A Study Of Masculinity Crisis In Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog

Suzan-Lori Parks(1963 ––)is one of the most important contemporary African American playwrights.She is also the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama(2002).Parks employs unique writing techniques to rewrite history,aiming to reconstruct the cultural memory of African Americans.In the meantime,Parks pays more attention to the current living conditions of African Americans and tries to reveal the marginalized position of the blacks.Her Pulitzer Prize winning play,Topdog/Underdog,is mainly about the status quo of African Americans.This thesis attempts to use the theory of masculinity to analyze the masculinity crisis of the two male protagonists in Topdog/Underdog.It aims to reveal the predicament that the contemporary African Americans are facing.This thesis states that in the cultural context of the contemporary American society,the black males in the low status tend to suffer from the masculinity crisis.And the crisis results from the combination of black men’s own weakness,their family background,and the social and cultural factors.In the play,Lincoln and Booth,the two black brothers mean to gain wealth and success by means of cheating and stealing,but the success turns out to be illusion.Then the brothers turn to fight against each other to capture the hegemonic position.The sibling fight pushes the tragedy to the summit — Booth shoots Lincoln dead.Throughout the play,neither of the two brothers can achieve hegemonic masculinity;on the contrary,their marginalized and subordinated masculinity present itself.This marginalization and subordination can be seen not only in their gender relationships but also in their social relations.The serious masculinity crisis of the brothers is closely interwoven with the childhood trauma and it is also related to the deep-rooted racial discrimination.Only when they face up to and correct the racial biases can they be likely to better their living conditions.The study of masculinity crisis is a heated issue in literature research.It cannot only reflect the individual’s living situation,but also present the social context.With the theoretical support of masculinity crisis,the thesis will deeply dig out the social and cultural reasons leading to the problems of the blacks.