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What
is a jitney?
What are Becker's rules? (Note the number of ways that Becker's Rules
have started to come apart among the jitney drivers. What other social institutions
are fraying under the stress of economic circumstances.)
Describe the characters who appear in Scene
One. What do we find out about them over the course of the twelve hours
enacted in the first half of the play?
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Youngblood:
Turnbo:
Fielding:
Doub:
Shealy:
Philmore:
Becker:
Rena:
Booster:
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Describe the following off-stage characters and the places where they
hang out. as described by the jitney drivers. What
portrait of the neighborhood is Wilson presenting?
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Pope
and his new Buick Impala:
Shealy's girls: Rosie and 'that little
yellow gal':
The Workingman's Club (where Kenny Fisher is playing):
Mr. Pease (Pittsburgh Urban Renewal Council):
Old Lady McNeil's son:
Becker's wife, Lucille:
Shealy's nephew (who hangs with Jenkin's boy):
Cigar Annie
Crazy Jasper:
Peaches:
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What has pushed Turnbo over the edge today? (Look
at his rant about respect. (30-31) What does he tell Rena?
Why has Rena run out of patience with Youngblood? What was the straw
which broke the camel's back? (32-35)
Why is Becker thinking about giving up after the city let him know that
they were gonna board up the place the first of
the month? (36)
Who did Booster kill? Why? (39)
How does the fight between Youngblood and Turnbo
break out? (43)
Describe the way Becker functions in this neighborhood: what makes his
presence essential?
How does Fielding get himself fired? (51) Who does he dream about twenty
years later? (53)
Becker and Booster:
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Re-read
Turnbo's story about how Becker's boy wound up
in prison. (40-41)
Then re-read the confrontation between Becker and Booster (53-60).
Paragraph: Think about the contrasting strategies of Booker Washington and Malcolm X. Which response to racism does
Wilson support?
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Write a paragraph about each of the following strands of the
action.
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Today's
the day that Becker will announce to his drivers that the Urban Renewal
is moving in, he's moving out, and he's not sure that he wants to keep
the business going.
Today's the day that Fielding finally gets himself fired.
Today's the day that the feud between Youngblood and Turnbo breaks wide open.
Today's the day that Rena confronts Youngblood with her suspicions
about his running around with Peaches.
Today's the day that Becker's boy, Booster, is getting out of the
penitentiary and coming home to meet his father.
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Thesis: How are the strands of the action inter-related? (ie, is it just an accident
that each of these thunderheads breaks simultaneously?)
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