ipl-logo

Themes In Harlem Duet

1382 Words6 Pages

Harlem Duet and the Black Canadian Identity Throughout the Canadian theatre canon, stories about what it means to be Canadian and to have a Canadian identity are often explored, but a lot of these stories are often focused on one specific lens of being Canadian, the white Eurocentric lens. Canada often prides itself for being multicultural and an accepting country where people of colour from all over the world can move here and live a prosperous life. However, this is reflected very poorly in Canadian theatre. Harlem Duet written by Djanet Sears in 1997, challenges the white Eurocentric lens by focusing this Canadian story on the relationship of a black couple. This play explores many themes from race, feminism, and what it means to be Canadian or more specifically a black Canadian. Harlem Duet was written as a prequel to the Shakespearean play, Othello. Sears uses Othello as a springboard to retell the story of who Othello was and is from a black perspective. A perspective Sears notes, “[she doesn’t] know Shakespeare had, partly because of his time, partly because of his race, partly because of his gender. But, you know, he was influenced by his time. Othello is for instance not really Othello 's play. Othello is not Othello 's story” (Buntin). Othello is focused more on the schemes of Iago and the tragic life of Desdemona. By retelling this story Sears is putting Othello in the centre of the narrative and giving focus to the nuances of his life as a black man. Dickson

Show More
Related

  • Louis Armstrong Research Paper

    1925 Words  | 8 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that took place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. It was a very cultural, social, and artistic movement where African American jazz performers, authors, poets, musicians, entertainers, and actors all gave themselves a name. But during the time it was known as the “New Negro Movement” named after Alain Locke. This was a time where new cultural expressions were coming about the urban areas in the Northeast of the United States. But this whole “new negro movement” didn’t just happen out of nowhere, there is a cause of how this happened.

    Read More

  • Harlem Renaissance Dbq

    479 Words  | 2 Pages

    The 1920’s The decade of the 1920’s is best described as “Boom to Bust.” In the beginning people were having a very good time, not just at parties but economically and culturally. Even though the 18th amendment was passed in 1919, making the sale of alcohol illegal, people still drank, mostly in secret. There were tons of inventions that really got people moving and spending such as electricity/lights, the automobile, credit, and the modern radio. Everyone in the 1920’s was feeling good, making a lot of money, and buying whatever they wanted, but all of the ended with the crash of the stock market.

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance: Afro-American Voice

    210 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance is a term that encompasses an intellectual and literary movement of the 1920s and 1930s. A renowned scholar, Alain Locke, argued that “Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self determination” (1926). Moreover, The Harlem Renaissance refers to the re-birth of African Americans who needed “an affirmation of their dignity and humanity in the face of poverty and racism” (Gates, 1997: 929). In their research, Shukla and Banerji state the the Harlem Renaissance “can be considered as the spring of Afro-American voice” that previously remained unheard and unnoticed (2012). For the first time black musicians and artists came to the fore of attention and started to be praised for their work.

    Read More

  • Analysis: To Get Out Of Harlem

    314 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the end of the story, the narrator seems to reveal to us the true power of Sonny and the music that he plays. Sonny was a drug addict. He was addicted with heroin long before his mother died and “wanted to leave Harlem so bad .. to get away from drugs” (272). Sonny saw jazz as a medium for liberation of his sufferings but narrator had a very little respect of jazz musicians and urged his brother to re-think his decision for the sake of his future. While most part of the story only talks about the crazy and wild parts of sonny’s nature as he was trying his best “to get out of Harlem” (264) we wasn’t given any clue about his musical talent prior to the end of the story, “you got a real musician in your family” (272).

    Read More

  • Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

    1545 Words  | 7 Pages

    The fascination with Harlem was accompanied by the new objectification of the Negro as an exotic icon” (Watson, p.105). Although there was so much attention brought to the Harlem Renaissance from many, there wasn’t any changes on the need for economic equality nor racial inequality (Watson, p.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Harlem Renaissance And The Lottery

    958 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance (c. 1918–37) was a turning point in American History for African Americans; their voices, stories and struggles were documented and heard through literature. There was a misconception or “dream” among the slaves that once they were freed they

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis: Harlem Shadows By Claude Mckay

    933 Words  | 4 Pages

    Harlem Shadows In the poem Harlem Shadows by Claude McKay, the poet talks about how blacks during the Harlem Renaissance time period lived in poverty and it was hard for people to keep their family under their a house and maintain money. He portrays this through little girls walking about in the streets making money by using their bodies for sex, or being prostitutes. He is trying to depict how black people would be forced to do almost anything they had to do during that time period to make a living, whether that meant resorting to prostitution. During the time period of the Harlem Renaissance minorities such as black people did not get equal opportunity compared to the caucasian society.

