Nice Man Naive Man
LULA. Clay? Really? Clay what? CLAY. Take your pick. Jackson, Johnson, or Williams.
LULA. Oh, really? Good for you. But it’s got to be Williams. You’re too pretentious to be a Jackson or Johnson. Baraka, p. 4
Owning the self-derision and humor are such remedies to sadness, which was widely used by the African American men in that era, incarnated by Clay. He
understands that things and events only have the importance that people grants them. Additionally, the statement that self-derision as an African American man is
to keep from being sane. CLAY.
.... And I’m the grezt would-be poet. Yes. That’s right Poet. Some kind of bastard literature ... all it needs is a simple knife thrust. Just
let me bleed you, ...... A whole people of neurotics, struggling to keep from being sane Baraka, p. 9
As Clay states above, he is aware and concerned about the condition of African Americans in that era. Black movements had spread widely and rapidly across the
U. S. It is he who should control himself for being sane, to face the situation between him and Lula. Being sane would mean revenge, but violence never
seemed to pay off for the African American man until then – and violence causes
violence. Yet he consciously understands that he still has a spirit and identity as an African American man.
Clay is seen to be a nice African American gentleman. He answers and responds to
Lula’s questions in the most polite way possible. He puts aside any racial issues happening at that time, and keeps being nice until Lula drives him
mad by telling him racial statements his ‘kind’. Yet, Clay is a naive young man.
Clay shows how naive he is by responding to Lula’s statement during Scene One
with innocent replies. He simply thinks that Lula is joking. Therefore, he responds
it excitingly and innocently. Educated middle-class man also becomes an aspect in Clay’s depiction. His statement about going to college, and the suit he is wearing
during the event, shows his social status as a middle-class African American man. Though he is depicted that way, he can not cover something that is important for
this research: identity. Through the play, the writer finds evidences that Clay has identity issues as an African American man. However, above everything he is
depicted in the play, indeed, he is still seen as someone with good sense of humor. Apart from that, he is still aware about happening issues during that time,
including occurences he is involved in.