Themes: Endless Repetition and Racism
The repetition, with only minor variations, of the initial situation at the end of the play, combined with the ritualistic quality of Clay’s murder, moves the play beyond the boundaries of realism and demands a symbolic interpretation. The movement beyond realism in fact begins with the invitation of the title to see the play in mythic terms. What is involved here, it is clear, is not merely the story of the chance encounter of one man and one woman but an attempt by the playwright, through the interaction of realism and symbolism, to probe the troubled and troubling relation of black and white in the United States. In the seduction and death of Clay, the writer points to a repeated pattern of destruction arising out of a history of racism. Clay’s fate suggests that this pattern will go on being repeated endlessly unless release from the curse can be found in a lived authenticity that goes beyond the isolated moment of illumination that is all that Clay achieves.
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