AZCoordinator

  Sweat ’s strengths lie in its equal devotion to each character. I was taken aback when seeing the many different voices which came out from this book. It makes perfect sense why Lynn Nottage would choose to present this story as a play — the monologues, character foils, and clever back-and-forths paint the world and its conflicts realistically and with subtlety. Act II, Scene 5 shows the interaction between Oscar, as he prepares to find work at Olstead’s, and Stan, who’s trying to stop him. Stan tries to make Oscar feel as a part of the community, and warns him not to “make some real enemies”, however, Oscar turns down the idea since “they ain’t my friends”, showing the “Us vs. Them” mentality that Oscar holds. Despite being around the company of Olstead workers every day at the bar, Oscar still is treated like an outsider. As the Olstead workers blabber on and on every day at the bar, Oscar is “rarely acknowledged by anyone except Stan.” Tracy is causally racist to him. It makes...

  Langston Hughes is an American poet who is very famous nowadays for being very old (and dead). However, Hughes was a modern-day rebel who represented everything unconventional during his time. Nonetheless, being a black gay man who could write sweet rhymes wasn’t enough for Hughes’ lifestyle — he also found himself challenging god himself.   In Hughes’ poem, “God”, abstract concepts are used to create contrasting tones which critique the manner in which people chose to worship god. The poem contrasts the character of god “alone in my purity” with the “young lovers” below him to acknowledge how a lone god must be lonely, while humans live amongst each other and fall in love constantly. Typically, religious people place their god on an entire plane above themselves as a supernatural omnipotent being. However, they do not worry themselves with the ways their god may feel, as living on the “sweet ground” leaves humans carefree and satisfied already. By giving god a voice and a p...