This play was brutal. The criticism towards America’s racism is honest, and its realism is terrifying. The play takes place in Southern America and revolves around a prostitute who has been sucked into a situation she can’t get out of. She is honest, yet submissive to people with power. These people are privileged white men who want her to lie about being raped by a black man so a member of their family can get away with murder. At first she resists, until The Senator manipulates her to do it. He offers her the one thing she is missing, love. The love of a mother and of the town, and he knows fully that she will receive none of it. Instead what she receives is money, establishing that she is nothing more than a prostitute, and now a liar as well.
I liked how the play analyzes the hatred that people feel towards black people. They really don’t care whether the man raped Lizzie or not, all they want is an excuse to kill a black man, and they take full advantage. They lynch an innocent black man without any remorse. They bond together and turn into a pack of wolves, united against a common enemy which they have no valid reason to hate.
Fred and the Senator were despicable characters. They believe they built America, and therefore they’re above the law. They clearly have no moral compass, but at least the Senator tries to keep up with the appearance of being human. Fred doesn’t even bother, he kills, abuses, and threatens all while calling Lizzie the devil. They are the leaders of a society just as hateful as them.
The black man and Lizzie were both interesting as well, especially in their similarities. Both allow society to trample all over them, and they won’t resist when they have the chance. They figuratively, and in Lizzie’s case literally, get screwed by the people in power. Both Lizzie and the black man has been conditioned to submit to white men. When Lizzie commands the black man to shoot the people coming for him, he responds by saying “I can’t shoot white folks” and when he asks her to shoot them she responds by saying “I’m a sucker”. They’re both slaves to a higher power, but society calls it freedom. In the end the black man will probably be lynched for a crime he did not commit, and Lizzie will be Fred’s slave.
AP Literature Period 1 