Images of African Traditional Religions and Christianity in Joe Turner's Come and Gone and the Piano Lesson

Abstract

Throughout August Wilson's plays, characters are struggling with and wrestling over their ideas of religion and God. Wilson sets up a dichotomy between the role of Christianity and the African traditional religion (ATR) in two of his plays. Acceptance of one religion resolves the conflict, and Wilson illustrates these two polarized religions by creating images that reflect the tenets of ATR and Christianity. Joe Turner's Come and Gone includes a story of a Shiny Man, rituals, ghosts, a juba, and a self-inflicted cutting, all of which relate to the tenets of ATR, whereas characters of the Shiny Man and Martha represent Christianity. In The Piano Lesson, the ghost of Sutter represents ATR, whereas Avery represents Christianity. In each of these plays, the characters are forced to choose between ATR and Christianity, and Wilson subtly guides his characters to choose ATR and overcome. Wilson's plays are a contemporary commentary on the role of religion in the lives of American Blacks.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Carroll, R. (1994). Swing low. New York: Carol Southern Books.

Herrington, J. (1998). I ain't sorry for nothin' I done. New York: Limelight Editions.

Kamara, G. M. (2000). Regaining our African aesthetics and essence through our African traditional religion. Journal of Black Studies, 30(4), 502-514.

Lyons, B. (1999). An interview with August Wilson. Contemporary Literature, 40(1), 1-21.

Mays, B. E. (1968). The Negro's God as reflected in his literature. New York: Russell and Russell.

Paris, P. J. (1994). The religious world of African Americans. In Jacob Neusner (Ed.), World Religions in America (pp. 69-91). Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Know Press.

Pereira, K. (1995). August Wilson and the African-American odyssey. Urbana: University of Illinois.

Richards, S. L. (1999). Yoruba gods on the American stage: August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Research in African Literatures, 30(4), 92-105.

Shannon, S. G. (1995). The dramatic vision of August Wilson. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

10.

Shorter, A. (1977). African Christian theology-adaptation of incarnation? New York: Orbis Books.

11.

Wilson, A. (1984). Three plays. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh.

12.

Wilson, A. (1990). The piano lesson. New York: Penguin.