Essay Questions

What is the meaning of Booth's girl being named Grace?

Booth has been with Grace for years. She had left him for cheating on her, and now he wants her back. Her name is significant because Booth is in need of undeserved favor in his life to be loved even though his actions should turn people away. Grace was Booth's lifeline as he is a man who needs love. So, when she rejects him it is a far deeper wound, a fracturing of his soul, that leads to him killing her.

What is the significance of Lincoln and Booth's relationship to their parents?

Parks has created a play that reveals life in America as a black man. And, she has given them a very clear background as they come from parents that abandoned them without warning and expected them to figure out their lives on their own at 11 and 16. Parks is revealing a broken system that has never been there to support black families, which has led to a generational abandonment of children who are left to inherit poverty, not only financially, but a mindset of poverty that leads to poor decisions, making life worse and worse.

How does naming the characters Lincoln and Booth add to the play?

Parks names the characters in an obvious manner and even dresses Lincoln up as someone who portrays Abraham Lincoln on a daily basis at his job. It can seem absurd, but it adds incredible value to the tone of the play as there are scenes where one feels that this could be a moment of Lincoln getting revenge, all before the power swings back in favor of Booth. And, their names create a set in understanding of what the relationship will come to as the history of Lincoln's death is tied into the blood of the American people with Booth being the murderer.