THEMES AND SYMBOLS
Order Description
We’ve discussed the family of Lincoln and Booth in relation to several themes: the American Dream and success/work, the American Dream and the struggle of the American family, masculine identity and manhood, and violence and racism in American life/history, naming and identity. While Suzan Lori Park’s Topdog/Underdog investigates these themes in relation to race and African-American life in America, the play’s themes resonate for all American families. In your paper, you will make an argument about the importance of a symbol (or two) in the play that relate to one of these themes. In making your argument, you will carefully analyze the appearance and meaning of the symbol in different parts of the play. What does the symbol seem to mean when we first encounter it? What about later at other points in the play? What does this symbol ultimately mean in terms of the play’s tragic ending? What does this symbol have to do with any of Suzan Lori Park’s goals in writing her plays? (you will learn what she is trying to accomplish in her plays through interviews and research articles). Throughout your paper, you should carefully discuss relevant quotations from the play and from any secondary sources, and cite them in MLA format.
First, pick a symbol and theme that interest you:
Examples for a possible paper topic might include:
The importance of Booth’s costume and violence as acceptable entertainment in America or as an recurring part of American history. Perhaps guns (and Booth’s gun) are also symbolic in this context.
The family’s photo album and/or the brothers’ inheritance as symbolic of the struggle of American families. What is do these symbols tell us about the fate of the American Family in modern America for Parks?
3 Card Monte and/or Lincoln’s job as a symbol for the American working class dream.
3 Card Monte, “boosted merchandise,” and “diamondesque” rings: Is the promise of success and the American dream a “scam” in the play?
Guns as symbols of manhood in the play and the brother’s rivalry to be “Topdog”
Booth’s name and/or Lincoln’s name and the American promise/dream of creating a new identity for oneself.
Next step: Looking at your evidence from the play and then from any secondary sources, what argument do you want to make about the topic you choose?
Secondary Research: To receive full credit, you must use four kinds of secondary sources for a total of 6-8 sources listed on your MLA Works Cited page.
[ ] The Biederwell textbook’s pages on symbolism 1147ff.
[ ] Watch the youtube.com documentary Topdog Diaries (Take short specific notes and copy out any important quotes). Watch it once, then skim it.
[ ] 2-3 interviews with about Suzan-Lori Parks (Take short specific notes and copy out any important quotes). You may use other online videos and or search the library databases JSTOR and Project MUSE for published interviews printed in literary journals.
[ ] Excerpts of journal articles Prof. Fox uploads to Blackboard

An extra possibility:
[ ] 1-2 reviews of the play in performance You can use the library databases Lexis Nexis and/or EBSCO (academic search complete), the nytimes.com, or nymag.com.

*Points that Suzan Lori Parks makes about other plays during an interview might also be relevant to what she is trying to accomplish in Topdog/Underdog

Use MLA style documentation for internal quotations and paraphrases. Use the MLA Style as it was updated in 2009. Have an MLA style Works Cited Page.

If you choose to paraphrase from a written article or interview, you still need a parenthetical citation after the sentence. Make sure you work from very brief, specific notes (do not try to write your own original sentence by looking repeatedly at the article)! You will most likely copy/plagiarize it if you do this! For a paraphrase, put any ideas or facts entirely into your own words using a new, original sentence pattern.