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What is the significance of the 3-card monte hustle in Topdog/Underdog?

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Booth tries to find a stable family by stealing and trying to impress Grace. Lincoln lives the game of 3-Card Monte, deceiving people for a living.

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With the historical allusions and the complicated relationship between the two brothers, this play is subject to a complex number of interpretations. We can draw a number of meanings from the significance of the 3-Card Monte as well. Both brothers discuss how they were abandoned by their philandering parents. In the game, two cards are losers and will not help the player succeed. These two cards might represent their parents. The remaining winning card might represent the other brother or the self. In other words, with both parents gone, Lincoln or Booth might think, "I only have myself to rely on" or "I now only have my brother," either of which could be represented with one card.

Given this line of interpretation, Booth's obsession with being called 3-Card might be an indication of his desire to have a united family. Booth continues to try to win Grace back. He even...

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buys a ring so small that she will not be able to take it off. He has a clear urge to have some sort of stable family, regardless of the means of achieving one. He steals in order to impress her. This is also a gamble because it includes the risk of being caught.

The 3-Card Monte could also symbolize the plight of African-Americans. In the game, the hustler (if he/she is good) gives the mark the illusion that he has a good chance of winning. But the hustler always has the upper hand. In this analogy, the hustler or the game itself is the ongoing history of racism. Lincoln and Booth are the marks/players. They are always at the mercy of the hustler.

Lincoln is clearly better at playing the game of illusion. He's better at 3-Card Monte and his job is impersonating another man. He seems to have reluctantly accepted that life is like 3-Card Monte. Play it and you could win big, or it could result in violence. Booth is either ignorant about this notion or he just refuses to accept it. He is foolishly and incorrectly confident that he can play the game better than Lincoln has.

Lastly, 3-Card Monte is all about deception. Lincoln and Booth were deceived by their parents. Lincoln plays Abraham Lincoln. Booth tries to change his name to 3-Card. It seems that deception is just a way of life and a way of surviving.

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