The Black Arts Movement In The Dutchman By Amiri Baraka

Superior Essays
The Black Arts Movement was the name given to writers, black poets, dramatists, musicians, and artists who appeared in the wake of the Black Power movement. The movement was established by Amiri Baraka in 1963, who opened a Black Arts Repertory theater in Harlem. The movement was also provoked by the assassination of Malcolm X. The movement inspired black people to initiate magazines, journals, art institutions, and publishing houses. The black arts movement saw artistic manufacture as the key to re-evaluate black Americans recognition of themselves and was believed to be an essential element of the political, economic, and cultural empowerment of the black community. The movement really brought out a lot of creative artists to write, speak, …show more content…
Clay tried to blend in with the white people around him, in an attempt to be identified and accepted as an equal part of their society, but his endeavor quickly fails. The assimilation that African Americans and Clay tried to achieve only developed in the mislaying of cultural identity. Clay chose to renounce his sense of radical identity mirrored by his death. He resigns himself to assimilation and that is why Lula murders him. Clay’s aspiration to blend in with the white society becomes noticeable in the opening scene. Clay is displayed as a middle class black man who is wearing a nice button-up suit and carrying tons of books. He later tells Lula that his appearance, tie, and suit is an act to cover up his differences from his hatred regarding wealthy white men that is around him. Amiri Baraka uses symbolism in “Dutchman” to carry out the outcomes of assimilation. Lula entered the scene eating an apple, and after she introduces herself to Clay, she offered him an apple as well. This reflects to the biblical story of Adam and Eve, when Eve bites into the apple and offered it to Adam. Once Eve offered Adam an apple, it enhances humankind’s downfall into sin. This can be seen in the result for Adam and Eve in parallel to Clay and Lula. Adam receives the apple and dooms himself, just as Clay did. This is a …show more content…
Race and racism is also a theme that Amiri Baraka displays throughout the “Dutchman.” Race and racism play a huge role in this play. Racial persecution and racist hatred lie at the heart of the “Dutchman.” A person can reflect that back to when Clay is carrying a couple of books, and he wears the attire of a well- educated white man. Lula seems to hate Clay as soon as she sees him, explaining that he is a type a man that she has seen numerous of times. Identity and hidden paths is also a theme in the “Dutchman.” Lula clearly has a lot of issues that is not seen by the visible eye. A person can base this off of how she acts on the train. She secretes her emotions and true feelings through her mysterious games and sense of humor. Clay also plays a role on identity when it comes down to his past, although his secrets are more subtle. Unlike Lula, he composed himself differently and tried to remain more reserved. He built up a wall around him to keep people from seeing his past, even though he is more opened to his past more than Lula. Lula only focuses on other people lives that are concealed in hopes to keep her life hidden and in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    This movement was centered around dreams, imagination, irrational imagery, fantasy, and things that didn’t make sense, but were still beautiful in an artistic sense. This gave way to the expression of how people…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abandonment or choice, which life is worth living? In Lazaer Ascher’s “The Boxman,” a man who lives on the street collecting boxes and food, is fulfilled with his adventurous and solitary life. Not to be mistaken with the “lonely ones,” the Boxman has control over his fate and enjoys being alone. Ascher then introduces two other groups of people called “lonely ones” who live lives of luxury and love but are forsaken by the ones closest to them. Unlike the Boxman who is content with his conditions, these individuals attempt to enjoy the rest of their time by seeking people in coffee shops and investing in hobbies to fill the voids in their lonely hearts.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    A man consumed by the war he fought. That’s the phrase that comes to mind when reflecting upon the genius that was Gil Scott Heron. Often the appellation of “revolutionist and pioneer is is affixed to this man from the Bronx, whose quavering voice brought realization to the minds of masses the plight that they were in. Punctuating the passing years, Scott heroin with scathing releases, denouncing the systems that subjugate and forward the doctrine of the All Mighty Dollar. Transcending manuscripts and into the realm of rhythm and blues, Scott Heron stands as that figure in the distance.…

