626 Jones, Leroi
American (and African) folklore. She transforms
herself over the course of the play, covering up and
revealing very little about her true self until she
murders Clay at the end. She fools him for a while,
causing him to think they might have a chance at a
romantic relationship, but he eventually catches on
to her underhanded motives. Lula wants to bait Clay
into admitting desire, or anger, or some other emo-
tion that can justify her bloodlust, and so she tries
on different identities, trying to draw out of him
the response she wants. Clay appears to be so good
natured and straightforward that this proves hard;
it is only after she calls him an Uncle Tom that he
explodes and that both characters reveal their true
selves.
Clay reacts violently to the racist insult, restrain-
ing an increasingly excited Lula and shoving another
passenger who tries to become involved. The show
of violence is precisely what Lula had been waiting
for. When Clay stands up for himself, and finally
tries on the full mantle of black manhood, Lula
stabs him. The two authentic identities cannot sur-
vive together; the subway car was fine when both
individuals were lying about themselves, but when
the truth was exposed, the tinderbox of racism was
ignited, leaving Clay dead and another young black
man vulnerable to Lula’s next game.
Jones asks us to think about our authentic identi-
ties, and what role deception plays in racial contexts.
Can there be racial harmony and truthful utterances
about the state of race relations at the same time?
Dutchman seems to indicate that it is not possible,
that if we face each other honestly, the truth about
the African-American experience will prove anger-
ing and difficult for white America, which will lead
to the destruction of black men. It is a bleak outlook,
one that seems about to be repeated at the end of
the play. Lula strolls over to another young African-
American man on the subway, greeting him in her
deceptive first guise, waiting for him to give himself
away so she can enact another crime. Perhaps it
need not be seen as automatically bleak, however.
The black conductor greets this new young man
as a friend, as a comrade, as an African-American
brother. This exchange could be interpreted as a
moment of truth, a moment when two African-
American men honestly exchange a greeting and
show their true selves to the world, regardless of
who may see. If we can focus on their interaction,
the outlook is less painful and violent—for everyone.
Sharyn Emeryindividual and Society in Dutchman
LeRoi Jones’s Dutchman takes place on a subway car
that is a symbolic representation of society. The spe-
cific urban location of the subway is not revealed, for
it is meant to take on a somewhat mythical quality,
a place both real and unreal at the same time. Thus,
the theme of the individual’s relationship to society
comes to the fore, made evident by the use of just
two major characters, Clay and Lula. An individual’s
actions reverberate within society, just as society
affects individuals every day.
Because the two individuals cannot reconcile the
tension and anger between them, the play rather
darkly suggests that the race problem in America
will not be solved on an individual level. Larger soci-
etal changes are necessary, as evidenced by the con-
tinuation of Lula’s seductive destruction after Clay’s
death. She gets ready for another victim and another
crime, and the subway conductor’s minstrel shuffle
indicates a continuation of societal expectations.
Thus, it is clear that the individual characters are
also actors playing up those expectations (at least for
the first half of the play), since Lula correctly reads
Clay’s personality and background from the start,
and they begin a sort of stereotypical dance until
Clay’s righteous anger overwhelms the situation.
Lula paints Clay as an upright, dull, educated Afri-
can American, who she surmises “acts white” most
of the time. For various reasons, Clay plays along,
partly because it’s somewhat true and partly because
he’s interested in Lula and wants to continue the
conversation. It is this sublimation of his fuller, more
complex individual identity that Clay practices on
a daily basis to get by in a racially charged society.
At least, that is, until Lula’s racial invectives become
stronger and louder. The buildup of anger allows
Clay to step out of what society expects and speak
the truth, no matter how painful it sounds.
Clay’s outburst of personal expression illustrates
how difficult it is for the individual, particularly the
individual of color, to be heard in society. The con-
versation up to that point had virtually been scripted