The Transcendence of the Silhouette The Death of the Last Black Man in The Whole Entire World, a play by Suzan-Lori Parks, explores the intricacies of race in a nonlinear, disjoint, and unconventional manner. The conjunction of precise characters and language, though seemingly haphazard, signify in the perpetuation of racism and the history of African American subjugation. The first scene in the story places the audience in the middle of a disconcerting image. In this scene, Park presents a black man trapped, unable to move his hands, and surrounded by characters who do nothing to assuage his discomfort. The centrality of these characters is converse to their inability to affect the world around them, speaks to their functionality and place
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The characters that frame Black Man with Watermelon and Black Woman with Fried Drumstick lie in shadow, whereas Black Man with Watermelon and Black Women with Fried Drumstick are in the spotlight. This contradictory lighting, presented in the stage show, calls attention to the resonance of black lives through time to the present story of Black Man with Watermelon and Black Woman with Fried Drumstick. The physical lighting of the stage, supplemented by the figures acting as silhouettes, creates the allusion of a constant cycle of life and death. Black Man with Watermelon, and one of the many shadows, And Bigger and Bigger and Bigger, reenact electrocution and hanging exemplifying the stories of oppressed black people throughout time. Although presented as a “main” character, Black Man with Watermelon exists in an intermediate state. He speaks with his wife, Black Woman with Fried Drum Stick, regarding his death and she insists that, “You comed back” (Parks 108). Each time he dies, she insists that he lives. This cycle creates a system of life and death until the wife comes to accept the words of the shadows, “Black Woman with Fried Drumstick:…You got uhway! / All (Except Black Woman): Not exactly. / Black Woman with Fried Drumstick: Oh. I see” (Park 119). The evident defeat and subsequent acceptance resonates in the staccato lines, revealing that the Black Man with Watermelon was really dead the entire
The characters that frame Black Man with Watermelon and Black Woman with Fried Drumstick lie in shadow, whereas Black Man with Watermelon and Black Women with Fried Drumstick are in the spotlight. This contradictory lighting, presented in the stage show, calls attention to the resonance of black lives through time to the present story of Black Man with Watermelon and Black Woman with Fried Drumstick. The physical lighting of the stage, supplemented by the figures acting as silhouettes, creates the allusion of a constant cycle of life and death. Black Man with Watermelon, and one of the many shadows, And Bigger and Bigger and Bigger, reenact electrocution and hanging exemplifying the stories of oppressed black people throughout time. Although presented as a “main” character, Black Man with Watermelon exists in an intermediate state. He speaks with his wife, Black Woman with Fried Drum Stick, regarding his death and she insists that, “You comed back” (Parks 108). Each time he dies, she insists that he lives. This cycle creates a system of life and death until the wife comes to accept the words of the shadows, “Black Woman with Fried Drumstick:…You got uhway! / All (Except Black Woman): Not exactly. / Black Woman with Fried Drumstick: Oh. I see” (Park 119). The evident defeat and subsequent acceptance resonates in the staccato lines, revealing that the Black Man with Watermelon was really dead the entire