Dutchman Questions and Answers
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What is the moral of the play Dutchman?
In my view, one message of Amiri Baraka's play is that a person cannot be forced to change his identity or to adopt the view of himself others attempt to impose upon him. There is also a corollary...
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What do the white and black passengers on the train symbolize (besides society) in Baraka's play Dutchman?
In Amiri Baraka’s play Dutchman, the white and black passengers symbolize the inability of the individual to make substantial difference in race relations in the United States through their...
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What do you think is the key message of Dutchman by Leroi Jones/Amiri Baraka?
I support the previous educator's succinct assessment, but I'll elaborate on certain elements of the play which deal specifically with gender, as well as the play's relationship to the Black Arts...
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What is the "Flying Dutchman Syndrome" and what does it represent in the play The Dutchman?
The Flying Dutchman legend refers to the legend of the cursed Dutch ship, whose ghost captain is doomed to forever sail the oceans, never being able to bring his ship ashore. There are several...
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Why is it called 'Dutchman'?
The two student answers contain some interesting possibilities for how one interprets the title of this play by Amiri Baraka (and the 1966 film version directed by Anthony Harvey). The image of the...
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What is the genre of "Dutchman"?
"Dutchman," written by Amiri Baraka, can be considered to fall into many different genres based upon different aspects by which one could focus upon. The first main category which the text falls...
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Why does Lula continually use stereotypes when talking to Clay in Dutchman?
As a representative figure of white society, Lula is steeped in ignorance and prejudice. She knows nothing at all about African Americans and their culture, and her view of them has been built out...
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To what does the title of Dutchman refer?
Dutchman by Amiri Baraka is a one-act play from 1964. It details an interaction on a New York subway train between a black man and a white woman, which is meant to represent the tension between the...
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What does Clay say is the purpose of art in Dutchman?
Amiri Baraka's classic one-act play Dutchman, whose title invokes the eternally wandering Flying Dutchman of legend, features a psychological duel between two strangers in a New York subway car:...
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Discuss conflict and characterization in the play Dutchman.
Another thing to remember is that Leroi Jones/Baraka is calling for something of a revolution in this play. He is showing us that Clay's attempt to be "white" is futile and that he will...
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How is Dutchman by Amiri Baraka a political piece of drama?
Dutchman by Amiri Baraka is a powerful literary work. It is simple in setting but complex in its meaning. The story takes place in a subway car in New York City, and it features only two...
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What does the Lula symbolize in Dutchman?
Some scholars and critics have suggested that Lula symbolizes the dangers of temptation. In this interpretation, she is cast as a kind of Eve-figure, constantly trying to tempt Clay either into...
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What is your impression of Dutchman by Amiri Baraka?
Dutchman is a complex play open to wide interpretation. The general impression most audiences or readers would have is that its action is emblematic of the dysfunctional racial dynamic of America....
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What is the best way to develop this prompt? In the play Dutchman, how and why does LeRoi Jones articulate the...
"Double consciousness" was a term coined by W. E. B. Dubois, in an 1897 article entitled "Strivings of the Negro People." It refers to the phenomenon of experiencing one's self-awareness as...
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How would you analyze the section of Dutchman that is marked in purple in the attached image?
The highlighted passage involves Lula's attempt to seduce Clay and to tempt him to indiscretions with her sensual dance. Yet, even as Lula beckons Clay to join her, he remains resolute in his...
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What does Baraka have to say about white women in his play Dutchman?
In his play “Dutchman,” Amiri Baraka deconstructs long-held social conceptions of white women in an effort to set Black men free from the destructive constraints of white women's association with...
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Discus Baraka’s Dutchman as a kind of drama that it might be.
When Baraka wrote Dutchman he was called LeRoi Jones, and it opened off-Broadway at Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, in 1964. It is said that Baraka was then still "in his Bohemian phase."...