Student Question
What does Suzan-Lori Parks imply by naming her characters Lincoln and Booth in Topdog/Underdog?
Quick answer:
The playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is saying that Lincoln and Booth, the African American characters in Topdog/Underdog, are modeled after historic figures Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. The character Lincoln parallels the historic Lincoln through his efforts to provide for his family and his role as the provider of the nation. The character Booth parallels the historic Booth by representing Southern interests, criticizing the actions of an abolitionist.In her play Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks draws many
parallels between her two African-American characters Lincoln
and Booth and the two historic figures they are named after.
One parallel is socioeconomic.
In the play, Lincoln, as the older brother, is the
provider of their two-person family. He is proud of his job as an
Abraham Lincoln impersonator and of the little it can provide for himself and
his brother. Meanwhile, Booth gets what he can through
dishonest means such as robbing and
attempting to pull con jobs . At the start of the play, Booth is trying to learn how to play three-card monte, a street con that has the potential to be lucrative. Booth wants to find enough economic means to be able to marry the girl of his dreams, Grace. However, Booth isn't making much progress in learning the con his brother is already very adept...
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at. In the opening scene, Booth asks Lincoln to teach him the game, butLincoln
refuses, reminding his brother he had promised their mother to look
after him and saying he would prefer to do "honest work." In reply, Booth
shouts, "YOU STANDING IN MY WAY, LINK!"
One way in which the character Lincoln parallels the
historic Lincoln is through the fact that the historic Lincoln
saw himself as the provider and controller of the
nation. Immediately after his inauguration in March 1861, seven states
seceded from the union, and he denounced the states' entitlement to secede by
asserting that, as the editor of "Abraham Lincoln: Domestic Affairs" phrases
it, the "states had accepted unconditionally the sovereignty of the national
government with ratification of the Constitution" (Miller Center of Public
Affairs, University of Virginia). This shows that Lincoln saw the role
of the federal government as being to protect the
interests of the individual states while overseeing their
actions, just as the character Lincoln feels it is his duty to protect
and watch over his younger brother. In addition, such sovereignty as the
historic Lincoln believed in and held on to required being in control of the
federal government's purse, just as the character Lincoln was the breadwinner
for his two-person family.
The character Booth parallels the historic
Booth in that the historic Booth represented the desires of the South
and the criticisms the South had of Lincoln's actions. The South desired to
hold on to slavery because the free labor force was critical to the South's
economy. Since Lincoln was an abolitionist, the South felt he was
thwarting their economic security, just as the character Booth
feels his brother Lincoln is thwarting his economic progress by refusing to
teach him to play three-card monte. The character Lincoln echoes the historic
Lincoln's sentiments when he says he wants Booth to do "honest work." In
continuing to practice slavery, the South was acquiring wealth through
immoral means, which can be considered dishonest work, just as pulling
con jobs is considered immoral, dishonest work.
References