Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a play by August Wilson, deeply analyzes the works of the African-American music artists the the Jazz Age. The play delves into the oppression of the artist and the exploitation of their music. Through the youthful and self-assured trumpet player, Levee, the story of his personal failings and inevitable destruction of his aspirations is told. The focus of Wilson’s allegory is the purchase of Levee’s new shoes, and how his new shoes are symbolic of the changing of the times and pride in one’s self. Levee began the play by bragging about his new shoes, that he bought with money he won from a fellow band member. To his dismay, however, everyone begins to poke fun of him because of his pride. Cutler, a band leader, says…

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson, is a play about ‘displaced Southern black people struggling to survive in a hostile Northern urban environment’ (Adell, 1993, 54), which emphasises the harsh realities of 1920s America for African-Americans. Ma Rainey and her band are indeed familiar with these harsh realities, and it is the white studio owner Sturdyvant, along with Ma Rainey’s white manager Irvin, who contribute to this harsh reality facing African-Americans. I will examine throughout…

man. August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom explores the perspectives of band members trying to be successful in a country fueled on racial discrimination. While exploring the effects of the clash between northern and southern cultures, Wilson uses the band members as a catalyst to represent contrasting stimulated initiatives as a response to the drastically different and discriminating North. Ma Rainey represents a successful and powerful woman, yet she is an example of economic exploitation…

with their struggles. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a play by August Wilson, is about black band members and their conversations during their recording of some songs. They were playing blues music, which was music that came about right after the reconstruction era and during the Great Migration. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom uses Levee, the youngest band member, to symbolize the real struggle of black musicians in an era where prejudice conquered people’s thoughts. It shows the reader also how…

Ma Rainey’s character is actually based on the famous singer. As previously mentioned, black entertainers were viewed as property. The characters Sturdyvant and Irvin “become wealthy exploiting Ma’s recordings, providing a strong example of black victimization by societal racism.” (Gantt 7). This exploitation is not a fictional aspect the plot. Black entertainers were actually treated this way. These entertainers put up with the exploitation because of the importance of music. In an article…

Violence that Oppression Causes August Wilson is able to capture all the struggles black people in America had to endure in the 20th century in his plays, including Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Two struggles that stand out to me are black people’s lack of access to good employment, and racial discrimination experienced everyday. As would be expected, anger in black communities is the result of these daily struggles. When some people get angry, they can easily not take it out on anyone…

a pair of shoes trigger a murder? In August Wilson’s play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Levee Green’s explosive personality tie to his black experience combining with a series of unfortunate events cause a pair of shoes to catalyze a deadly altercation resulting in the murder of Toledo. Shoes are usually considered as a regular part of a daily wardrobe or the finishing touch to an outfit. However, the shoes symbolized a bigger part of Levee Green’s life. According to Levee, the shoes make the…

Troy Maxson and Levee are both characters from August Wilson plays. Troy was the Character from Fences and Levee was the character from Ma Rainey’s black bottom. “Fences is a story of Troy Maxson and his family who struggle to cope with the changes” (BEŞE). In America, in the late 50s, August Wilson created these characters to reflect on how difficult things were for African American males and their families. Wilson also creates a narrative structure which dramatizes each character role in…

library. In an accumulation of books stamped "Negro," he found works of the Harlem Renaissance and other African-American authors. Subsequent to perusing works by such creators as Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, and Arna Bontemps, Wilson understood that blacks could be effective in masterful undertakings without bargaining their conventions. In his initial works, Wilson was so vigorously impacted by different styles that it was troublesome for him to locate his own. In 1968, enlivened by the…

shape him to become the legendary writer we know him as today. During this time, he purchased a cheap record player. Wilson became inspired listening to Bessie Smith and discovered the blues, which would become his artistic release. Music would become the structural backbone of his work. In 1969, Wilson married Brenda Burton, a Muslim woman. He would convert to Islam, joining the Nation of Islam, to solidify their marriage. In 1972, they would divorce, partly because Wilson could not adhere to…