Subverting the Role of Les Lieux de Mémoire: Alaga Syrup as a Symbol in King Hedley II

Christopher Bell

doi:10.5195/awj.2020.62

Abstract

An analysis of the impact Alaga Syrup has had on Black communities and its relevance within August Wilson’s play, King Hedley II.

Highlights

King Hedley II, the ninth play chronologically in August Wilson’s much lauded American Century Cycle, is the playwright’s darkest play
Instead of portraying Alaga Syrup as the kind of lieu de mémoire that invokes warmth and nostalgia, Wilson subverts this traditional role of a site of memory, as the Alaga billboard complements the sense of tragedy that defines the play, and, stands as a symbol of the slow decline of the Hill District that Wilson depicts in the plays of the American Century Cycle that take place during the second half of the twentieth century
Some audience members who recognize the Alaga Syrup billboard when attending a production or those reading the script of King Hedley II are likely to recognize Alaga Syrup as a lieu de mémoire in the traditional sense, a symbol that evokes a kind of happy reminiscence for those who can identify it

Summary

Introduction

King Hedley II, the ninth play chronologically in August Wilson’s much lauded American Century Cycle, is the playwright’s darkest play. Stool Pigeon says, “the path to her house is all grown over with weeds, you can’t hardly find the door no more” (8) The entirety of his opening monologue leaves little room for the kind of warmth and nostalgia that appears in the form of les lieux de mémoire in some of the American Century Cycle plays that precede King Hedley II. Instead of portraying Alaga Syrup as the kind of lieu de mémoire that invokes warmth and nostalgia, Wilson subverts this traditional role of a site of memory, as the Alaga billboard complements the sense of tragedy that defines the play, and, stands as a symbol of the slow decline of the Hill District that Wilson depicts in the plays of the American Century Cycle that take place during the second half of the twentieth century

A Brief History of Alaga Syrup’s Advertising

A Reading of King Hedley II

Conclusion