Object of the Study Approach of the Study

The definition of characters is taken from M. H. Abrams statement in his book. He states the characters are The persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional by inferences from what person say and their distinctive ways of saying it – the dialogue – from what they do – the action. The grounds in the characters’ temprament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation. Abrams, 1999:32 From the quotation above, it is clear that character in the literary works is the maker of the story and gives the reader information about people in the story from dialogue, action, and motivation. The way a person speaks and behaves also reflects their character’s background. There are two characters in the play. The first is Clay Williams, he is a middle-class African American man living in New Jersey. The second is Lula, a red long-haired White American woman. The writer tries to examine the depiction fo Clay using the theory of character and characterization that is stated in the Chapter II. First, the writer examines the personal appearance and the personality of Clay. In this discussion, the writer only examines Clay’s depiction because he is the main character who experiences racial stereotyping from Lula, the other main character. To examine his depictions, the theory of characterization taken from Re aske’s book is applied. There are five ways to study their characteristics and the writer applies them all. The ways to study the characteristics are the appearance of the character, asides and soliloquies, dialogue between characters, hidden narration, and character in action.

1. Nice Man

Clay Williams is a twenty-year-old African American man. Based on Reaske’s theory of character, a way to define the characters of literary works is from hidden narration. The first depiction of Clay comes from the opening narration, which states “CLAY, twenty-year-old Negro” p. 999. From the quotation of narration, it is clear that Clay is an African American man. He is also a nice man as he responded Lula’s “hello” nicely as he read his magazine. LULA. Hello. CLAY. Uh, hi’re you? LULA. I’m going to sit down. . . . O.K.? CLAY. Sure. Baraka, p. 1-2 By reading his response, it shows that he is a nice Black man. He is putting aside the racial issue between African Americans and White Americans that appears in that time. Indeed, Lula knows that he is a nice man, so she takes advantage and starts to lure him into her own “game”, her imagination of Clay as a White man.

2. Naive Man

Clay is a twenty-year-old African American man who still has a young spirit. In the year where he is looking for his “real-self”. As the conversation goes along with the “game” that Lula plays toward Clay, another character that the writer finds about Clay that he is a naive young man. CLAY. [Cocking his head from one side to the other, embarrassed and try to make some comeback, but also intrigued by what the woman is saying. . .even the sharp city coarseness of her voice, which is still