Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Sparknotes

1. The situations the characters in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom are introduced to very much resemble the plight of African Americans in society in the late 1920s. Two of the characters that the play focuses on represent different mindsets that the African American people had at the time. Ma Rainey is portrayed as having a higher than thou view of others, While Levee is a little sneakier in his approach. Throughout the first act, Sturdavant can be seen talking about how he won’t put up with Ma Rainey’s attitude. When she finally appears in the second act, the audience gets a good view of that harsh prima donna attitude that Ma Rainey is apparently famous for. While this attitude may just seem like a stereotypical celebrity archetype, Ma Rainey’s motivation behind it is much nobler. She is sending a message to the men like Sturdavant and those above him. This message is that they cannot take advantage of her or any other African

His motivation throughout the play is to play his own compositions with his own band. Levee is portrayed as a brash, energetic, and ambitious character who will do anything to attain his goal. We learn just how determined Levee is at the end of act one. In this scene Levee tells the sad story about how his family was forced off of their land and what his father did in order to get his revenge. He says, “And that taught me how to handle them. I seen my daddy go up and grin in this cracker’s face… All the while he’s planning how he’s gonna get him and what he’s gonna do to him. (Wilson 36)” This quote shows that Levee will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. That includes acting subservient toward Sturdavant and others above him. We find out later in the play that while this approach might sound good to Levee it ultimately led to not only the death of his father, but also the probable death of Levee’s