Jitney (1977, 2000)
by August Wilson

Study Guide

Act One (11-60)

Act One Scene One

• What is a jitney?
• What are Becker's rules? (Note the number of ways that Becker's Rules have started to come apart among the jitney drivers. What other social institutions are fraying under the stress of economic circumstances?)

• Describe the characters who appear in Act One. What do we find out about them over the course of the twelve hours enacted in the first half of the play?

• Youngblood:
• Turnbo:
• Fielding:
• Doub:
• Shealy:
• Philmore:
• Becker:
• Rena:
• Booster:

• Even though this play only has nine characters in it, the whole Hill District in Pittsburgh bustles off stage with countless characters who come to life in the stories the jitney drivers tell. That's good playwriting. Describe the following off-stage characters and the places where they hang out. What portrait of the neighborhood is Wilson presenting?

• Pope and his new Buick Impala (The city is closing his restaurant.)
• Shealy's girls: Rosie and that 'that little yellow gal'
• Clifford's Coffee Shop right next door
  
• The Workingman's Club (where Kenny Fisher played before a big crowd last night.)
  
• The Frankstown Bar where Fillmore loves on the second floor.
  
• Mr. Pease (Pittsburgh Urban Renewal Council)
• Old Lady McNeil's grandson (he got that funny shaped head)
• Becker's wife, Lucille
• Shealy's nephew (who runs with Jenkin's boy and broke into Taylor's with old man Pitt's son):
• Cigar Annie (who is standing  in the middle of Robert Street cussing out everybody after being evicted).
• Crazy Jasper (who went crazy and jumped off the Irene Kaufman Settlement House)
• Peaches (who Youngblood has been driving around the neighborhood and she Rena's sister!)
• Mr. Harper (who is laying closing costs for a new house on Youngblood.)
  

• Think about the particular day on which August Wilson has chosen to set the action of his play. This is not any day.

• Today's the day that Becker will announce to his drivers that the Urban Renewal is moving in, he's moving out, and he's not sure that he wants to keep the business going.
• Today's the day that Fielding starts drinking on the job again and is gonna get himself fired.
• Today's the day that the antagonism between Youngblood and Turnbo breaks wide open.
• Today's the day that Rena confronts Youngblood with her suspicions about his running around with Peaches.
• Today's the day that Becker's boy, Booster, gets out of prison and comes home to meet his father.

• As you read Jitney, think about the ways that August Wilson is weaving the different strands of action together to build towards catharsis. How are the strands of the action inter-related? (ie, it is not just an accident that each of these thunderheads breaks simultaneously.)

• Act One Scene One

• Philmore's all nighter at the Working Man's Club (18-19)
• Turnbo's rant about rant about Old Lady Neil's grandsons. (20) VIDEO: "Boy, I don't know what this world is coming to."
• Becker agrees to put in a good word for Shealy's nephew at the steel plant. (21)
• Cigar Annie is in the middle of Robert Street cussing out everyone. (22)
• Turnbo claims that Youngblood is running around with Rena's sister. VIDEO: "He Ain't Got No Sense" (He's just like Crazy Jasper.) (24-25)
• Youngblood needs to pay closing costs for the house he is buying for Rena and their son. (26)

• Act One Scene Two

• What has pushed Turnbo over the edge today? (Earlier, he ranted about Old Lady Neil's grandsons (20), and now he is ranting about the ways that Youngblood disrespects him. (30-31)) What does he tell Rena? 
• Why has Rena run out of patience with Youngblood? What was the straw which broke the camel's back for her? (32-35)
• Why is Becker thinking about giving up after the city let him know that they were going to board up the place the first of the month? (36)

• Act One Scene Three

• Turnbo tells the story of Booster, becker's son. Who did Booster kill? Why? (39)
• How does the fight between Youngblood and Turnbo break out? (43)
• Describe the way Becker functions in this neighborhood: what makes his presence essential?
• How does Fielding get himself fired? (51) Who does he dream about twenty years later? (53) (VIDEO: "I Ain't Never Forgot That")

• Act One Scene Four
  

• Becker and Booster: Booker vs. Malcolm.  (VIDEO: 'Doin alright, huh?' ) (VIDEO: "You Taught Me A Lot of Things" )
• Booster on the day Mr. Rand cursed out Becker (56)
• Becker on the Death of his First Wife (58)
• Re-read Turnbo's story about how Becker's boy wound up in prison. (40-41) Then re-read the confrontation between Becker and Booster (53-60).

• Thesis: How are the strands of the action inter-related? (ie, is it just an accident that each of these thunderheads breaks simultaneously?)
• Paragraph: Think about the contrasting strategies of Booker Washington and Malcolm X. Which response to racism does Wilson support? (Malcolm vs. King)