The Truth of History
One of the major themes in this play has to do with how the white man has obliterated the written history of the black man throughout time. Parks writes through Yes And Greens Black-Eyed Peas Cornbread that a record of what has happened must be written down and hidden under a rock, or the river bed. And eventually carved upon a stone. History has been distorted by the slave trade and the hatred that has been perpetrated upon the black race as the truth has not been recorded accurately, if at all.
Death
The theme of death is personified in Black Man With Watermelon, who dies over and over again in the plays plot. He represents the need to live, the desire to be remembered, missed. He also symbolizes the brutality and atrocities waged upon the black race by the white man.
Love
Through the play, the relationship of husband and wife between Black Man With Watermelon and Black Woman With Fried Drumstick permeates the horror of the savage deaths of the Black Man with a deep love. Their longing to be missed and remembered by their love changes the texture of the play, almost like a moment in a jazz composition when everything suddenly makes sense. It is their love for each other, their need to be remembered and not lost to one another as they have been lost to history.
