Cookie and Grace in Suzan-Lori Parks‟ Topdog/Underdog: A Critical Character Sketch

• Main Author: Intisar Sabah Alshammari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lasting Impressions Press 2017-12-01
• Series: International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies
• Subjects: Africa-American Literature; Suburbia; Sex Studies; Homosocial bond; Erotic triangle; Feminism.
• Online Access: http://www.eltsjournal.org/archive/value5%20issue4/9-5-4-17.pdf

Most of the critical reviews of Suzan Lori-Parks‟ Topdog/ Underdog fail to give Cookie and Grace the same treatment they give to Lincoln and Booth, or the parents. They treat Cookie and Grace as merely the work of Booth and Lincoln‟s imagination because of their absence on stage. On the other hand, Lincoln and Booth‟s parents, who do not show up on stage as well, receive a fair amount of analysis and recognition. The parents have a major impact on the makeup of the brother‟s psychological and social side. They serve to reveal different layers of meanings in reading Lincoln and Booth‟s characters. Thus, it is a valid attempt to try and give Cookie and Grace the same treatment; to dig deep into the meaning of their existence and what they reveal about the protagonists. In this respect, this paper mainly focuses on how the female characters are used to overcompensate their lack of masculinity as defined by modern American society and to create a homosocial bond between them