Ma Rainey Discussion PDF

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Discussion points for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom...

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1. In his Century Cycle series, August Wilson wrote a play exploring the black experience during each decade of the 20th century. What does Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom say about what it means to be black in the United States in the 1920s? Where does the play fit into the historical timeline of the struggle for civil rights? Does the play foreshadow what will happen in the ensuing decades? 2. Choose one of the characters in the play. How does that character work to fight, maintain, or encourage racism? Which characters are working against the character you chose? Use evidence from the text to support your argument. 3. How does music function in the play? How do different characters define the purpose of music? How does the actual performance of music in the play create meaning? 4. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom premiered in the 1980s. What was happening in terms of race and racism in the United States during that time? How did the play address those issues in the moment it was written? If the play were revived today, how might it address current issues in a different way? Compare white acceptance of hip-hop or rap music today with white acceptance of the blues in the 1920s. Note differences and similarities. 5. Who is the antagonist of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson? Who is the protagonist? What is the dramatic conflict? 6. In Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, characters are given unusual names and nicknames in order to convey a particular personality trait or some symbolic representation. Toledo is self-educated and literate, proudly aware of his African heritage. His name is the same as the Spanish city where a rich Afro-Islamic culture flourished for centuries, renowned as a diverse center of learning. What is the significance of Levee’s name? a dam waiting to violently give way. First, these names help promote the idea of colloquial informality. The black band speaks in a colloquial language which dramatizes the differences between the band players and the white music producers who have more traditional Anglo-Saxon names like Irvin. In essence, these names help show the differences in identity and culture between African Americans and white Americans. This also makes the audience feel that the white music producers are interchangeable while the black bandmates are uniquely important to composing and recording music. 7. How is Wilson’s play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom tragic according to Aristotle’s definition of tragedy? 8. What is the thesis of the story of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom? 9. What past events does Levee speak of that have greatly affected his attitude about race? This pertaining to the play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Guided Discussion Questions 1. Discuss the connections we see between the instruments the characters play and their personalities. How do these roles influence the outcome of the play? 2. Describe the power relationships in the play between Irvin/Sturdyvant and the band, between Ma and Irvin/Sturdyvant, and between Ma and the band (including Sylvester and Dussie May). Why are these power struggle so important to Wilson’s larger themes? 3. How do you feel about Toledo’s criticisms of the black community and the band’s discussion of his comment, ”Ain’t nobody thinking about what kind of world they gonna leave their youngens. ‘Just give me a good time, that’s all I want.’ It just makes me sick” (28)? Is Toledo too serious, too strident in these beliefs and his others, or is his voice an important one in the play, for us today? 4. Explain the symbolism of shoes (or lack of shoes) throughout the play. Levee’s yellow shoes correlate with his ego and his inability to truly capitalize upon a professional opportunity. He shows up late for rehearsal because he stops to buy the shoes. Admires his new shoes while the other musicians rehearse. Misdirects his anger about his scuffed shoes onto another musician. 5. There are several allusions in the play--Adam and Eve (p. 23) and Eliza Cotter (p. 28-31). How do these allusions influence what you see as Wilson’s larger themes? 6. Throughout the play, there is a tension between the blues and the newer jazz sounds that Levee, Sturdyvant and Irvin are interested in. Why is this conflict so important to the identities of the characters as well as Wilson’s larger message? (p. 45-46, 60-63.) 7. On pages 40-41 Toledo discusses the metaphor of African Americans being “a leftover from history.” Discuss his metaphor more fully. How does this metaphor impact the way a people might view themselves (identity), their past, and their futures? How do we see these ideas play themselves out in the tensions of the play? 8. What foreshadowing do we have throughout the play of Levee’s downfall. Ultimately, what does Wilson want us to consider about Levee’s fall? As readers, in what ways are you sympathetic/empathetic with Levee and in what ways do you feel he has brought his troubles on himself? 9. Are Levee’s final actions justified in the rising action of the play? What does Wilson want us to consider in terms of themes? 10. Take a look at the connections in the play between the songs and the events of the play and actions of the characters. What is the relationship in the play between the two?

11. How are the blues used as both metaphor and “way of life”/”way of expression” in this play? Consider what Ma says about the blues, why the music is so important to Levee and Ma, what their individual views about their playing of the music is, etc. How is music reflective of life and thinking? 12. What is Wilson saying through Levee’s demise at the end? What has brought this about? Is he a victim of circumstance or does he bring about his own downfall? Is he tragic in that some flaw leads to downfall or is he the hapless pawn of society? 13. Compare the ways Levee, Cutler, Toledo, and Ma go about living their lives and what they think about themselves in relation to the world. Why do they think as they do? What evidence from the play can you use to support your answer? 14. Is there any reason there is so much stage direction about Ma’s purse? 15. Is Ma Rainey a feminist character? Why or why not?

16. Power plays a big role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Who really has the power at each point in the play, and how do they get it? What ‘power plays’ are made throughout the story, and are they successful?

17. Ma believes that “only black people understand the blues.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?...