Thursday, April 30, 2015
The Legacy of August Wilson
August Wilson’s legacy was
his 10-play cycle that covered every decade of the 20th century. His
plays were always about the history of African American’s in the 20th
century. “Wilson is best known for his 10-play cycle…the plays chronicle the
African American experience in the 20th century America…”
(Biographical Sketch of August Wilson). When he was younger, he was always threatened
and harassed because he was the only African American in his school. Also, when
he was 15, a teacher accused him of plagiarizing a 20 page paper and he dropped
out of school. After he dropped out of school is when he began to write his
plays based on the life of African Americans during that time (Biographical
Sketch of August Wilson). The legacy of his reveal a larger message about how
race, power, and language intersect in the United States because as you can see
in the previous sentences above, he was treated like he was lower than the
people around him for being the only African American in his school community.
Language and power go along with race because the way a person speaks vary
among people by their income, education, their age, gender, their location, and
themselves. “…ways of speaking vary among members my income and education, age,
gender, geographical location, and the individual,” (Language, Power and the
Performance of Race and Class). An example of how race, power, and language
intersect in the United States is when Ralph Nader accuses Obama of “talking
white”. This goes back to language, power, and race because Mr. Nader thinks
that since Obama is “half African American”, he shouldn’t want to “talk white”
but Obama’s father is Kenyan and his mother is White American and the reason that
Obama “talks white” is because he was more around his mom’s side of the family
and that’s how he grew up talking. Also, he is just talking in a very formal
and professional manner since he is the President of the United States. People
talk in different ways when they are in different situations. “…people speak
differently in informal encounters with peers than in more formal interactions
in institutions,” (Language, Power and the Performance of Race and Class).
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i feel you went very literal on your description of Wilson's legacy, you could have talked about the social impact he had on others and how his plays talked about hard topics.
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ReplyDeleteYou did a really good job of relating your evidence and reasoning back to your articles.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your example of how race, power, and language intersect in the United States when you said "People talk in different ways when they are in different situations" - different words and meanings can be perceived differently depending on how people perceive them and the context of the situation - also regarding their history and how they grew up. This also relates well with your evidence regarding Barack Obama and how his way of speaking is different because of how he was raised.
I agree with your statement that language and power go along with race because the way a person speaks vary among people by their income, education, their age, gender, their location, and themselves. From the same article you cited, by Benjamin Bailey, I found a quote, "'racial' categories genetically determine such characteristics of group members as their way of speaking.." Wilson helped show that his race, power, and language all tied together when writing these playwrights.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you included a lot of evidence I think maybe you could add how his 10 plays impact our society today, what changed and what didn't.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job describing how he started to write and what he write about. Also the two evidences that you wrote by Language, Power and the Performance of Race and Class were a good example of how this topic is still important in our lives.
ReplyDeleteI think that you used good examples about how August Wilson's legacy relate to race, language, and power today. You also did a good job of using evidence from the articles you read.
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