Seven Guitars Essay Research Paper Seven Guitars

Seven Guitars Essay, Research Paper

Seven Guitars The play I chose for my analysis was Seven Guitars by August Wilson. Seven Guitars opened on January 21, 1995, at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Later that year on September 15, 1995, Seven Guitars opened at the Huntington Theater Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Seven Guitars premiered on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater on March 28, 1996. The play Seven Guitars requires the reader to imagine the poverty and times that black people were enduring in the 1940 s. The play revealed how black people felt about society in the 40 s and how they were discriminated against. My overall response to Seven Guitars was one of surprise and sympathy. I was surprised with the attitudes of the characters in the play in the fact that they were callous and not afraid to resort to violence if needed. The author, August Wilson, portrayed the lack of education of colored people in the times of discrimination and segregation very well which made the play more believable and understandable. The sympathy I felt was from the point of view that no matter what characters did it was practically impossible to climb out of poverty or escape the wrath of the white people, especially police officers. Overall the play was written well and captured my attention with the different social class and the way it was portrayed. August Wilson was born in 1945 with the name Frederick August Kittle. His mother was African American and his father was a white German-American baker. August s father left when he was young and he assumed his mother s name. Wilson remembers the language and rhythm of life on the street because his home was Pittsburgh s Hills District, an area lived in by African Americans. When august was fifteen he moved to Hazelwood, a white community where he was taunted by racial hatred and discrimination. He left school but didn t quit writing. Wilson would write love poems to his crushes and knew that some day he would be a poet. He was influenced by many poets, including John Berryman and Dylan Thomas. He eventually founded Black Horizons Theater Company with another black man in 1968. The theater was in Pittsburgh and he worked as a cook, an elevator operator, and a mower of lawns. It wasn t until the 1980 s that Wilson began writing his plays in St. Paul, Minnesota. He wrote plays rich in the humor and tragedy of places he grew up like the local barbershops, the street corners, and the bars. His characters are generally musicians, cabdrivers, and landladies, and there were words were authentic to the time the play was written. August Wilson has a unique mission in his playwriting, he wishes to write a play about the black experience in every decade of the twentieth century. So far he has written seven plays including Fences and The Piano Lesson, both of which have won Pulitzer Prizes. August Wilson has also received a Tony Award, five New York Drama Critics Circle Awards and many other recognitions. Wilson, who now lives in Seattle, hopes that his writing about the history of blacks in this century can help people learn from the past so they can improve the future. During the year the play was written, many historical events happened. The most known event in American history was the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma. This was a devastating terrorist act in American history and will remain so for many years to come. Many lives were lost in the bombing but the most shocking thing was that the bomber was an American and a former soldier. Other events that year were the mass flooding in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. These floods cost people their lives and billions of dollars in damage to property and agriculture. Along with the worst floods in American history was the 7.2 earthquake along the pacific coastal states of Mexico that destroyed buildings and countless lives. The play meaning to me was that of struggle and unfulfilled dreams of African Americans in the 1940 s. The play shows the reader (or the audience member) the spirit and determination of the characters to fulfill there desires to be equal and above the poverty level. August Wilson provided a look into what it was to be a part of this discriminated against society in Pittsburgh years ago. I think August Wilson s intended meaning of the play was the African Americans push-and-pull between fate and free will. Another meaning he was trying to convey was to show people the lives of blacks in this decade and the basic struggles of everyday life. Wilson conveyed a meaning of how bad luck and society influence led to poor choices made by blacks of that time that kept them from reaching their goals. The play was successful in conveying this meaning because I understood the characters and how bad times in life affected their decisions to do the right thing. August Wilson wanted to show how life was for blacks and he paints a vivid picture for the reader or audience. Seven Guitars takes place in the Pittsburgh s Hills District in 1948. The plot revolves around seven characters and their individual problems. Louise, Canewell, Vera, and Red Carter have just returned home from the funeral of their friend Floyd Barton. They are commenting on the angels that had been around the burial and Vera was stating how she saw them lift Floyd out of the fresh dug grave and taken him up to Heaven. The next scene is a flashback of when Floyd had returned home from Chicago and is trying to w