“By replacing the white character with a black one, the author has succeeded to criticize the American society” (106). Hadia insinuates that Parks’ choice of characterization criticizes the society we live in today. Hadia’s article “Parks’ ‘In the Blood’: An Image of a Black Woman Who Is More Sinned against than Sinning”, introduces another conversation about Hester La Negrita. From the beginning, Parks set the societal expectations of Hester’s failed and “dependent” lifestyle. THERE SHE IS! /WHO DOES SHE THINK/SHE IS/THE NERVE SOME PEOPLE HAVE/SHOULDN’T HAVE IT IF YOU CANT AFFORD IT/AND YOU KNOW SHE CANT/SHE DON’T GOT NO SKILLS/CEPT ONE.Īfter reading this passage, one can infer that society expects nothing but the worst from Hester and her children. An example of the jargon used to separate Hester is, This part of the prologue represents a general consensus that pushes Hester into a very isolated and marginalized grouping. In the beginning, the “chorus” of the show introduces Hester as a burden and disgrace to society. She is a woman of color who relies on welfare to take care of her and her children. Hester La Negrita, in In the Blood, from the very beginning of the play is portrayed as an outsider to society. Further, Hester La Negrita and Hester Smith are people that have been mistreated by “their” societies much like the mistreatments we see of women and children in poverty today. She also gives them occupations that are relatable to our modern society and expressive traits that one could identify in marginalized groups of people. (436)Īfter reading Fraden’s statement, one can see how Parks intentionally distances her characters from readers by placing them in a different world. Parks insists on a distance from realism history still exists, of course, but it is a generic or allegorical history. Yet they do not exist in ‘real’ time, at least not historically real time.

Their occupations are real enough, as are their rage and helplessness their play world uses and abuses them in ways that are familiar to us. According to Rena Fraden in The Massachusetts Review, Parks distances Hester La Negrita and Hester Smith through the worlds she sets them in yet she gives them “real world” characteristics.

In the blood suzan lori parks analysis