colored museum
Satire Thesis on "The Colored Museum">From the start of things, the name of the play The Colored Museum is satire. Whenconsidering the word museum, I think of a place that holds historical artifacts of a culturefor society to view. So by putting the two words together, "Colored" meaning Negro and"Museum" as previously explained Wolfe is telling his audience, figuratively, they are goingto view a play about the black culture and their roots. At the beginning of the play, theaudience is shown slides of African slaves being captured with drums playing in thebackground. All throughout this first sketch Miss Pat, the perky stewardess, constantlyreminds her passengers and the audience to forget the drums which is a satire meaning toforget the past--the slavery, the torture and all the other sad parts o
It really grabbed your attention plus it symbolically is comparing therestraints there were used by the whites on the slaves as bondage. I believe he isreferring to how the white society chooses to perceive the black culture through a smallwindow as good dancers or athletes but draws the curtain so they can't see the entirepicture or their woes. Another example of this is the comment, "Please refrain from calland response singing between cabins cuz it could lead to rebellion" exemplifies we don'twant to hear of your problems because it would just create trouble. A quick tour through the time warp was another comical yet satirical way to go throughhistory with quips being mentioned about the black culture's involvement. As Miss Patproclaims "Please check the overhead before exiting as any baggage you don't claim wetrash. made a very blantant and funny illustration of. Since thefourth wall was broken, I think Wolfe was not only telling his own black culture that theyare forgetting their roots but society is also suppressing the black heritage. The use of the shackles by comparing them to applying yourseat belt was comical. The attention to the "T-H" sounds is to be pronounced "de"also is another reminder of the cotton-field days of slavery and how they are pigeon-holed. Wolfe continues onmentioning you can remove the shackles temporarily to stretch or dance. Miss Pat'sname even is cynical because it describes her persona since she very well rehearsed that shehas every thing down "Pat". All of this was mentioned to reinforce what a lot ofwhite America thinks of when equating with the black culture which ends up being verylimiting just like the shackles mentioned earlier.
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