    Read More

  • Primitivism During The Harlem Renaissance

    289 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance had many sources in black culture, originally of the United States and the Caribbean. As its capital harlem was a role model for artistic experimentation and a popular site. Its location helped give the “New Negroes” guidance and opportunities for publication they couldn't find anywhere else . Harlem is located just north of central park, it was a formerly white residential district, but by the early 1920s it was becoming a black city of Manhattan. New York City had an extraordinarily diverse and decentred black social world in which no one group could monopolize cultural authority.

    Read More

  • Why You Reckon Character Analysis

    553 Words  | 3 Pages

    The idea that rich white people “{…[coming] up to Harlem spendin’ forty or fifty bucks in the night clubs and speakeasies and don’t care nothin’ bout you and me out here in the street, do they?”(Hughes 254). Hughes does this to allow the narrator to have a common agreement with the other African American man. To sum up, by Hughes creating the tone in the way the characters speak to one another, it allow them to have connection, because the angry they both fault. Or sort of understanding, which in terms made the narrator, feel as if him and the other African American man were in this together, although the African American man had a motive of his

    Read More

  • The Poetry Of The Harlem Renaissance

    790 Words  | 4 Pages

    This paper shall be an attempt to look at the women poets of the Harlem Renaissance especially through the works of Gwendolyn Bennet, Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, Anne Bethel Spencer and Helene Johnson. The paper shall also investigate how the poetry of these poets deals with the issue of race, class and gender during the 1920s. Harlem Renaissance was not a movement which simply appeared and promoted black culture. Warrington Hudlin suggests that the birth of the movement can be seen in “the dialectical development of social and political thought during the turn of the century” (Bloom 5). The movement appears when Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois debated on the issue of racial pride and economic status of the blacks.

    Read More

  • Harlem Renaissance Dbq

    756 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hannah Parra Ms.McCall APUSH, 3rd Period 3 March, 2015 Question 1: A) The argument established in the excerpt asserted that during the Harlem Renaissance, blacks proved themselves to be active and important forces in our nation and the creation of an American cultural identity, the Renaissance did exactly that. The Harlem Renaissance was an important cultural outpouring for African Americans in Harlem, New York throughout the 1920’s. During this time, blacks advanced in art, literature, music, drama, and dance.

    Read More

  • Religious Conflict In Othello

    1532 Words  | 7 Pages

    Othello is the main protagonist of the play. He is a moor which sets him at a disadvantage in his society. Although he was an outsider, Othello was respected by many. “The fiery openness of Othello, magnanimous, artless, and credulous, boundless in his confidence, ardent in his affection, inflexible in his resolution, and obdurate in his revenge (Johnson 31).” Othello’s depiction is one of grandeur and power.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Harlem By Walter Dean Myers

    1590 Words  | 7 Pages

    Harlem Walter Dean Myers/ Christopher Myers Fiction; Grade 2 Setting; Tone/Style Summary In this poem, the author Walter Dean Myers reminisces about the city he considers home and elaborates on the features of African American Culture that made it so wonderful. As the author describes the art, music, and sheer personality that existed in this city teeming with ambition, he uses powerful imagery to portray the “Yellow, tan, brown, black, red/ Green, gray, bright/ Colors loud enough to be heard/ Light on asphalt streets/ Sun yellow shirts on burnt umber/ Bodies/ Demanding to be heard/ Seen.” Activities My Community: Students will represent elements of their community through some form of artwork (sculpture, poem, drawing, collage, etc.).

    Read More

  • Theme Of Marginalization In Othello

    1366 Words  | 6 Pages

    In Othello by William Shakespeare, Othello’s Moor background and the subsequent racism and marginalization he receives, results in his eventual downfall. Initially, Othello’s background affects his identity, making him easily manipulated by Iago. Furthermore, Iago manipulates Othello into several situations where Othello is discriminated. This results in the progressive growth of Othello’s feelings of suspicion and jealousy. Finally, Othello is marginalized

    Read More

  • The Negro Speaks Of Rivers Analysis

    1409 Words  | 6 Pages

    The poem “Harlem” seems like a simple poem that talks about a dream that fades away. The poem is more symbolic than it seems though. The three sentences that have a huge impact on this poem’s symbolism are spread out through the poem. A reader needs to keep in mind that the speaker is talking about a dream in these sentences. “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”

    Read More

More about Themes In Harlem Duet

Open Document