Essay Questions

What is the significance of the Black Man being told to write down what happened?

Throughout the play Black Man With Watermelon is told to write down what has happened and put it under a rock. The point of this statement is that history must be recorded. If it is not, then its interpretation can be skewed to the point that there is no truth left, and no truth means that the story of a man or woman generations from this unrecorded point will never reach them. It relates to a person's inability to truly know who they are because they cannot discover their past...because it was not written.

What is a meaning of the character, Before Columbus?

Before Columbus is a very specific character. They share with us what the majority of the world believed before Columbus sailed, which was that the world was flat. High ranking white men were so sure it was flat that they killed people for it. But, when the truth was discovered, that the world is round, they were put into their place. Miss Parks is showing us how tiny of a motivation it took for the white man to beat, murder, enslave the black man and wipe away any history they might have. She makes it very plain, the white men were put into their place, lowered in stature and because they couldn't except their lower position, they decided not to rise, but to mutilate another race in order to have them lower than they were now seen. It is corruption of the soul.

What is the significance of Black Man and Black Woman asking one another to "Re-member me!"?

At the end of the play, Black Man and Black Woman, who are husband and wife ask the other to, "Re-member me!". The significance is multi-layered. To be remembered in the historical sense, that those that came after would know who they are. Also, to be remembered by their great love for the real them, the beauty and not for the torture and pain that was inflicted upon them causing their life to be snuffed out.