Benjamin Hollander, English 4
ESSAY PROMPTS FOR LEROI JONES’ “DUTCHMAN” AND SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Choose one of the following, but don’t get caught up in the language I am using to articulate
each of these assignments. Students often parrot a a teacher’s language. Don’t. Make the
language your own. These are only prompts. You need to make them your own and direct
them to the argument you want to make.
The key to your essay is to shape a subtle, sophisticated argument about LeRoi Jones’
intention in writing “Dutchman,” and then support it with a pattern of implicit and explicit
evidence from the text.
When I ask you about your argument, I would rather not hear: “well, I’m doing a
combination of 1 and 4.” Rather, I want you to write your argument and be as specific as
possible about Jones’ motives in writing the play. Consider who he intended as an audience
and his strategy in reaching that audience.
Note: If all this teacher-essay-language above and below is overwhelming, come to
my office and we can talk.
1) In “Dutchman,” how and why does LeRoi Jones force us to consider the problematic
relationship between knowledge and happiness? See me if you decide to write on this
question. It’s harder than it seems.
2) In “Dutchman,” how and why does LeRoi Jones force us to consider the problematic
relationship between art and action (be it political or social)?
3) In “Dutchman”, how and why does LeRoi Jones put history on stage (scripted, acted
out)? In other words, what is the essence of the historical conflict he puts on stage, how is it
played out, and how is it resolved--if it is?
4) In Dutchman, how and why does LeRoi Jones see reason as problematic?
5 )In “Dutchman,” how and why does LeRoi Jones articulate the historical problem of
double consciousness among African-Americans, and how does his problem of doubleconsciousness inform the idea of self-consciousness brought up in the play? Does Jones’
play resolve this problem or not?
If you want to make your own essay assignment, you need to check it with me first.
Note 1: When summarizing and analyzing this play, don’t ignore prologue(s), descriptions
of scenes, etc.... See MLA style manual on how to quote dialogue in plays. Also, draw
connections between different parts of the play and show how your analysis of these
connections helps your reader understand your thesis. Yes, your essay will be graded down
for incorrect use of citations.
Note 2: You should consider the writer’s intention in proposing his problematic idea. Please
start telling yourself that you need to see all the texts you read from the writer’s point of
view, so that, within your argument, you articulate the writer’s intention, how and why it
represents a problem he/she wants to explore, and how it is articulated and resolved (or
left unresolved).
Note 4: Remember the mantra when analyzing or unpacking passages in the play: what
does the passage say, what does it mean, why and for whom is it important (and, depending
on your argument, you are the one who needs to decide what is important, for whom, and
why).
Note 3: Ask me how students in the past have gone down the wrong road in analyzing the
play because they focused exclusively on Clay’s monologue at the end of the play without
showing how the Clay we apparently see in this long monologue can be perceived in the
actions and dialogue and stage directions which Leroi Jones uses to shape Clay in the 1st
and 2nd scenes of the play.
Your essay should be at least 6-7 pages, typed, double spaced, stapled, numbered, and with
an original (your) title (not Jones’ title of the play).
Please give yourself permission to have your essay be useful to you while at the same
time you engage in a deep and coherent analysis of the play.
Incorporate research into your play; specifically, the readings and research topics I have
suggested. No Wikipedia. I will give you a separate sheet of paper on what is expected of
you through your research.
Using Research for Your Essay on “Dutchman”
1) W.E. Du Bois and the idea of double consciousness (Read Chapter 1 of The Souls of Black
Folk). To apply this research can make sense if you analyze the role of self-consciousness in
the play, the way we discussed it in class.
2) The myths of The Flying Dutchman—see Richard Wagner’s opera or the film, “Pandora
and the Flying Dutchman” as sources. Do not use on (or “off”)line encyclopedias to research
the myth.
3) Blues and Jazz music—see LeRoi Jones’ Blues People;
4) Chapter 20 of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, where Ellison’s voice, through his narrator,
addresses what history means from inside a subway.
5) Selected Essays of Leroi Jones/Amira Baraka in the Leroi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader
6) Reviews and Essays on “Dutchman” (e.g. Philip Roth on “Dutchman”) which you can
argue with based on your analysis of the play.
The research you use should be secondary to your analysis of the play.
There are several ways to absorb your research within your analysis. For instance, you
might discuss in your essay how the particular knowledge you have gained of the historical
context around Jones’ writing of “Dutchman” illuminates your argument about Jones’
intention in writing the play. Or you might analyze how Jones has modified or selected his
research to illuminate a particular point in the play. It is not enough to say that you believe
the research has helped you understand the play. You need to be as specific as possible;
that is, you need to show how and why the subject you are researching enhances one’s
understanding of the play and the argument you are making about it.