Afro-Americans' Predicaments And Spiritual Resolution In August Wilson's "Pittsburgh Cycle"

In his“Pittsburgh Cycle”,the American playwright August Wilson set his ten classic plays in the 20^th-Century America and portrays,through his narrative of conflicts and social struggles,African Americans'predicaments,reflecting their subsistence and identity crises.However,he does not merely linger on the superficial descriptions but aims to dissect the root causes of Afro-Americans'subsistence and identity crises in relation to economics,politics,judiciary,culture,and society at large.This thesis finds that in the“Pittsburgh Cycle”,August Wilson,directly and indirectly,reveals that the deprivations caused by the white-dominated society are the causes of Afro-Americans'homelessness and unemployment.However,four centuries of persecuted and depressed living experiences have also produced in black Americans a psychology of being victimized.Many impoverished black men metamorphose from the abused to abusers and become the weapons and henchmen for racists.Besides the subsistence crisis,many characters in the plays eschew and abandon their ancestors'history of enslavement.Along with their dysfunctional kinship,frivolous relationship and lack of sense of responsibility are all symptoms of Afro-Americans'identity crisis which results from the unawareness and disapprobation of the collective history,making room for the white worldview so much so that significant Afro-American contributions and feats to American society have been obliterated.August Wilson explores a feasible approach for the development of his Afro-American characters.The road to salvation is to acknowledge and appreciate the Afro-American history to solve subsistence and identity crises for the black community.This thesis argues that the“Pittsburgh Cycle”refutes the function of Christianity to save Afro-Americans because the religion of the slave-owner would never serve the slave,nor would the religion of the white serve the black.The forerunners in Wilson's plays resort to many possible means to lead the African American population to accomplish their American dreams.Through the long-lasting struggles and battles,it is the memory of their common ancestors that units them and leads them.Wilson's plays fully demonstrate the redemptive power of African Americans'collective experience and their unique spiritualism,by which Wilson constructs a new black mythological system for all the characters in his plays in their fight for their overdue rights.August Wilson's construction of the black mythological system not only affects the restoration of the various dysfunctional relationships for his characters but also inspires Afro-Americans to establish themselves in real life.August Wilson encourages the black folks to recognize their responsibilities,rectify their distorted worldview,take pride in the feats of their ancestors,and claim their long-deprived rights.