Religion

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The play is a satire of organized religion; that is, Baraka is making fun of organized religion and all those who are associated with it. The story centers on a boy who enters a church, sorry for his sins and asking to be forgiven, but Baraka embellishes the tale with characters behaving in ridiculous ways. Various aspects of organized religion are lampooned in a way that launches questions about the validity of religious belief.

The typical hierarchy of religion is challenged in the play, for example. The Minister, who represents church leadership, has his position reduced when the chorus of Women announces that the Boy is Christ or Jesus. The Minister drops to his knees, kissing the Boy’s feet and praising him. As soon as the Boy admits that he lied about being Christ, the Minister turns on him and says, ‘‘May the true God strike you dead.’’ Confusion reigns instead of orthodoxy, and this opens up the question of what is valid and true in organized religion.

Even when the Minister and the others know that the Boy is not the true Christ, the Minister demands that he die ‘‘to cleanse the soul of man.’’ He states that the Boy must die ‘‘so that He should not have died for nothing.’’ The play then seems to turn the story of Christ’s crucifixion on its head; the Boy, as a pseudo-Christ figure, slays his accusers and is whisked away on the back of a motorcycle to ‘‘the man.’’

Sexuality

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Most plays that are set inside a church do not feature the themes of sex and sexuality, but Baraka’s does—possibly to shock but maybe also to join together two topics, religion and sex, about which Americans have varying levels of discomfort. The tone Baraka takes also indicates that he sees hypocrisy when religious authorities comment on or proscribe certain types of sexual behavior.

The prominence of sex as a theme in the play is stressed immediately; the play opens with the Homosexual and the Minister arguing over sexual preferences and promiscuity. The Homosexual dismisses the Minister’s concerns, but the Minister responds, ‘‘When you are strapped in sin, I pray for you, dear queen. I stare with X-ray eyes into your dark room and suffer with you.’’ Sexual preference is a major point of contention between the two characters throughout the play, as is sexual behavior. Whenever the Minister accuses the Homosexual of behaving improperly, the Homosexual assures him that his actions are really not that shocking and can be attributed to his humanness. At one point the Homosexual refers to himself as ‘‘the Son of Man,’’ underscoring his association with human desire as well as with the divine, since this title was used by Christ.

Interestingly, the Homosexual questions the sexual preference and activities of the Minister on a number of occasions, indicating that he believes the Minister is a hypocrite. When the Boy appears in the church, he asks to be forgiven of his sins and ‘‘sprawls’’ on the floor; the Minister responds by saying the word ‘‘love’’ as if it is a question. The Homosexual whispers off to the side ‘‘You, sir, are an opportunist,’’ as if he thinks the Minister may see the Boy as something more than a prospective Christian.

The character of the Boy is surrounded by sexual references. The sin for which he seeks forgiveness when he first enters the church is masturbation. Later, he admits to lying to the chorus of Women about his identity so that he could sleep with them. They had been praising the Boy for being ‘‘the Son of...

(This entire section contains 528 words.)

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God. Our holy husband,’’ moaning that he had ‘‘popped us in those various hallways of love and blessed us with the beauty of Jehovah.’’ However, when they hear him say that he is not Christ, they are angry at being deceived. ‘‘We wanted to be virgins of the Lord. He lied,’’ they chant together.

The struggle to control human sexual desires and ‘‘the flesh’’ is preeminent in the play and provides the major source of hypocrisy for Baraka’s characters. Only the Homosexual is uninhibited and straightforward about what he wants. He asks to experience everything and does not want to be ‘‘saved’’ from anything. ‘‘I want it all,’’ he says. ‘‘I want to know it. See it. . . . Feel it, if it comes to that.’’ The Minister and the others are not so sure. When they think that the Boy is Christ and has slept with the chorus of Women to ‘‘save’’ them, they find him acceptable. When he admits, however, to having lied to satisfy his human desires, they become enraged and attempt murder.

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Characters