks Clay to forget her
mother and to be a Christian, and she imagines Clay is just a dirty and liver-lipped
White man. Lula accepts Clay as if Clay is someone in her imagination or at least
follow her imagination. Clay, other people in the subway as well, can do nothing.
Finally, Clay looses his patient; he is angry about Lula’s behaviour and
refuse Lula’s asking. He slaps Lula and pushes her into seat.
…I’m not telling you again, Tallulah Bankhead! Luxury. In your face and your fingers. You telling me what I ought to do.
(Sudden scream frightening the whole coach) … (p.124)
He then speaks broadly and screams about the badness of white people.
The writer sees that Clay’s big monologue is a representation of suspicion
between Black and White which appeared in US in 1960s.
After Clay finished his speaking and he wanted to leave the subway, Lula
realizes that Clay is a Black boy who does not want to follow her imagination and
she murders Clay. Finally we realizes that Lula is not interested to Clay.
…(As he is bending over her, the girl bring up a small knife and plunges it into Clay’s chest. Twice. He slumps across her knees, his mouth working stupidly)… (p. 126)
Other people on the subway witness it but they do nothing, even they help Lula by
throwing Clay’s dead body out. This event shows that black people got injustice
treatments, and no people will help him. Subway is a coffin for the Blacks.
After reading the explanation of analysis above, the issue of racism
revealed in this play shows the characteristic of realism. The issue of racism that
is shown through the actions and conversations of the characters represents the
racist culture which still became a problem in relationship between Blacks and
3. Social Protest
Starting from the great depression in America in 1930s, there had been a
new realistic tradition; the drama with social protest (Styan 1981: 125). As
discussed in the previous subchapter, the setting of Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman is in US in 1960s. At that time, racist culture still became a problem and with this
play Amiri Baraka depicts that social issue. Remembering that 1960s was the
beginning of Black movement and liberation in US, this play might be Baraka’s
social protest toward the situation in America. The social protest against racism in
Dutchman is shown through Clay’s big monologue. At the act 2, almost the end of the play, Clay looses his patient and he speaks broadly about the badness of white
people.
... [Sudden scream frightening the whole coach] Well, don’t! Don’t you tell me anything! If I’m a middle-class fake white man…let me be. And let me be in the way I want… You don’t know anything except what’s there for you to see. An act. Lies…
… I mean if I murdered you, then other white people would begin to understand me. You understand? No. I guess not…But listen, though, one more thing. And you tell this to your father, who’s probably the kind of man who needs to know at once. So he can plan ahead. Tell him not to preach so much rationalism and cold logic to these niggers… (p. 124-126)
The writer sees that Clay’s big monologue is a representation of suspicion
between Black and White which appeared in US in 1960s. At that time, the
principal person for the Black movement was Dr. Martin Luther King. He had the
highest national and religious ideas and upon a mature psychology. He
demonstrated peacefully against oppression and discrimination. The next figure
was Malcolm X who was vigorously portraying Whites as exploitative and
movement as a dangerous intrusive invasion_ an attack. For most Whites,
Malcolm X symbolized their own unconscious sexual and sadistic fantasies and
their fears of their own undesirable impulses (Smythe, 1976: 134). This kind of
suspicion is what the writer tries to find in Clay’s big monologue. This monologue
might represent Black’s feeling and Black’s ideas. Through the monologue,
Baraka suggests Whites not to judge Black based on their own perception.
B. The Characteristics of Theatre of the Absurd
In the analysis subchapter A, it can be concluded Amiri Baraka’s
Dutchman have the characteristics of realism. Nevertheless, this play is not purely a realistic play. In this subchapter, the writer tries to explore the characteristics of
theatre of the absurd. As explained in Chapter II, absurdist writers are different
from absurdist philosophers in the way they express absurdity in their work. The
philosophers express it in the old convention or in well-constructed and polished
plays. While, absurdist writer tries to express it with the new form of theatre of the
absurd (Esslin, 1969: 5-6)
1. Incoherent dialogue
The writer acknowledges the characteristic of theatre of the absurd by
analysing the conversations of two main characters of Dutchman, Lula and Clay. The basic assumption is from Martin Esslin who wrote that theatre of the absurd
Dutchman are incoherent. In the beginning of scene I, there is an incoherent dialogue.
