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University of South Florida

Theses/Dissertations

2003

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Pipe Dreams And Primitivism: Eugene O'Neill And The Rhetoric Of Ethnicity, Donald P. Gagnon Apr 2003

Pipe Dreams And Primitivism: Eugene O'Neill And The Rhetoric Of Ethnicity, Donald P. Gagnon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eugene O'Neill included within his vision of humanity a series of complex, emotionally and psychologically developed black characters. Despite critical controversy over his methods or effectiveness, from his eerily silent mulatto in "Thirst" through the grandiose incarnation of The Emperor Jones and the everyman of Joe Mott and The Iceman Cometh, O'Neill created characters of African descent that thrilled and infuriated critics and audiences alike.

A closer exploration of the issues involved in his portrayal of ethnically identified characters seems necessary, an exploration that does not limit itself to an interrogation of ethnicity per se in O'Neill's plays, but …