A Day of Absence

Day of Absence

When I first started reading Day of Absence I was a little confused on where it was going to take me. The first scene begins with Luke and Clem and I mistakenly thought that these two men were just old and senile and made no sense. Even though the two men at the beginning of the play were old I soon found out that the story was divided into various other stories. Each story had their own story about the blacks or “Nigras” disappearing. Luke and Clem were used to seeing African Americans daily along their streets. During the “Day of Absence” the two gentlemen realized all of the black people were no longer around. In the next scene the reader is introduced to John and Mary. John and Mary have a nanny who helps take care of their child. When she no longer is there to help the married couple, both parents are left to deal with the child themselves. Another scene that addresses the problem of the African Americans leaving is the operator scene. With all of the “Nigras” missing, the phone lines in the city are scrambled. The next scene is in an office and the Mayor can’t perform his job with all of the African Americans not there to help the flow. Each scene in this play exemplifies the chaos that would take place if African Americans were to disappear. During the time this play was written for, it is shown that Black were basically the backbone to families and businesses.

I really liked Douglas Turner Ward’s play even though I’m sure it was very controversial. While I was reading it I had a hard time imagining blacks with white face, therefore I don’t feel like I got a good grip on how the play was supposed to be portrayed. I think putting blacks in white face must have stirred up many emotions in both blacks and whites. I think the author wanted to make this play contentious and although it was already debatable, putting African American’s in white face took the play to the next level. I like how Douglas Turner Ward wasn’t afraid to take a risk and because he did so he was able to receive a lot of recognition. On top of that I also think he is a good writer. I loved that he wrote from the white people’s perspective. Out of all the other plays we’ve read we have only heard the stories from the African American’s perspective. I agree with the author’s intention of trying to show that the blacks were the backbones to society and I liked the way in which he went about sharing his opinion.