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Darker Face of the Earth by Rita Dove

Theme Slavery= Pereira, Malin. "When The Pear Blossoms / Cast Their Pale Faces On / The Darker Face Of The Earth": Miscegenation, The Primal Scene, And The Incest Motif If Rita Dove's Work." African American Review 36.2 (2002): 195-211. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

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'WHEN THE PEAR BLOSSOMS / CAST THEIR PALE FACES ON / THE DARKER FACE OF THE EARTH': MISCEGENATION, THE PRIMAL SCENE, AND THE INCEST MOTIF IF RITA DOVE'S WORK

In this article by Pereira, Malin, the writer points out how the effects of slavery in America affected the characters within the play. The quote of "When the pear blossoms/ cast their pale faces on/ the darker face of the earth" tells how white masters would go off at night to rape the slave women they had. In the play, Amalia states that Louis has often went out with his whip and raped the female slaves and so she as a response does the same with Hector. Amalia ends up pregnant and gives birth to a mulatto baby who would later be named Augustus. Further in the story, Amalia and Augustus begins a romantic relationship, neither of them aware of their familial connection with each other. Despite the low standings of African Americans in society at that time, plantation owners were free to do whatever they wanted to their slaves because they were considered their property rather than as people.

Malin Pereira’s article “When the pear blossoms/ cast their pale faces on/ the darker face of the earth” discusses the various themes that appear in Ola Rotimi’s Darker Face of the Earth such as miscegenation and incest. With the theme of slavery in the play, this article states that Augustus because of his upbringing by a white captain, he feels more familiar with white people rather than blacks on the plantation. This is pointed out as Augustus doesn’t pursue a relationship with Phebe because he’s involved with Amalia. Augustus also doesn’t believe in Scylla’s prophecies and doesn’t complete the mission given to him by the conspirators to kill Amalia because of his relationship with her.