The Image Of The Black In Eugene O'Neill's Plays Of The 1910s-1920s

Eugene O'Neill is one of the greatest twentieth-century writers and it is generally believed that he has raised American dramatic theatre from its narrow origins to an art form respected around the world. By the end of his productive career, the most well-known playwright in American history has left us a legacy of dozens of plays most of which have left palpable marks on American theatre. Among them, six deal with black experiences. And there has been controversy surrounding these"black plays"since the day they were produced and the controversy continues to this day. While most of the critics focused their attention on certain particular plays, with The Emperor Jones attracting most attention, few have conducted a systematic exploration of the plays as a whole. In this thesis, the author will examine O'Neill's representation of black experience in his early plays written during 1910s and 1920s.The thesis consists of five parts. Introduction discusses the black images on American stage before Eugene O'Neill. Chapter one analyzes O'Neill's investigation into black experience in his early one-acts, Thirst, The Moon of the Caribbees, and The Dreamy Kid. His black characters in Thirst and The Moon of the Caribbees are West Indians, and The Dreamy Kid is his first play which deals with the fate of African-Americans. O'Neill's earlier works provide us with minor black characters and reveal his misconceptions about black experience and serve to perpetuate black stereotypes. At the same time, those early one-acts are written in necessary preparation for his later insightful studies of black experience and black-white relations in The Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings. Chapter two discusses The Emperor Jones, the most controversial of O'Neill's plays. Although the playwright still shows some limitations in his delineation of blackness, he also draws attention to the plight of black Americans and the problems with the race relations in America through a sympathetic characterization of his black protagonist. Chapter three examines O'Neill's last play which focuses on the fate and psyche of black Americans. In this play, through the depiction of a failed interracial marriage, the author exposes the debilitating effect of racism on both blacks and whites and also reveals the agonies and frustrations of black people caused by the unhealthy, life-denying racial conditions in America. Compared with Brutus Jones isolated on an exotic Caribbean island, the black characters in All God's Chillun Got Wings are ordinary people struggling at the center of American society with whom the audience finds more easily to identify. The final parts concludes that O'Neill's understanding of black characters has undergone a gradual positive change as he moves from his early one-acts, such as Thirst, The Moon of the Caribbees, the Dreamy Kid, to the full-length plays, The Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings. He finally has transcended the racial myths and discovered tragic character in his blacks, and he also successfully exposes the economic and social injustice affecting the blacks. O'Neill's sympathetic portraits of intelligent and tragic black characters represent an important contribution to the development of black images in American theatre.