All God's chillun got wings, and Welded

Description

"All God's chillun got wings, and Welded" by Eugene O'Neill is a collection of stage plays written in the early 20th century. It pairs an interracial tragedy set in lower New York with an intimate marital drama of artists in Manhattan. The first centers on Jim Harris, a Black man who longs to become a lawyer, and Ella Downey, a white woman he has loved since childhood, as they struggle against racism, shame, and psychological strain. The second follows playwright Michael Cape and actress Eleanor Owen as their love and creative partnership test each other’s pride, need, and faith. The opening of this collection first follows Jim and Ella from a childhood game of marbles across a racially divided corner through adolescence and early adulthood, where gossip, a brutal boxer named Mickey, and the ward’s prejudice harden them. Jim dreams of the law but repeatedly freezes before white examiners; Ella, battered by humiliation and loss, accepts Jim’s steadfast devotion and marries him, facing hostile lines outside the church before the pair flee abroad and then return to confront themselves at home. Back in New York, tensions with Jim’s family and a Congo mask in their flat become focal points for Ella’s mounting paranoia and self-hatred, culminating in slurs, a knife-wielding episode, and Jim’s anguished loyalty after yet another failed exam. The opening of Welded then shifts to a late-night homecoming: Michael arrives unexpectedly, having finished a new act, and he and Eleanor choose to set work aside for a lovers’ truce, vowing to stop wounding each other even as their talk reveals the volatile mix of desire, ego, and art that binds them. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Subjects

• American drama -- 20th century
• PS