LULA : That’s pretty funny..God, you’re dull
CLAY : Well, I’m sorry, lady, but I really wasn’t prepared for party talk
LULA : No, you’re not. What are you prepared for? CLAY : I’m prepared for anything. How about you? LULA : …What do you think you’re doing?
CLAY : What?
LULA : You think I want to pick you up, get you somewhere and screw me, huh?
CLAY : Is that the way I look?
LULA : You look like you been trying to grow a bread. That’s exactly what you look like. You look like you live in New Jersey with your parents…
CLAY : Really? I look like all that?
LULA : Not all of it…I lie a lot…It helps me control the world. (p. 112)
It cannot be understood why Lula asks Clay what they are doing and after saying
something about Clay, she says that everything she said is a lie. And, Lula’s
answer does not respond Clay’s question. For example when Clay says “I’m
prepared for anything. How about you? “, Lula does not answers it but asks back
“What do you think you are doing?”
Further, the conversation indicates that everything Lula says is nonsense.
LULA : Oh, boy.
Looking quickly at Clay)
What a face. You know, you could be a handsome man. CLAY : I can’t argue with you
LULA : My hair is turning grey. A grey hair for each year and type I’ve come through.
CLAY : Why do you want to sound so old? LULA : But, it’s always gentle when it starts… CLAY : What?
At first Lula talks about Clay’s appearance but quickly he moves to the other topic
which is actually not related.
2. Incomprehensible action
In the theatre of the absurd, the audience is confronted with characters
whose motives and actions remain largely incomprehensible (Esslin, 1969: 361).
This characteristic makes the audience find difficulty to understand what the
significance of the dialogue is and what actually the playwright wants to reveal.
Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman often presents this kind of action, as in this part: LULA : Now you say to me, “Lula, Lula, why don’t you go to this
party with me tonight?” It’s your turn, and let those be your lines.
CLAY : Lula, why don’t you go to this party with me tonight, Huh?
LULA : Say my name twice before you ask, and no huh’s. CLAY : Lula, Lula, why don’t you go to this party with me
tonight?
LULA : I’d like to go, Clay, but how can you ask me to go when you barely know me?
LULA : What kind of reaction is that? You’re supposed to say, “Aw, come on, we’ll get to know each other better at the party.”
CLAY : That’s pretty corny. (p. 115-116)
In that part, Lula asks Clay to ask her join the party and Clay follow it.
Nevertheless, Lula does not accept Clay’s invitation but correct Clay’s invitation
and all what Clay said. It is difficult to understand why Lula did it, what is the
purpose of Amiri Baraka wrote such dialogue? And concerning with this difficulty
to understand, the writer classify this as a characteristic of theatre of the absurd
In scene two, the conversation begins by main character’s
imagination which is actually not necessary. They imagine about going to the
party, go to Lula’s apartment and about sex.
Clay : The party!
Lula : I know it’ll be something good… …
Lula : Then? Well, then we’ll go down to the street, late night, eating apples and winding very deliberately toward my house. …
Clay : We were in your living room.
Lula : My dark living room. Talking endlessly. …
Lula : One of the things we do while we talk. And screw. Clay : We finally got there.
… (p. 118-120)
The long conversation about their imagination is useless and similar to almost
dialogues in the play; they talk about anything serious. These pointless dialogue is
a characteristic of theatre of the absurd.
3. Combination of laughter with horror
In his book Theatre of the Absurd Martin Esslin wrote that
“As the incomprehensible of the motives and the often unexplained and mysterious nature of the characters’ actions in the Theatre of the Absurd effectively prevent identification, such theatre is a comic theatre in spite of fact that its subject-matter is sombre, violent, and bitter. That is why the Theatre of the Absurd transcends the categories of comedy and tragedy and combines laughter with horror” (Esslin, 1969: 361).
The writer can see this characteristic in Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. It has been taken a dialogue for an example:
LULA :
(Twisting out of his reach)
