Abstract

August Wilson’s Two Trains Running tells the life predicaments of the patrons at Memphis’ restaurant in the 1960s. Though Wilson avoids addressing the interracial conflicts and movements on stage to eschew protesting and propaganda, they as social background could not be totally ignored in the play. The paper analyses Wilson’s use of symbolic characters, off-stage space and storytelling to show how the playwright implies his assessment of the black political movements and of the political awareness of common blacks in1960s.

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