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| | Title: |
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| Educator: |
Susan Clabo |
| Educator Affiliation: |
N.A., MN |
| Overview: |
“The Emperor Jones” by American playwright Eugene O’Neill is a powerful play written in 1920 which was subsequently made into a 1933 movie. Breaking with previous media trends, the depictions of African Americans in both the drama and the film present characters who are complicated and unique human beings rather than stereotypes. Both the play and movie can be readily incorporated into classroom curricula due to their qualities they share of relative brevity and an accessible, yet richly textured plot adapted from the play to the cinema.
This unit could be taught in conjunction with Setsuko Matsuyama’s “Black Film Study in the Harlem Renaissance Period” which investigates African American stereotypes in films, such as those that occur in The Birth of a Nation. “Black Film Study” is available through the African American Curriculum Exchange.
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| Grade Levels: |
9-12
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| Subjects: |
Literature
Media - Film, Video, and TV
Social Studies and History
Speaking, Discussion and Debate
Writing
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| Lesson Goals: |
Students will:
1. experience a dramatic story containing strong characterizations of African Americans in “The Emperor Jones”;
2. engage in a comparative analysis of two mediums, a play and a movie adapted from the play; and
3. investigate the strengths or weaknesses of a white writer, Eugene O’Neill, in creating black characters.
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| Text & Materials: |
O’Neill, Eugene. Four Plays by Eugene O’Neill: Beyond the Horizon, The Emperor Jones, Anna Christie, The Hairy Ape. Madison, WI: Demco Media, 1998. ISBN: 0-606-13398-4)
Heyward DuBose. The Emperor Jones, film. United Artists Corp. 1933. 72 minutes.
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| Activities: |
1. Ask students to read The Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill.
Encourage students to note words written in dialect and to write down words that they can’t define from the context of the play.
2. In class, facilitate a discussion about the main ideas of the play as well as the dialect. Define words which students had trouble understanding.
3. Prior to showing the film version of the play, encourage students to play attention to:
a. The background information about the main character, Brutus Jones, written by the director, DuBose Hayward. Does this information add or detract to the film?
b. The beating of the tom-toms. Note the dramatic action as the drums beat in the background. Check your own pulse to see if there is any correspondence between the drum beats and your heart beats.
c. The scene toward the end of the play which places Jones in the forest. Notice that he gradually sheds his clothes. Think about the significance of this – what might it portend? What might it symbolize?
3. Show the film version of the play. After the substantial first section that establishes background on the main character which was added to the play’s framework by the film version, encourage students to follow along in the play.
4. Establish discussions about the play. You could divide the class into two groups. The first group will discuss the characterization of Brutus Jones which was presented as background information. The second group will focus on the character of Brutus Jones as witnessed in the main body of the film and in the original play.
Questions for Group #1 to discuss:
a. Describe Brutus Jones’ character. What qualities does he have that make him unique? Is he likable? Why or why not?
b. Explain how Brutus gains freedom or independence and then loses it. How much blame should Brutus take for the stabbing?
c. Make a list of rules Brutus lives by. Label the ones you feel are from the white person’s world. Discuss the rules which get Brutus into trouble.
d. Recall the sound track in the first part of the film which includes church music, rolls of dice, and the hammering of a chain gang. What do the sounds contribute to the film?
Questions for Group #2:
a. Discuss Emperor Jones’ qualities as a leader. What “criminal” qualities help him gain leadership? What other past experiences contribute to the kind of leader he is?
b. Discuss how Emperor Jones gains and loses power in the second half of the film. In what ways is this gain and loss a more powerful or exaggerated version of his gain and loss of freedom during the first part of the movie?
c. What are the rules or laws that Emperor Jones establishes during his reign? What is ironic about the way he rules, given his past experience as a black man living in America and his time on the chain gang?
d. Remember the sounds of the forest. In particular, the beating of the tom-tom. What role does the forest serve in the play?
Bring the two groups together and ask them to share the main points from the discussions. Ask the whole class to discuss:
a. How do the rules Brutus learns to live by as seen in the introductory material to the film shape the way he functions as an emperor?
b. Trace the events in the forest as Brutus progressively sheds his trappings as emperor. What is the purpose of this?
c. How might Emperor Jones fit the definition of an anti-hero? What qualities does an anti-hero have and how do those apply to Emperor Jones?
d. Why did Emperor Jones have to die at the end of the play? How do you think the historical time period of the play affected the story line, especially in terms of his death?
e. Why are the islanders, the people Emperor Jones mistreated, dealt with mostly off-stage?
f. What is gained by having the background information about Brutus Jones in the movie? Why was it in the movie and not in the play? Did you consider it an advantage or disadvantage to have this information about Jones’ past before Jones is introduced as an emperor? Why?
g. What aspects of this play apply to all people, not just African Americans?
5. Ask students to respond in writing to this question:
As Emperor Jones become more powerful, the people on the island become more oppressed. What does that say about how Jones handles his “job” as Emperor? In the forest, Jones becomes trapped and, as a result, the people will become free of his rule. What leaders in history are similar to Emperor Jones? Do you think that the gaining and losing of power is an inevitable cycle that will continue to repeat itself in human history? Why or why not?
6. As an extra credit or advanced assignment, students may want to read other works by DuBose Heyward, including Porgy and Bess and poetry. What are similarities or differences between the screen adaptation and Heyward’s other work?
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| Supplemental Resources: |
n.a. |
| Web Links: |
http://http:www.eoneill.com/artifacts/Emperor_Jones.htm
http://www.imagi-nation.com/library/95oct/egoneill.html
http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc34.html
http://www.almaz.com/nobel/literature/1936a.html
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/oneill.html
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| Posting Date: |
2001-04-12 |
Comments: |
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| Standards: |
View Minnesota Content Standards information |
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