Critical Analysis of August Wilson's "Seven Guitars" (eBook)

Academic Paper from the year 2006 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: A, Southern Illinois University Carbondale (Department of English), course: English Drama (August Wilson), language: English, abstract: The unreliable black musician Floyd Barton has great plans to go to Chicago and make more records, trying to get his reluctant girlfriend Vera to accompany him. However, he commits the mistake of robbing a loan office and burying the money in the yard, which is witnessed by his lunatic tubercular friend King Hedley, who eventually kills him with his machete to gain possession of the money, which in his belief was destined to him by the legendary “Buddy Bolden,” according to his late father’s legendary promise.

This drama deals with kings, and a king to be born. It is a prophesy in this regard. The plot is rolled up backwards: first, the audience observes a circle of friends after the funeral feast for one group member, Floyd Barton; then, the setting is a couple of days before his publicly unresolved murder, and some components of the rising action are: a discussion of the men whether knives or revolvers are better for killing (48-49), a boxing fight of Joe Louis witnessed on the radio (57-58), young sensual and pregnant Ruby arriving quite unannounced to stay at her Aunt Louise’s house (61), Hedley killing an annoying rooster (69), Hedley receiving his machete (92-93), Ruby giving herself to old sick Hedley out of mercy (95), Poochie getting shot when robbing a loan office (101-102), Vera giving in to accompany Floyd to Chigaco (103), Floyd and his band members and friends coming back from the Blue Goose where they had an exceptionally well-received gig (106), and Floyd’s burying the money from his loan office robbery being discovered by Canewell (107-108). The climax is Floyd being threatened by Hedley with his machete to give him his money (109), but the audience is not absolutely certain that he gets killed. The falling action plays after the funeral again, and brings the solution to the murder case: Canewell is the only witness that Hedley is in the possession of Floyd’s money, which he allegedly received by the mysterious Buddy Bolden (112).

The theme of this drama is a persiflage about how the American Dream of an aspiring young black musician (with only one hit record so far) is shattered, because the protagonist is corrupted, and eventually killed by an insane man in fulfillment of the oracle of the latter’s mythical African father.