The Experience of Blackness in America

The play’s core thematic element is its portrayal and consideration of the experience of Blackness in America (NB: this analysis utilizes “Blackness” as a concept, even though the concept does not appear in the play, while the term “black” is not capitalized here, as befits the period in which the play is set and the way the word / concept appears in the text).

The core experiences of the play’s black characters are both a consequence of their Blackness and their determination to rise above how whiteness has shaped Blackness, both their own and Blackness in general. The verbal and physical violence, the exploitation and oppression experienced by the various members of the Crump family, and their thematically significant struggles to escape it all (see below) are arguably used by the author to suggest that while the play is very...