53 pages • 1 hour read
Harlem Duet
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Racial Equality and the American Dream
Dreams, both literal and figurative, operate as a motif throughout Harlem Duet. In the Prologue, the character She speaks of 1928 Harlem as what the African American community had always dreamed of: a place to live among themselves without fear, a community where artistic expression was alive and vibrant, and, as Billie calls it later in the play, a sanctuary. This optimistic view of Harlem is fortified by the sound of Martin Luther King Jr.’s recitation of his 1964 “I Have a Dream” speech at the play’s opening. While King’s iconic words were a defining moment in the civil rights movement, his dream of freedom and justice for all was countered by an equally compelling activist at the time, Malcolm X. An excerpt from his “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech opens Scene 1, evoking not an American dream but an American nightmare for the Black community. King’s position of nonviolent protest is shut down by X’s call for Black Nationalism and autonomy.
Each character in Harlem Duet has a specific dream: Amah hopes to open her own beauty salon and have another child; Magi wants to find a good man with whom she can share a life; Canada wishes for a new start with his children; Othello seeks success in and acceptance by the white culture; and Billie, while certainly longing for a world where racial discrimination and inequality are things of the past, aches for her former life with Othello. The earlier precursors of Billie and Othello hold dreams as well—dreams of freedom, love, salvation, and respect. All these dreams end in tragedy.
Billie’s deteriorating mental state is referenced early in Act I, Scene 1. Tired from escalating depression, she blames her dreams for her feelings of malaise: If I could only stop dreaming, I might be able to get some rest” (29). When Amah asks Magi for an update on Billie’s condition moments later, her response is “Better. Dreaming hard, though. Like she’s on some archaeological dig of the unconscious mind” (30). Billie laments her lot in life in Act I, Scene 2, and Amah tells her that “living the good life” (43) is the best kind of revenge. When Billie tells her that she thought that’s what she had with Othello, Amah answers, “maybe you were just dreaming” (42), placing the past where it belongs.
The content of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is borrowed and sometimes distorted in the play. In Act I, Scene 4, Billie and Othello’s discourse on race relations becomes more personal. She counters his argument for assimilation by citing instance after instance of injustices against Black people until finally, it becomes personal: “And don’t give me this content of one’s character B.S. I’m sorr […] am sorr […] had a dream. A dream that one day a Black man and a Black woman might fin […] here jumping a broom was a solemn eternal vow that” (56). Billie’s final descent into madness also calls upon the speech. As her breakdown begins to consume her in Act 2, Scene 7, she recites parts of the speech—”I have a dream today” (104)—as she hallucinates roaches attacking her. The flashback dream sequence that follows takes over as she relives her and Othello’s first visit to the apartment nine years prior, during which she tells him that she could see them living in historic Strivers Row: “Owned by Blacks hued from the faintest gold to the bluest bronze. That’s my dream” (107).
Last, when Amah visits Billie in the psychiatric ward in Act II, Scene 10, she makes another attempt to convince her to forgive Othello. Billie revisits Dr. King’s words for the final time: “I have a dream […] had a dream” (116). With this shift to the past tense, she accepts that her dream is lost.
The Continuity of Black History
With its multiple references to real-life people and events, Harlem Duet serves as an abridged history of the African American experience from before Emancipation to the late 20th century. The playwright chooses three pivotal periods as the backdrops for her storylines and uses her craft to provide insights into the same. By integrating a spectrum of words, music, and sound bites from various decades, she delivers a panoramic depiction of each period’s influences and conditions and informs contextual details that drive a heightened understanding of the African American journey.
Sears introduces each scene with a mix of jazz or blues music and recited texts—a conceit that not only correlates to the action on stage but also places that action within a continuum of Black creative expression. Even when her choices are anachronistic, their relevance does not diminish. At the start of the play, Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech plays, although the scene is set in 1928. As the most recognized and influential speech of the 20th-century civil rights movement, this speech articulates a vision of racial justice that has remained powerful throughout the second half of the century and into Billie’s life in 1997. As such, it is the first text Sears showcases. Other cuttings reference the Harlem Renaissance—for example, Paul Robeson’s reflections on African American artistry—while voices reciting the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation represent the days of slavery and abolition. Contributions from Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. represent different and sometimes conflicting visions of Black identity and racial justice. Other recordings acknowledge the media’s often-skewed representations of what it means to be Black in America, as seen in news clips discussing the 1992 “LA Riots” and the Million Man March.
The most Poignant selection, however, comes at the start of Act II, Scene 10, which is also the last scene in the play. Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” is heard, with its well-known opening lines, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore—and then run?” Over 130 years have passed between the lives of enslaved characters Him and Her and those of Billie and Othello in 1997, and yet the play ends with the still unanswered question of whether true equality, true freedom, and true opportunity for African Americans will ever be realized, connecting the theme of Black history with the theme of racial equality and the American dream.
In tandem with the references that open each scene, characters also provide critical lessons. 1860’s Him and Her discuss the violent and inhumane treatment to which Black people were subjected both in the United States and abroad. 1928’s He and She touch upon the magic and promise of Harlem, suggesting that it may turn out to be the artistic, spiritual, and social sanctuary for which African Americans have been hoping. The characters in 1997 speak of historic places such as the Hotel Theresa, the Apollo Theater, and the Schomburg Museum, and events including the 1990 visit of Nelson and Winnie Mandela. Sears peppers the play with these passing references to ensure that the Black experience, which for so long has been neglected in primary and secondary school curricula, is no longer looked upon as a fragment of American history but instead, a vital, important, and very real component of the country’s all-encompassing historic landscape.
Intersections of Race and Gender
At the heart of Harlem Duet lies the question of how race and gender have impacted the characters in all aspects of their lives. Billie and Othello once dreamed of a long future together. As time passed, however, their common goals grew farther apart due to their opposing views on how the Black community could best pursue equality and liberation within a predominantly white culture. In line with the philosophy of Malcolm X, Billie believes that the answer lies in creating an autonomous, homogeneous community where Black people can live and work, free from the constraints of white oppression. Conversely, Othello’s viewpoint aligns more closely with the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. in that assimilation and acceptance are key to achieving a society where freedom and opportunity are accessible to everyone, regardless of race. Instead of rejecting white culture, Othello works hard not only to assimilate but to attain success and acceptance within white culture. The more he leans toward this tenet, the more fragile the bonds of their relationship become, eventually propelling its demise.
While race relations cast a wide net over the action in the play, Harlem Duet depicts how the issue bleeds into gender relations as well, particularly as society evolves. As Othello becomes more immersed in white culture, his questions regarding the dynamic that exists among Black couples increase. Because he no longer shares Billie’s binary approach to race (and it is questionable that he ever did), she becomes tiresome to him. According to Othello, being with white women is easier, as they don’t bring the same kind of history, judgment, or expectations to a relationship. Othello views Black women, and specifically Black feminists, as emasculating. He argues that Black men have already been emasculated by white supremacy—kept out of the kinds of jobs that would allow them to fulfill a traditionally masculine provider role. As a result, he views Black feminism’s desire for gender equality as threatening.
Othello’s two precursors in the play voice similar justifications for betraying their partners with white women: In 1860, He is drawn to Miss Dessy because, in her time of crisis, she needs Him, and her need makes Him feel like a man. In 1928, He is attracted to Mona, his director, because she appreciates His gifts and wants to help Him attain His creative dreams. All three Othellos are victims of racial discrimination and feel subjugated by conditions beyond their control. The racism they experience negatively impacts their relationships with their Black partners and pushes them to seek validation in what they perceive as a different, better world altogether—a white world.
Unlock all 53 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: