The Neurosis of Blackness and Psychological Trauma in Edward Albee's The Death of Bessie Smith

Ienas Talib Naseef

doi:10.36231/coedw/vol31no2.13

Abstract

Edward Albee, as a playwright, indicates that art should be useful and have a message. Therefore, his work foregrounds and critically examines issues concerning the Neurosis of Blackness and psychological trauma. Albee uses cruelty of racism in reflecting psychological trauma and emotional abuse of American black identity in his plays. Race, social inequality, and gender still sustain to engender controversy audience consciously. Racial discrimination is one of the major issues that affect the American Society. Albee challenges and exposes the presumptive dreams of equality of American society and institutional racism. Therefore, one of the main problems of the twentieth century in America is skin color. It affects every phase of African Americans' life including self-concept and identity which are never resolved. In addition to outlining the reasons and origins of violence as a cause of white-dominated supremacy. In his, work Albee gives different insights and meanings to those elusive dreams showing that the consequences of such unfulfilled dreams are disappointment, despair, and death. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of psychological trauma and emotional abuse of the racial distinction in Edward Albee's The Death of Bessie Smith (1956) and its effect on the elusive dreams such the dream of turning white, liberty and equality of Afro-American.

Highlights

Edward Albee ( 1928-2016), as a playwright, indicates that art should be useful and have a message
This article presents an overview of the complex experiences of racism related to issues of emotional abuse and psychological trauma for colored people which are resulting from the Neurosis of blackness
The Dream of Struggle for Equality in The Death of Bessie Smith: This paper focuses on the ways Albee uses the neurosis of blackness and psychological abuse and their relation with cruelty in his plays which connect him to the Theatre of Cruelty and its essential goal of revealing the real image of the world as Albee calls it "to put up an accurate mirror of reality”(Amacher,1969,p.22)

Summary

Introduction

Edward Albee ( 1928-2016), as a playwright, indicates that art should be useful and have a message. This article presents an overview of the complex experiences of racism related to issues of emotional abuse and psychological trauma for colored people which are resulting from the Neurosis of blackness It means "dream of turning white‟(that is, the wish to attain the level of humanity accorded to whites in racist/colonial contexts) as it comes into conflict with one‟s being in a black body, and in a racist society, which make this wish impossible"(Hook,2004,p.118). In The Death of Bessie Smith, Albee continues to share his social criticism from the viewpoints of his characters like the Nurse, the Orderly, and Bessie Smith who emerge from the core of American society In this context, Sanches-Hucles describes emotional abuse as “consisting of both acts of commission and omission that are psychologically damaging and can be perpetrated by groups or by individuals”(Blitz,2006,p.16). As Smith explains: "Over the course of the postwar decades, white southerners, committed to and obsessed with maintaining their supremacy, used every means at their disposal first to define a special, unequal sphere for African -Americans and to keep blacks in their place"(Smith,2001,p.4)

Objectives

Conclusion