Review Of Paul Laurence Dunbar's 'The Sport Of The Gods'

Environment in Dunbar’s The Sport of the Gods The Sport of the Gods presents a variety of literary devices that when combined create a strong work of fiction. Paul Laurence Dunbar, the author, focuses on characterization and setting to shape the lives of an African American family, the Hamiltons. The Hamilton family consists of Berry, Fanny, Kit, and Joe. Dunbar moved his characters from the Southern United States to New York City to record the effects of a new environment upon them. New York is a typical, large American city that has potential to warp aspiring individuals such as the Hamiltons. Setting and characterization work together to create individual characters with many layers. It can be questioned whether the Hamiltons themselves can be held responsible for what happens to them after their migration.
The setting illuminates the darkness in the lives of the central characters.
The early chapters of the novel emphasize the unwillingness of other African American families in the Southern town to befriend the Hamiltons. This feeling of resentment toward the Hamiltons is because of the way they set themselves above other members of their race: “W’enevah you see niggahs gittin’ so high dat dey own folks ain’ good enough fu’ ‘em, look out” (21). These feelings carry out when Joe searches for employment in black barbershops. In the past, Joe refused to shave a black mans head despite being black himself. Like Joe, Fanny becomes frustrated when people she had known her entire life refuse to allow her to rent property after she was evicted from the Oakley cottage. Not only does Berry’s disgrace show the resistance of the townspeople towards them, but it shows the Hamilton’s own flaws as well. This turn of events cause the Hamiltons to migrate to New York, a city they believe holds the key to their success. However, the Hamiltons find that their pride and arrogance follow them despite the
setting. Although a large frame is needed in order to describe the city thoroughly, the negative influence of the city on the Hamiltons is through the city’s nightspots. One such place, the Banner Club, entices Joe soon after his arrival to the north: “Of course, the place was a social cesspool, generating a poisonous miasma and reeking with the stench of decayed and rotten moralities. There is no defense to be made for it. But what do you expect when false idealism and fevered ambition come face to face with catering cupidity? (66). The Banner Club offers a special appeal to members who share a similar set of morals, those who prey upon each other in a “fraternity of indolence” (84). The Hamiltons and the other minor African American figures in the Northern setting are men and women transformed by the urban life so much that they inevitably become a special class of people who take pride in idleness and poverty. Dunbar designed the novel this way in order to convince us that the city holds a destructive influence on Joe. This shows that environment can shape lives despite characteristics inherited from previous locations. Setting attributes to the shortcomings of the characters. Their individual personalities bring about their misfortunes as well. Leading up to Hattie Sterlings murder, Joe let his needs for alcohol and sex to overwhelm him. Joe strangles Hattie because she grew tired of his consistent drinking and rejected him. Joe’s egocentricity and alcoholism are his main personal weaknesses. His egocentricity is present in both the South and the North however, the alcoholism only became an issue in the urban environment. Similarly, Kit displays flaws of character in New York that were clear to the townspeople in the South. After Kit became aware that Joe is a murderer she abandoned her family by refusing to give Fanny money for the attorney and she tells herself that “it was for the best” (121). Kits vanity increases after she becomes a Harlem star, she wants to seek a life in the North “in which the chief aim was the possession of good clothes and the ability to attract the attention which she had learned to crave” (121). Kit had learned to crave this attention in the South where she had “the prettiest clothes of any of her race in the town” (3). In addition, Fanny is guilty of excessive pride. This becomes evident in New York when her strong moral values don’t change. The consequence of her pride emerges when Minty visits the North. Minty arrives at Fanny’s boarding house and is immediately denied admission into the Hamilton’s new residence. Minty retaliates by informing the landlady of Berry’s conviction resulting in their eviction. Fanny’s pride, Kit’s vanity, and Joe’s idleness and alcoholism are personal traits, which New York City is not solely responsible for. Although the North is not fully to blame it can be concluded that living in an urban environment stimulated these negative characteristics. Sadness warns against the migration of Southern African Americans to the North: “Here is another example of the pernicious influence of the city on untrained negroes. Oh, is there no way to keep these people from rushing away from the small villages and country districts where they cannot battle with the terrible force of a strange and unusual environment?” (119). The move to New York causes crises that stem from the restrictions placed upon African Americans in the South. New York offers political and social opportunities that are unavailable to the Hamiltons. Although the city is distinct from the country, it proves to be just as much as a troubled place for African Americans. Even though the Northern characters such as Sadness recognize the limitations that exist in both places, they also know there is nothing they can do to stop the migration. By dissolving the Hamilton family Dunbar does not destroy the city as a space for equal rights. He strips the city of false illusions. In the South an African American’s body is trapped while his soul is free—in the North the body is free while his soul is trapped. The tension between the city and the country played an integral function in characterization in The Sport of the Gods. If not for the high hopes of the Hamiltons they would not have experienced the grand disappointment when they found the North was not what they were expecting. The urban environment warped their characters and focused on their negative qualities. When put together, setting and characterization formed and urban identity for Fanny, Joe, and Kit. Citation Dunbar, Paul. The Sport of the Gods. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print.