Drove my chevy to the levee

For the first essay, I am planning on writing about Ma Rainey’s play and the parallels to the “Sunshine Special” and the fact that the railroad is being torn down, from a blues song by Blind Lemon Jefferson. August Wilson places an epigraph in the beginning of her play to stimulate thought about hopes and dreams being destroyed, as well as how a person can try to make their own trail to achieve what they desire. In Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Levee and Ma Rainey attempt to go away to avoid their problems, just like in the epigraph.

Levee’s greatest dream is to have his own band, which proves to be difficult, so he attempts to “build his own railroad”, or to create his own path to his goals. One of Levee’s apparent issues is that he thinks too highly of himself. He always claims that he is an incredible musician, despite the fact that he makes many mistakes. The other members of the band repeatedly shut Levee down, either by stepping on his newly bought shoes or telling him that his written music is not good enough to sell. When his shoes are stepped on, Levee’s soul is being stepped on. His shoes are symbols of success, which are stepped on or basically destroyed. Levee is humiliated further when Sturdyvant tells Levee his songs won’t sell, offering him five dollars for every song he produces. Levee believes his talent is worth much more than that.

Ma Rainey’s dream is to be loved for who she is instead of solely being used for her voice. This is the main reason she tries so often to stall the recording of her music. She realizes that once she is done singing, the white men will disregard her importance and not treat her well. She believes way too highly of herself to let this happen, so she brings her stuttering nephew to the recording studio to try and sing part of a song. This does not run smoothly, and the recording crew become frustrated with her. Contrary to Ma’s belief that the stalling of time will result in the crew’s prolonged respect of her, Sturdyvant and Irvin’s respect for her decreases.

This is basically what I have so far. I will use direct and indirect quotes to show how both Ma Rainey and Levee attempt to follow their own paths in order to make something more of themselves. I will also compare these two musicians because while Levee strives to make a name of himself, Ma already has a well-known name. Ma Rainey is simply trying to make other people respect her, while Levee solely cares about the fame and money.