First of all legacy in the dictionary dot com defines legacy
as “anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor”
(dictionary).The legacy of August Wilson culminates in the Pittsburgh Cycle
which he received two Pulitzers prizes for drama. Each one is written about a
different decade, each one describing the aspects of the African-American
experience. Each one is a story of love, honor, duty and betrayal. His legacy
also includes the ability to create the first complete cycle. Another legacy
that he left was he was married three times to all separate women. He will be
known to two of them as a failed marriage, but for Constanza Romero he was
everything she ever wanted. She defined his legacy as the “marriage to one of
the finest modern American playwrights, his ties to Seattle” (Berson). She does her best to carry out his legacy how
he would want it to be. She also said that his legacy of his personality and
how he had her with his genuine interest in people, his humanity. As well as
that she was taken by his thoughtfulness. Lastly how he will always be her
past, her present, and her future.
Thinking about the biggest legacy anyone can point to is his
Pittsburgh cycle is that race, power, and language all intersect in the United
States. His cycle points at how all this race concept is seen through the eyes
of an African American living in the U.S. His cycles will always be talking
about how race is only seen through one way and pushes it to get away from
thinking race is only about the differences between people and see them for
their power, language and class.
I agree with what you wrote because I also believe his plays try to help people understand that just because everyone is not the same race we can help each other out like in article I read where a man uses the N word to help two students understand and be more careful about what they say "Brown told me that the two girls who;d been on the verge of fighting were deeply involved in the discussion and reconciled during the class: the girl who'd written the rap apologized to the other girl, the two girls hugged, and their classmates applauded" (Bogira).
ReplyDeleteI see where that last part is coming from, but a society doesn't change quickly for anything, and especially not something that has been rooted very deep into our society. and as Benjamin Bailey mentioned that it is the language, and class that are what people look at and see a race in them. so i think that people should step back from looking at those things and more about what people feel they are.
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised when I saw your title. You brought a new light onto the thought of legacy for me. By bringing up the fact that there is a separate legacy for each person you thought really outside the box. I agree with your view about the topic of race, power and language when you say race is only seen through one way and pushes to be that certain way. The only thing I would have to say about that is that an article by Steve Bogira brought up a good point in that topic. The article talked about the language used by two different races and how some words are acceptable to say for one race when it isn't for another. A student of a teacher, Mr. Brown, said "It's part of our culture" (Bogira). When asked why he was allowed to use the "N-word" and other races weren't. This shows how there is now a multiple version of racism. Racism isn't just directed toward whites and everyone else but rather every race against every race. It is a larger system besides showing differences. It is capitalizing on weaknesses rather than capitalizing on differences. But this is more modern than the views showed within the plays of Wilson so your analysis is still very correct.
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