“Black or White” : Cultural Separation in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running

Abstract

Being the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, August Wilson is an African American dramatist who mingles African American culture and heritage in his play “Two Trains Running” that was published in 1990. The play concentrates on the feelings of African American individuals in a time when those people start to stand against the inequality and justice in society. This paper focused on how Wilson separates between the two cultures; Black and White, and the struggle between the two cultures in society. The paper also studied how the character of Hambone suffers until death in order to understand the struggle of his ancestors in the past. The paper proves that Wilson’s play is a bridge between the Civil Rights movement and Black Power through the depiction of tensions between the characters who suffer the trauma of white exploitation and racism. The paper concludes that because of racism black individual should have a double consciousness in order to live peacefully in America.