Joe Tuner's Come and Gone by August Wilson

Argument on August Wilson 's "Joe Turner 's Come and Gone

In regard to August Wilson 's play "Joe Turner 's Come and Gone " many different ideas are put forward as to the theme of the story . Some say that it presents a dialogue on religious themes . This is because of the many religious elements incorporated into the scenes of the play . The most popular opinion , however , is that the play depicts African Americans ' search for their cultural identity after the confusion and displacement caused by the freeing of the slaves following the

Civil War . This idea is based on the fact that the struggles of African Americans are a common theme in the other works of the playwright August Wilson , and the different racial discrimination issues exemplified in the play . While both opinions have very valid points this writer believes that the latter theme is a better analysis of the play . However , there are also very distinct spiritual elements in the play and cultural identity does not completely encompass every nuance in the story . Thus , the play is really best described by a composite of the two themes "Joe Turner 's Come and Gone " presents how the 20th century African Americans either employed or needed to employ their inherent religiousness , in the sense of being spiritual and not necessarily relating to a particular religion , to find their individual identities

The idea of finding one 's identity is incorporated into most of every element of the plot in different...