Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Subject: Storytellers

While reading chapter 3 and Joe Turner's Come and Gone, I began to realize how easy it was to get lost in the performances. The play was entirely made up of multiple storylines told by different characters, which were all brought together for our viewing in this kitchen. It was easy to get lost in the stories because I felt like I was just someone sitting in the corner of the kitchen. I began to feel like I knew this place all too well. I felt as though I had just eaten biscuits or yams with the characters in the play. I felt as though I was a part of their everyday lives, just a silent partner in the experience.

I commonly visit my grandparents and find our situations to be very similar to those in this play. Though the stories are different in context and content, we spend our time discussing the well being of our family members or friends that we have known for many years. We may spend 95% of our time just sitting at the kitchen table talking about our lives. We spend a bulk of the time taking turns in telling our stories. It may be me talking about my last week in school, or them talking about there first house together over 50 years ago, but we tell them in story form as though we are trying to entertain the other. The same situation happened over and over in this play. I quickly forgot I was reading about characters and easily fell into the storytelling, just as I do at my grandparent's house.

The play really used the storytelling style to bring you into the character's situations. Historically, during this time period, stories were used to pass history from one generation to another. I wonder if this play was written that way to fit the time period. I think you also have to ask yourself about the meaning behind the play. It really depicted the struggles that blacks had during this time, after slavery had "ended," but also the struggles that many races are still having today. The discrimination in this country did not end with the end of slavery, the civil rights movement, and maybe has even increased with 9-11. A different race, but similar issues. Meaning can be expressed in many different ways. Plays can really be used to open the eyes of people to certain historical occurrences.

The way the play was performed made it very easy to get sucked into the character's lives and feel their hardships.