D Angelo The Parlor Scene Analysis

In this scene many metaphors show how D’Angelo understands the rigged, underlying and exposed nature of “the game” and is not your typical drug dealer. There is a hierarchal social class aspect that steps out in this scene as well. D’Angelo is well dressed with designer clothing, lives in a nice apartment, not in the pit and is elevated from the other dealers. Bodie and Wallace both live in a grungy apartment with many siblings and both wear old, tattered clothing. As D’Angelo approaches the scene is already being established, he stands over them as if to be looking down on them which sets up the idea of hierarchy in the organization. The young dealers are using chess pieces and a chess board for a much simpler game, checkers. This establishes …show more content…
To Avon many of the people involved in the game are not of any value to him and in his eyes are easily disposable. As shown in the death of the dancer from Orlando’s, she overdosed on drugs and Avon along with his close friends didn’t try to save her, instead they rolled her up in a rug and through her in the trash. This is a prime example of how the King treats those under him, he uses you and after he gets what he wants he disposes of you as if you are meaningless. Many of these people in Avon’s empire are viewed the same way, as D’Angelo said it, “The pawns, man, in the game they get capped quick. They be out of the game early.” The way D’Angelo put it, the pawns are the ones that come into the came quickly and can get forced out or leave the game even quicker. The young dealers, especially Bodie is convinced that he, a pawn can make it the end and become top dog or the king in the game. In this scene it comes through to the viewer’s how little these young dealers are in check with the reality of the game. The final reference D’Angelo makes reference to is the chess piece called the rook and explains the relations of it to the stash. The young dealers at first do not see the reference to stash but as D’Angelo points out the fact that the stash constantly moves as does the rook, Bodie and Wallace begin to come around to the chess