5. Lula’s Statement of Racial Stereotyping Regarding to Uncle Thomas
Lula statements about belly rub does not make her satisfied enough in mocking, humiliating, and discriminating Clay in front of the passangers, who
most of them are Lula’s people. Another statement labelling African Americans with a racial stereotype to mock Clay, was when Lula called Clay an Uncle
Thomas. LULA. Screw yourself, Uncle Tom. Thomas Woolly-Head. . . . There is
Uncle Tom . . . I mean, Uncle Tom Woolly-Head. With old white matted mane. He hobbles on his wooden cane. Old Tom. Old Tom. Let
the white man hump his ol’ mama, and he jes’ shuffle off the woods and hide his gentle grey h
ead. Ol’ Thomas Woolly-Head” Baraka, p. 8. “Uncle Thomas” has become a racist Black stereotype since the story of Uncle
Tom was published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The novel tells about the life of Uncle Tom as a slave. He is a well educated slave and very obedient to his slave master so he does not get into too much trouble. On
a moment, Tom is sold to another slave owner because his slave master had to pay off a debt that he owed. He begins to work hard so he can become a free man
because he wants to get back to his family and live a normal life again. As the writer finds out more about Uncle Tom, he is quite an overeager
Black person to win the approval of the whites. Yet for Lula, the mockery about Uncle Tom is her way to disgrace Clay in front of people in the train, especially
her white people. She knows exactly her position, she feels inferior and surrounded by another inferiors, the white people. Lula is taking further advantage
of Clay to dig out his real identity through such ways include stereotyping and discriminating against his race.
Clay is an African American man who needs acceptance from White American society for his existence as an African American man. He has to work
hard to escape from the chains that linger on his black wrists to have a normal life equal to White Americans. His position is like a joke in front of all the white
passengers inside the train. He tries to preserve his identity in order to keep being sane, a sane black man living in America. The way he faces several racial
stereotypes that he gets and accepts from Lula is something impossible for most African Americans to do.
The writer concludes that Clay really experiences racial stereotyping through happenings in the play. Lula seems to have knowledge about African
American men in general and tends to apply such knowledge on Clay. By showing her capability in “identifying” African American man’s perspective
towards Clay, she indirectly drives the statements of her knowledge as the portrayal of racial stereotypings. Beside
“identifying” her perspective and knowledge of African American men
, Lula’s racial stereotyping refers to Clay’s suit and his grandfather’s job. She states the suit worn by Clay is the suit that
belongs to white people. She also tells Clay that his grandfather was just a slave and did not go to Harvard, meaning that she humiliates Clay
’s ancestry of uneducated African American slave. Lula also mentions racial comments about
plantation, which most likely relates to the history of United State’ slavery era, as
well as when she sings about rub bellies in blues-y tune. Blues music was widely popular in the plantations. African slaves sang blues music while working there.
Story of Uncle Tom is also taken as reference, showing evidence that Lula tries to
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