Baraka's Dutchman

Zane Zimbelman

Dr. Joycelyn Moody

ENGL 5783

April 13, 2008

Critical Notebook #4

In Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman there are two dualities that play off one another throughout the action of the play. Race and sexuality are the first noticeable and then hyperaware details of the play. White is played off Black in the same way man and woman are compared to one another. The point of this paper in particular is to dissect the notion of race and sexuality in Dutchman and weigh the possibilities that one characteristic may be more important in the play than the other, or if they are of equal importance.

The Dutchman is not a play that you would take a child to. There is no optimism, no hope of a better future, and certainly no hero. It did, however, point out several flaws in society, namely the white man's oppression of Black men. The entire conversation between Lula and Clay demonstrates that, even as society had become more aware of the social inequalities imposed on minorities, much of society still regarded minorities with utter contempt. It did not come as a surprise that the stereotypes that both white and Black individuals were present in the play despite heightened public awareness at the time.

Such stereotypes are evidenced by Lula saying, ". . .you're a well-known type . . . I know the type very well," and Clay responding, "Without knowing us specifically?". Stereotypes are the first walls to break through when associating with a member of another race or culture. Lula's continual concentration on Clay's "Uncle Tom" stereotype seems to be not simply her own ignorance, but it symbolizes the entire white people's ignorance of Black people before and during the early '60's. This ignorance is compounded and circumvented through the other riders on the train when Lula commands them to remove Clay from on top of her and throw him from the train.

This action presents the question of what would have happened if the roles reversed; if Clay had killed Lula and commanded the riders to throw her out. Though Lula is sly and calculating in a way Clay cannot be, this issue is trumped by the inherent societal power Clay has been given. He is a young male, and race aside, he has control and authority that no woman could have had at the time. Yet strength does not give him simple dominance; he has to earn it through speech and demeanor in the same method Lula uses.

Dispelling the stereotype that women are more dominant than men actually allows for other stereotypes to rise to the surface. Lula is extremely aware of the life Clay lives; who his friends are, what he reads, his ancestry, even what he has been drinking lately. Knowledge would seem to give Lula the edge, the all knowing white person, but as she says many times “I always lie”.