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Paperboy Book Summary

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages

    She could not bring him any other day or ride in the front of the bus because of her skin color. “Little man” did not understand why, but he did not ask. After they looked at the animals he wanted to make a picture at the photo booth with mam, but again because of her skin color they could not use any props like hats, glasses, or jewelry. When they started to come back he told Mam how Ara did not give him his knife back. Instead of going home they took the bus to another part of town where Mam lives.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (McClurg) Du Bois examined the years that followed the Civil War specifically, the Freedmen's Bureau's role in Reconstruction. The Bureau failed due not only to southern opposition but also to mismanagement and courts that were biased. Dubois also examined the successes of the bureau as well. Its most important contribution to progress was the founding of African American schools.…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Great Migration was a massive movement of African Americans from the South of the United States to the North with the largest amount coming in 1915 to 1920 of over 500,000 Blacks. African Americans left the miserable condition of the South that included low wages, racism, and horrible violence, and headed up to “The Promised Land” of the North where it was believed they could find refuge or even start over again. Black Protest and the Great Migration by Eric Arnesen is a history of documents telling the story of the African American searching for equality through the eyes of political leaders, newspapers, and regular civilians of the time between 1916 – 1925. This book teaches how the Great Migration was another source of hope that was…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After the world war one and somewhere between the 1930`s, a great cultural event happened in America. The jazz era also known as the Harlem Renaissance had a lot of people flocking to Harlem, New York. According to Richard Wormser from PBS, he states Harlem was considered the mecca to which black writers, artist, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars traveled. Many came to express their talents freely, and escape oppression in the south and the caste system. It was during this time that many talented artists such as Langston Hughes and Claude McKay started being recognized for their achieved works.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sherman Alexie’s book War Dances is a series of short stories and poems. A collection of soulful, witty, and funny stories and poems. They capture a modern relationship and exceptional change in the pages. They remind us of new beginnings, mistakes, successes, and regrets that fill our life’s on a regular basis. He reminds us deep down what it means to be a human.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates both speak of the difficulties of being an African-American in the United States. Both works address the inequalities and hypocrisy of the American Government with its treatment of black people. Although the two authors have slight contrasting upbringings they share similarities in the topic of African American struggle and the journey towards progress. Both authors agree that education is the path to freedom and protection. Coates argues that teaching black people how to be strong, free and independent will prevent destruction of black bodies, Dubois argues that in order for black folk become aware of the veil and become empowered higher education…

    • 1731 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout United States history, slavery, discriminatory laws, and overt institutional racism have forced African Americans to seek alternatives that would empower them to fulfill their highest potential. As a result, the Black Nationalist ideology emerged as a response to the economic exploitation and political abandonment endured by the people of African descent throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Though Black Nationalism developed in the United States it is not a unique phenomenon. In every part of the world, the belief that a people who share a common history, culture, and heritage should determine their own fate has pushed for a united racial consciousness as a way to catalyze and organize for social change. The leading…

    • 1782 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    You don’t stick a knife in a man’s back nine inches, pull it out six inches and say you’re making progress.” ~ Malcolm X As the ideological father of the student led activism that Ibram Kendi notes in his book, The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, Malcolm X and his ideology are a perfect reference to decide its success. In his epilogue, Kendi argues that the BCM has pulled the “knife” out several inches since its inception, by either completely eliminating or crippling the four ideologies that made up the racial constitution of higher education: the moralized contraption, ladder altruism, standardization of exclusion, and the normalized mask of whiteness.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    There are many concepts discussed within Dr. Maulana Karenga’s book Introduction to Black Studies, but I will be thoroughly discussing Black Studies as a discipline, Black Liberation Theology, Black Womanist Theology, Religious Thrusts, the wealth and income and its influence on political empowerment, the reversal of ghettoization problem, economic and political empowerment of African Americans, Black on Black crime, Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, and Psychopathic Personality (2010). Fundamentally, I will discuss the challenges Black Studies creates for the traditional American education. Black Studies challenges the traditional education in every way. It challenges the fact that all knowledge is based on one particular race—White.…

    • 1721 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His identity changes from adolescence as he incorporates his race back into his life, not embarrassed about his white mother or black father, but proud of them. He incorporates the Lutheran face into his life that held him strong through the death of his father, brother, and other tragedies. The race and religion he lost in adolescence, but he finds them again in adulthood while keeping the independence he learned as a teenager. His experiences with race and religion middled his identity through childhood and adolescence, but that muddling only made his identity as an adult stronger as he continues to stay true to himself and comfortable in his own skin instead of worrying about what people will think of his mother. His identity as an adult as mixed race, lutheran, writer and musician, goes through challenges when he again asks Ruth about her past and she reveals her Jewish faith as a child.…

    • 1329 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Girls play with Barbie dolls and boys play with monster trucks. Asians love Korean pop music and all Mexicans know the Taco Bell dog, right? As kids grow up, they are constantly surrounded by social media, television, celebrities, and other authoritative figures such as parents and grandparents. In this day in age, it is almost impossible not to judge a person based on how they look because of how media outlets characterize certain “types” of people. Michael Omi states in his writing, “In Living Color: Race and American Culture,” that sexism and racism-fueled events suggest the American population has created one big “system of inequality which has shaped, and in turn been shaped by, our pop culture” (539).…

    • 1352 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Black Art Poem Analysis

    • 1329 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The father of the Black Arts Movement is Amiri Baraka. He got this name because he wrote so many essays, poems, and plays about racial issues in Harlem. In the time there was a lot of racial injustice of African Americans civil rights. Baraka’s most known piece that he has written is his poem called “Black Art.” His works such as “Black Art” and many others have been centered around the lack of civil rights for black people.…

    • 1329 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays