Post-Race Society In Topdog/ Underdog
A Look Into The Depths of Suzan Lori-Parks' Play
As construed in much of contemporary cultural thought as well as in liberal public communication, race is a matter of difference, identity and lifestyle. This is contradictory to the misconception that race is a marker of position in oppression and/or that race marks the victims and oppressors with distinction. Holding race under the blanket terms of the oppressed and the oppressors limits the understanding of the idea. “Black” as a race is seen as a general category to encompass people of African decent, this over-simplifies the positions that are available within the race, not to mention the positions available outside of race which is significant because it is important to not deny people of color the autonomy they are due.
Post-Race Theory
This resembles the viewpoint of the "post-race" theory. This theory makes it so that when racial oppression is acknowledged it is only in terms of the individual rather than the entire group of people and it happens only as a matter of personal experience. The play “Topdog/Underdog” by Suzan Lori-Parks is an excellent example of this post-race body of thought.
This play embellishes race for the stage, specifically in the lives of two African-American brothers named Lincoln and Booth—they exist as the dilemma that occurs between living in a dream and living a life that is possible in reality. This is their ultimate gamble.
Lincoln and BoothLincoln and Booth are two fully-grown (at least physically) brothers that live in a tiny one-room apartment together and within this apartment they have to work through their past, present and futures. The apartment is actually rented to Booth, who is the younger of the two brothers.
Booth can easily be described as the lowlife petty thief brother that wants desperately to become a card-hustler as his brother once had been. Booth, however is not the one that pays the living expenses of this less than ample dwelling, this responsibility falls to the elder of the two brothers, Lincoln.
Lincoln is the savior figure through most of the play because he has given up his ways as a lowlife and as a card-hustler even though he was very successful at said professions. He cleaned himself up and got a straight job in an arcade where he dressed up each day as president Lincoln and let people shoot at him to re-in act the assassination of said president.
Lincoln's Card Hustling Past
Booth desires Lincoln to give up his straight job and return once again to the streets for card hustling. Booth’s dream is one where he and Lincoln can be partners and live the exciting life of the street hustler—though Booth is going to face much adversity here because Lincoln seems to have lost any and all luster that he once had for the job.
This was due mostly to the fact that his partner was killed during his action-filled life and the fact that his once loving wife, Cookie, kicked him out of his own house. Lincoln is content to work his mundane job and come home each day to dwell on the past and then go to bed so that he can get up the next morning and start over again.
