The game of re-writing: From Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter to Parks’ In The Blood

Abstract

African-American female playwrights have a durable inclination for social and political change. Their plays frequently reflect and deflect the socio-political events of the society. This study examines how Suzan-Lori Parks in In the Blood, shapes the presentation of a text to a wider sociological context in order to attain greater understanding and recognition of her message. This has been achieved by contextualizing Parks’ In the Blood with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter so as to assess the interpretation of history and society through the process of re-writing. The paper illustrates that ideas and events can be assembled from different studies, situations, and locations to bring out the meaning. At the core of the analysis, is the theoretical backdrop of intertextuality. This theory is important because when interpreting a text in connection to other texts and pre-texts, interpretation becomes interesting and flexible. Rewriting focusses on how a text is transformed through devices like imitation, repetition, allusion, satire and parody. Texts have no incorporated or unified meaning of their own; they are carefully related to the ongoing cultural and social developments. This theoretical position informs the conceptual praxis that this study maintains. The study indicates that Suzan-Lori Parks’ drama addresses issues that bear meaning to the historical, cultural and socio-political environment within which it grows. In its conclusion, the study demonstrates that not only black, but also white women are being criticized by the same people who place them in their shameful situations.