Enduring Love Act 1 Scene 5

In this short play we are taken into the world of 1920’s life of a black woman. The play is divided into 2 major parts. The first three scenes are set in the past, 1900 and the last scene is set in present day 1920s. In short manner it depicts a life of a black woman troubled by her extensive jealousy and deep hatred for her dark skin color.
Scene 1 is when we are first introduced to the main character of the play, Emmaline. She is a dancer and she is headed, with the rest of the crew, to a cake walk. We immediately know that John Turner and Emma are a couple because John explains that they were late for the train because Emma was griming for him smiling to Effie. At first Effie doesn’t seem to be an important part of the play but we soon
realize that the main reason by Emma is jealous of her is the color of her skin. With the introduction of the characters we learned that Emma is a black woman and John’s a light brown skinned man. This seems to be the reason why Emma is so “scared” that John will leave her for a mulatto girl, and gets a jealousy attack every time John looks at another girl, especially a mulatto girl. John tries to reason with her on several occasions, telling Emma that he loves her, and only her but is also hurt every time she accuses him of looking light skinned girls. In scene 1 Emma declares that the only love she has is the jealous love: “EMMA: Then you don’t want my love, John, ‘cause I can’t help mahself from being jealous. I loves you so hard, John, and jealous love is the only kind I got.”
In the Scene Two we are taken to the dancing hall where the cake walk will be held. Everyone is excited and certain that Emma and John will win the competition. Everyone settles down in available seats, getting ready to eat. We are once again reminded of Emma’s dislikes of her own skin color by John who tries to reassure her by saying: “JOHN: … De darker de berry, de sweeter de taste. “
Everyone sits down to eat before the show begins. Situation seems calm between John and Emma but soon Effie comes by offering them her blueberry pie. Emma takes offence by this act, stating that she also made pie and they don’t need hers. In the whole play Effie seems oblivious that she is the reason for Emma’s jealous tantrums, or the writer wanted us to focus just on Emma and her inner demons.
John tries to reason with Emma once again, pledging her to act nice and polite, but Emma just doesn’t care if everyone can her. Her jealousy is blinding her, making not care for politeness. She wants to make clear to Effie that she should stay away from her man. But everyone around them is laughing and talking so no one, not even Effie can hear Emma and her bitterness. As the dance show begins, and Joe Clark announces the participants Emma becomes nervous and pleads John to leave and go home with her. She fears that all of the girls will be throwing themselves on John and she is afraid she will not be able to fight against all of them, and that John will surely fall for one of the light skinned girls. She keeps repeating that she loves him and she tries to pull him away from the show but this seems to be way to much for John. He doesn’t want his yearlong practice to go to waste and finally pulls away and walks on stage without her. As he leaves Emma she once more declares her hatred for light skinned girls: “EMMA: Oh – them yaller wrenches! How I hate ‘em! They gets everything they wants –“
Emma believes that John has left her, broken up with her just because he did not see reason in her pleas.
Scene III is the shortest one. Giving us a brief description of the dance that lasted only 7 to 9 minutes and we learn that John and Effie have won the cake walk.
Scene IV happened 20 years after the dance.
Emma lives alone with her mulatto daughter in a small one-room shack. Her daughter is sick and just as she wanted to go get the doctor again John Turner shows on her doors. For a few brief moments Emma allows herself to believe that she could be happy again, and that John Turner still loves her. She is promised a marriage even though she has an illegitimate daughter. John promises her that he will take them both in, and that he will love her daughter as his own. He doesn’t seem to be surprised that her daughter was a mulatto. John tries to reassure Emma that everything will be fine and that they will be happy again after 20 years of not seeing each other. But all hope vanishes from Emma’s mind when she sees John on Lou Lillian’s bed, taking care of her. All of her doubts and fears come back rushing, and once again she accuses John that he just can’t stay away from light skinned girls. It seems that this time John just had enough. For twenty years he was longing for her, adored her and worshiped her, and once again she dismissed everything because she hates her skin color and believes that John couldn’t love her. John leaves her once and for all and due to her preoccupation with John and her jealousy her daughter dies, and she is left all alone once
again.

This is an interesting story of a black woman living all of her life feeling inferior to light skinned girls. One can’t help to wonder what brought this on. Was her upbringing the main reason to such inferiority? Throughout the Emma states that mixed race girls always get what they want and how they wanted.
“EMMA: Oh, them half whites, they gets everything, they gets everything everybody else wants! The men, the jobs—everything! The whole world is got a sign on it. Wanted: Light colored. Us blacks was made for cobble stones. “
Her fears and insecurities are reflected in her morbidly jealousy.
Emma cannot find an emotional and social sanctuary in her rural black culture due to her dark skin color, and the writer does not give us any indication of the racism Emma had to endure with. She is totally blind by her hatred toward her own skin color. But not all of her jealousy is without reason. Early in the play John’s behavior toward Effie can be seen as provocation; he knows how Emma fells toward mixed race girls and he still applauds Effie after her dancing and even choses her as his dance partner when Emma refuses to take part. And even toward the end his idolization of mulatto girls is shown with his fascination with Lou Lillian’s long, straight
hair.
The important point is that John, as a man, has been empowered by the black community to manage his colorism to his benefit. All the same, the story is totally different for Emma for whom as a black woman, no social and economic upward movement is possible; that’s the reason she appears mentally and physically the same after twenty years in scene IV.