49 pages • 1 hour read
George C. WolfeThe Colored Museum
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1987A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Sketch 8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Sketch 8 Synopsis: “Symbiosis”
The Temptations’ “My Girl” plays as a Black man in corporate dress stands at a trash can throwing in items that he removes from a Saks Fifth Avenue bag. Circling around him is the Kid, dressed in late-1960s street-style clothes.
The Man lists off the items as he throws them in the can. His first pair of Converse All-Stars, Afro-Comb, his first dashiki, autographed pictures of Stokely Carmichael, Jomo Kenyatta, and Donna Summer. The Kid complains as the Man tosses away each item.
The Man continues: Murray’s Pomade, first can of Afro-sheen, first box of curl relaxer, Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice. The Kid’s objections grow more desperate. The Man tells him Cleaver’s book has been replaced by The Color Purple. The Kid is horrified. The Man moves on to popular music albums by Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, and the Jackson Five, all to the Kid’s consternation and protests.
The Man tells the Kid that he has to cut any connection he has to his past because his survival depends on it. He says an Ice Age is upon them. He calls himself to a sociological dinosaur and compares himself to King Kong. He throws out all of his 1960s protest buttons.
When the Man gets to his album of the Temptations’ greatest hits, the Kid grabs the record. The Kid starts begging the Man not to throw it out, enthusiastically singing the lyrics to “My Girl” as the Man tries to take the album back.
Finally, the Man gets angry, yelling at the Kid to give the album back. The Kid refuses, punching himself in the head. When he does this, the Man grabs his heart. The Kid keeps punching himself in the head until the Man falls to the ground, grabbing his heart. The Kid stands over the weakened man and insults who he has become. He reminds the Man that the Kid is a part of him, no matter how much he may try to cover it up.
The Kid then goes to comfort the Man. Once the Kid is close enough, the Man grabs him around the neck and begins choking the Kid, repeating that the Ice Age is upon them. The Kid eventually blacks out. The Man throws the Kid in the trash can and slams the lid on top.
The Man tells himself he has no history, no past, “no stake in the madness” (36). He resolves himself to moving on with his life for his own good, asserting that he will be Black only on weekends and holidays. He turns to leave but notices the Temptations album lying on the ground. He picks it up and nostalgically sings some lyrics to “My Girl.” He goes to the trash can and opens the lid. The Kid’s hand reaches out and grabs the Man in a death grip: “What’s happenin?” the Kid asks. The lights go to blackout.
Sketch 8 Analysis
“Symbiosis” explores the theme of contradiction. While the items that the Man throws into the garbage are part of what made him who he is, he can no longer live with them. This situation echoes previous characters who can neither live with their pain nor live without it.
Again, Wolfe returns to the motif of mimicry. As the Man attempts to mimic what he wants to become, he comes into conflict with a part of himself he attempts to reject. This predicament raises the question of whether one needs to trash one’s past to create a better future.
Miss Pat’s reminder from the first exhibit that “any baggage don’t claim, we trash” is echoed here (5). Interestingly, the items the Man throws away are an assortment of political, personal, and pop-culture articles. A pair of Converse, curl relaxer, a Stokely Carmichael picture. There seems to be equal weight given to these items. The effect is to place revolutionary ideas and political activism in the adolescent realm, something to be moved on from in adulthood.
The exchange of Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice for The Color Purple contains a subtle nod to the complex issue of sexual violence in the Black community and the depiction of this violence within popular culture. Although Eldridge Cleaver was a convicted sex offender who sought to rehabilitate himself while in prison, the depictions of sexual violence in the more popularly distributed The Color Purple have also been criticized for their portrayal of Black males as violent sexual predators.
In contrast to the alienating effect of the previous exhibit, this exhibit takes on a more emotional and personal tone. The sketch explores the emotional trauma of growing up and attempting to reconcile oneself with what one can and can’t control in one’s life.
