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…

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 written by Ahmet Beşe, the importance of music, specifically…

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…

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…

nefarious society brimming with a cultural hierarchy and social exploitation, victimizing the colored 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.…

Before the Lindy-Hop was popular and long before tap dance was established in the United States, Black Bottom dance was popular among both Blacks and Whites in Harlem, New York. The dance craze, appropriated from the blacks in Harlem’s nightclubs, became a big rage when brought to the white community and put on stage for the first time in 1926. Black Bottom dance, also known as “Swanee Bottom” was a popular dance among lower class African Americans in the early 1900s, but later was modified and…

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…

“Nigger, you stepped on my shoe!” (Wilson 110) Levee screams right before plunging the knife into Toledo’s back. How can 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…

Whereas Titania’s absurd and irrational love for Bottom is evidently different from the relationship between Hippolyta and Theseus, various gaps exist in the idea of transition. Hippolyta and Theseus are not in a perfectly rational romantic relationship. Moreover, Hermia and Lysander’s story arc does not conform to the shift from irrationality to rationality, while Demetrius ends up settling for Helena while under the influence of magic. The sentiments offered by Puck while breaking the fourth…

felt about each other. Also, a fairy queen fell in love with an ordinary Athenian named Bottom when he had an ass head. Isn’t that ironic? A Midsummer Night’s Dream has three different…