August Wilson's King Hedley II is a play set in Pittsburgh, 1985. He presents a set of characters living in close proximity and struggling to keep afloat. King, recently released from prison after murdering a man, has returned home to try and build a life. He wants to become a small business owner, considering there are few other careers open to a black man in the ghetto. Throughout the play race, money, and pride all surface as repeated citations for violence. The ending -- King being shot accidentally by his own mother after fighting with his wife's ex-boyfriend, Elmore -- hardly shocks the audience, except that Ruby is the killer. From opening to curtain call, King appears destined for failure.
In Wilson's depiction of the working class in the city, he observes a sort of insider mentality. Men like King, Mister, and Elmore live among one another, but they are simultaneously isolated. Because they are criminals and because they are African American, they constantly battle with suspicion -- of everyone around them. There is no waking moment that does not leave these men feeling anxious. With such intense paranoia, they cannot rest and remain walking rage triggers, seemingly just waiting for an excuse to lose control.
The situation which these characters find themselves in appears to be the result of racial and financial stratification in the city. Mister and King observe the wealthy people around them prospering, but they can't find jobs, even before prison service. Wilson invites the audience to both empathize with and fear the characters because they respond to injustice with severity. As a social commentary, the play posits a "why" for the rise of crime in lower-income areas in the nation's cities.
