Joe Turner's Come and Gone

After reading Sandra L. Richards' article, Yoruba Gods on the American Stage: August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone, I realized that my previous reading of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" by August Wilson had barely scratched the surface of its meaning within the different layers of the plays complexity. According to Richards, there are distinctive "elements of memory and desire" that are central to Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Set in 1911 at the time of the Great Migration, there was an overwhelming presence of racial inequality and prejudice instilled in society that still has an immediate impact on contemporary society and culture. In relation to Richards' claim about elements of memory and desire, I've found it plausible to account Loomis' rejection of the Juba to his unwillingness to return to his memories and past experience as a slave working for Joe Turner. Loomis' search for indepence is fueled by his desire to escape from his unwanted past yet there are deeply seeded factors within his past that won't allow him to disconnect without somehow becoming severly displaced.