Values and Morality
The play is constructed around the conflict that is introduced into a relatively stable area of a prison by the arrival of a child molester. “Creeps” like this inmate occupy the lowest spot in the social structure of prison; the same place they occupy in the outside world. The other inmates—hardly an admirable set of guys—take it upon themselves to eliminate this particular infestation and in doing so reveal that the set of values and moral code which rules inside jail really differs from that of the outside world by degrees. Most readily evidence of these degrees is the level of punitive justice applied to this stain on their own sense of basic humanity and fundamental decency. The outside world merely sends him to prison, the inside world exterminates him for the betterment and protection of outside society.
Retaining Humanity in the Jungle
The prison is a jungle where some are predators and other are prey. Where even the most mundane of conflict usually gets settled by violence. A code of ethics and sense of values may exist and be pursued, but it is inevitably a corrupted version. Every aspect of prison life thus forces each inmate to confront their own personal sense of humanity within themselves. Thus, each prisoner must pursue their own path toward preservation of the self. For the black militant El Raheem, this means constructed a unique religion of his own. Juan is the philosopher-king whose moral code is absolute, affording now allowances for relativistic application. Like an incarcerated Kant, Juan is guided by his version of a categorical imperative which cannot allow him to let even a “creep” who rapes young girls be murdered.
Socialization of the Power Structure
It is not by accident that the cell block where the story takes place features just one white inmate until the arrival of the child molester. The Irishman nicknamed Longshoe is in the minority in a society where power is in the hands of Puerto Ricans and African-Americans. Tellingly, Longshoe’s acquisition of a power base within his role of the minority class is selling drug trafficking, a direct counterpoint to how things often work in the criminal world outside of prison. There is, of course, another white man on the block: Nett, the prison guard. It should be ironic—but perhaps displays the deepest sense of irony in that it is not ironic—that Nett also represents an inversion of the social structure by his official stance as a member of law enforcement who is just as much as a criminal as the men he oversees. The inversion of “normalcy” of the outside world reveals that the power structure of white patriarchy is simply the result of socialization rather than an example of the way things are meant to be—or will remain being.