Analysis of Clybourne Park

The play Clybourne Park is a multi-generational view of racism over a 50-year period in America. This play is a spin-off of the work A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry written in 1959. During that time, America was in the midst of the civil rights era and A Raisin in the Sun was one of the first plays to bring African American characters to the general public. In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, mention is made of the main characters, the Younger family, purchasing a home in a middle-class white neighborhood of Chicago. A white man named Karl Linder attempts to talk the black family out of moving into the new home and offers to pay them money to not move there. The play Clybourne Park takes place concurrently with A Raisin in the Sun and also spans a generation beyond the end of Raisin. Clybourne Park picks up with the Younger family moving into the new home.

The first act of the play takes place in the 1950s. The story opens with Bev and Russ who are the couple that is selling their home. Their relationship alternates between comfort and tension as they speak with their pastor who has stopped by to check on them. From him, the viewer learns about the death of Bev and Russ’s son. After the Korean War, their son was discharged for inappropriate conduct for allegedly killing several civilians. When word of this spread around town, young Russell was unable to find a job and the family was shunned from their community. This lead Russell to take his own life in the upstairs bedroom. This has led to a disconnect between the couple and their neighbors.

Next, Karl Linder, the character from A Raisin in the Sun, and his wife stop by. His purpose is to inform Bev and Russ that they are selling their house to a “coloured” family and he begs them to reconsider moving. Karl is concerned that the arrival of a black family in the all-white neighborhood of Clybourne Park will lead to a drop in home prices and all the white people will move out of the area. Bev and Russ have a black maid named Francine and Karl asks Francine and her husband Albert if they would really want to live in a neighborhood like Clybourne Park. Francine is uncomfortable and does not want to be drawn into the conversation and tries to leave. Bev tries to smooth Karl’s overt racism over by telling him that the new couple could be wonderful people no matter what color their skin.

Karl goes on further with his racist comments that seem completely logical to him. This passage is a telling point in Karl’s mindset, “I can tell you, in all the time I've been there, I have not once seen a colored family on those slopes. Now, what accounts for that? Certainly not any deficit in ability, so what I have to conclude is that for some reason, there is just something about the pastime of skiing that doesn't appeal to the Negro community. And feel free to prove me wrong… But you'll have to show me where to find the skiing Negroes” (Norris). In Karl’s mind, black people do not like to ski because he has never seen them ski. He does not think that maybe they aren’t welcome on the ski slopes or that there are economic reasons (skiing is expensive) that prevent great participation in the sport of skiing by the black community. He is content to view the world through his own unshakeable perceptions.

Towards the end of act one, Russ starts to get angry at the pressure from Karl and goes from being racially static to snarling at Albert, Francine’s husband. Russ is angry because the community did not help them when their son came home from war and says as much to Karl. Albert comes in the cross-fire for trying to calm Russ down by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Putting your hands on me? No sir. Not in my house you don't" says Russ (Norris). This shows that Russ is not as neutral on the concept of race as the viewer might have originally thought and adds a layer of vengeful pride to his move that he can be the catalyst for the downfall of the neighborhood. Bev attempts to mend the fence by giving a dish to Francine and Albert but they reject the gesture and leave.

In Act 2, the scene opens 50 years later in 2009. The neighborhood has moved from an affluent white neighborhood to a rundown, all-black neighborhood, just as Karl predicted. A black couple, Kevin and Lena own the house and they are in the process of selling to a white couple, Steve and Lindsay. Steve and Lindsay plan to tear down much of the house and remodel but Lena wants them to preserve the historical quality of the neighborhood. Lindsay tries to be correct and her bias is more subtle than Steve’s but it is still there. This represents how the culture has not necessarily changed in 50 years but has more polite ways of covering up the issues.

The scene continues as the people in the room try to reach an agreement over how the remodeling of the home will be handled. Lindsay becomes upset when she learns about the suicide upstairs and tells Kevin and Lena that should have been disclosed. Right about that same time, a construction worker comes in from the backyard where he has found a chest. In the chest is a suicide note from Russell however, the two couples and the others in the room are too focused on their problems to even worry about the chest.

Clybourne Park is a great story about how some perceptions are so deeply rooted in the human psyche, that time has no effect. This is shown in the juxtaposition of the two acts and how the white neighborhood was protective against black people moving in and then switched perspective as later the black owners were concerned about the white couple moving in. Altogether, Clybourne Park is an interesting look at the evolution of racism over a 50 year period and how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Work Cited

Norris, Bruce. Clybourne Park: A Play. New York: Faber and Faber, 2011. Print.