struggle over his racial identity. But since Lula has a preconceived notion of him, the reader knows Clay will not make it out of the train alive, and many of her
statements foreshadow the violence that awaits him. By entering Scene Two, everything comes clear and it appears that Clay
attempts to reclaim his African American identity. It is in the pivotal second scene during his extended conversation at the climatic end of the play, that Clay begins
to assert black-selfhood. He speaks about Black Nationalist beliefs. Lula astonishes Clay with her knowledge of his life and identity without
ever having met him before. The writer already explained in the second problem analysis
about Lula’s knowledge of African American men, which tends to be racial stereotypes.
The identity issues can be seen from the question of Clay’s identity which
is addressed when Lula asks him what he was like in college “And who did you
think you were? Who do you think you are now? ” Baraka, p. 5. The writer sees
that Lula’s question is pointless, because Lula has already decided who he is going to be from the start
by luring him to join her “game”. Lula manipulates Clay as a character that she wanted to be. On the other hand, at the beginning, Clay just
follows where the conversation goes to without taking it very seriously.
1. Clay’s Responses toward Uncle Thomas and Belly Rub Stereotyping
The heat rises between those two characters as the story advances to the last scene. The writer only focuses on the part in which Clay seems to have had
enough of all the fuss caused by Lula. CLAY. . . . Uncle Tom. Thomas.
Whoever. It’s none of your business.
You don’t know what’s there for you to see. An act. Lies. Device. Not the pure heart, the pumping black heart. Baraka, p. 9
Clay’s statement above regards Lula’s statement about Uncle Tom, which the writer already stated in the second problem formulation. Based on his statement,
he aggressively asserts his identity by telling Lula that who he is, is not any of her business. And he claims that White people are foolish to realize that there is a
mask blacks present to the world, so as much as White people claim to know blacks, in fact, they actually do not.
CLAY. The belly rub? You wanted to do the belly rub? Shit, you don ’t
even know ho w. That ol’ dipty-dip shit you do, rolling your ass like
elephant. That’s not my kind of belly rub. Belly rub is not Queens. Belly rub is dark places, with big hats and over-coats held up with one
arm. Belly rub hates you. Baraka, p. 9 With this remark, Clay not only criticizes the Whites
’ propensity to appropriation but also ridicules Lula. She who in the beginning seems to be an attractive woman
is now a common fool. Clay manages to reverse the white usage of black as a signifier of evil, death, and darkness to make white carry the suggestions of
sickness, death, and absence. Yet, from his responses, Clay shows his real identity as an African American to fight against racist issues happened towards him and
his people.
2. Clay’s Responses toward Lula’s Statement about Blues
Lula delivers cynical comments about blues music, which can be heard usually in the plantations, more because it is the African American
’s music. And plantations are closely related to African Americans in the sl
avery era. In Clay’s final long speech, he replies with a defensive opinion regarding blues music.
