Joe Turner's Come And Gone Research Paper

Joe Turner's Come and Gone is a play by American playwright, August Wilson. Mr. Wilson’s goals when writing was to realistically depict the comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience life in the 20th century. Throughout the plays, religious themes play a role a huge role in the African-American culture. In Joe turner’s Come and Gone the protagonist is oppressed by Christianity and finds a deeper spiritual connection and freedom through African Traditional Religion. My main focuses are on the characters that are struggling and wrestling over their ideas of religion.
In the 20th century religion has played and continues to play a remarkable role in shaping African American culture through music, literature, dialect, and tradition. Religious symbolism and a …show more content…
This song is a way for the African-Americans to relate with one another and continue their relationship with their heritage. Loomis gets into the mood right after the other characters started to participated in Juba. In Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Loomis speaks out:
Loomis: “You all sitting here singing about the Holy Ghost. What’s so holy about the Holy Ghost? You singing and singing. You think the Holy Ghost coming? You singing for the Holy Ghost to come? What he gonna do, huh? He gonna come with tongues of fire to burn your woolly heads? You gonna tie onto the Holy Ghost and get burned up? What you got then? Why God got to be so big? Why he got to be bigger than me? How much big is there? How much big do you want?”
Loomis: “I’m gonna stand up. I got to stand up. I can’t lay here no more. All the breath coming into my body I got to stand