Abstract
Marginality and social rejection are the most influential matters exploited by Baraka to intentionally criticize the American society. More often than not, these two matters have become the scenes of major or minor acts of humiliation and dehumanization that threaten to violate the ethical rules of living. This paper aims at investigating the impact of marginality and social rejection on a number of black characters in Baraka's Slave Ship who are brought to America to be sold as commodities. It is divided into two sections and conclusion. Section one deals with Amiri Baraka’s dramatic thought and experience of marginality within the American society. The textual analysis of Slave Ship is investigated in section two. The significance of the study lies in its textual exploration of the impact of marginality and social rejection in subverting the American dream of democracy, freedom, and equality in Baraka’s Slave Ship .
Highlights
Marginality and social rejection are the most influential matters exploited by Baraka to intentionally criticize the American society
This paper aims at investigating the impact of marginality and social rejection on a number of black characters in Baraka's Slave Ship who are brought to America to be sold as commodities
Baraka's play is a scream against the capitalist America, and he desires to find an adequate social fairness for the oppressed and troubled black people
Summary
Amiri Baraka (1934-2014), is one of the most important and articulate writers of the Black Arts movement. Baraka realizes that racial harmony in America is somehow impossible and he starts to urge the blacks to prove their true existence and belonging His works are characterized by an angry voice that frequently calls for violence as a means to achieve liberation for blacks. For Baraka, art is a vehicle for political change, for the liberation and freedom of blacks in particular This idea has motivated his thinking as he observes that the black man is deliberately marginalized and dehumanized. Most of Baraka's plays including Slave Ship, are concerned with the relations between black and white people They are viewed as revolutionary works that display Baraka's awareness of himself "as a leader of a black arts movement that seeks to use drama as a weapon against American racism"(Gray 2004: 666). It causes a sense of inequality that is relied on prejudice, bias, poverty, and marginality (Howarth 2006: 443)
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