Critical Analysis #2 – Drama Essay Joe Turner and Seth “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” is a multidimensional play, encompassing elements of religion, race, and the human condition. Many of the characters therein are archetypal, yet alive in their own sense, each displaying individual idiosyncrasies that make them more real. The modern reader can relate to them in that sense, as well as in that they each experience a trial the common man faces in his life: the subject of finding oneself and whether those answers lie inwardly or elsewhere. Seth is one such character. Though we are driven to like him as he adds a certain element of relatable realism to the play, Seth is a skeptical, suspicious, and insecure character. Seth is not our focus as the play drifts onward, because he is the least outlandish of the characters due to his skepticism. Seth does not revel in romance, superstition, and the like. His answers to his problems come from work, from selling his product, from making more money. In the beginning of the piece, he tells his wife Bertha, “I can’t get nowhere working for Mr. Olowski and selling Selig five or six pots on the side. I’m going up and see Sam Green. See of he loan me the money (2066).” It is herein he tries to find his “song”, as Bynum would say (2103). His dreams do not lie in working magic with pigeon blood, in choosing a beautiful mate, but in tangible acquisitions. This is why he is so angered with Bynum initially for stepping on his vegetables during his ritual. Throughout Bynum’s discussions with Selig, Seth remains stout in his materialistic interest and pointedly ignores the metaphysical discussion before him, tossing cost estimates and figures at Selig. His further disdain for things he sees as romantic or foolish is seen when he discusses the African migration: “That boy done carried a guitar all the
way from North Carolina. What he gonna find out? What he gonna do with that guitar? This the city.”(2068) Seth is also a largely suspicious character. His inquisition toward Bynum’s rituals in the beginning is evidence thereof, and it builds as we discover his interest in the activities of his houseguests. He finds out about Jeremy’s drunkenness and berates him, and later upon the arrival of Herald Loomis is quite inquisitive as to the nature of his search for his wife. He says to Bertha, “Do he look like a deacon to you?” after Loomis tells them he is a deacon, suggesting his distrust (2075). It escalates as he peers more into Loomis’s activities, telling Bertha about his day-to-day ventures, including his working habits and his hanging around the church. After Bertha suggests Seth tell Loomis about Martha Pentecost, Seth cries, “I ain’t gonna tell that man where that woman is!… He might wanna do her a harm (2084).” He also scoffs at Sam Green’s suggestion to use his home as collateral: “Want me to sign over the house to borrow five hundred dollars. I ain’t that big a fool.” It’s possible some of Seth’s other characteristics stem from his insecurity. He is not the scared mouse we imagine insecure characters as; rather, Seth pumps himself up with tangible arguments for his worth and brings others down by dismissing their interests and talents as overly whimsical and foolhardy. In his encounter with Jeremy, Seth says, “Everybody know Seth Holly keep a good house (2072).” Clearly, his good name and standing with townsfolk is important to him. In a later conversation with Jeremy, he equates money and property with self worth yet again: “See, right now, without the job, you ain’t got nothing (2098).” He revels in his small triumph in the dominoes game, boasting “…You didn’t know I had that ace five. You was trying to play
around that. You didn’t know I had that lying there for you (2100).” His glee in such a minor victory over someone else is typical of the insecure character. He shows further insecurity by such pride in denying he’d ever picked cotton rather vehemently to Bynum (2101). This suggests that his lack of confidence could stem partially from racial stereotypes and the way he and his ancestors had been treated. Seth is a modern archetype, a man proud only because of his job, home, and social standing, but deep down insecure and still looking for the “song” that would define himself. Wilson weaves him with astonishing accuracy, forcing him to closely resemble someone we all have met; a judgmental father, a boss too proud of a title, an unhappy man in general. These men are all the unending skeptic, do not trust those around them, and reveal in small quiet glimpses their inner security, fragmented by ostentatious displays of materialistic worth.