King Hedley II

How does this play depict masculinity? What do the various male characters consider to be ethical, right, honorable, and masculine? Do those definitions shift within the course of the play? If so, how?

Discuss Tonya’s characterization. How does she speak to the way that the neighborhood has changed and to the climate of racism and inequality that makes life difficult within Pittsburgh’s Hill District?

What common themes can you identify between this and any of Wilson’s other plays? How does he trace these themes through each decade, showing the way that life both changes and remains the same for Black people in Pittsburgh?

How does this play speak to contemporary conversations about mass incarceration and the schools-to-prisons pipeline? What points of connection can you find between its representation of these phenomena and other depictions within popular culture?

Discuss the play’s representation of fractured relationships. How are each of these characters defined in part by the relationships that they struggle in with friends and family?

Discuss the theme of structural racism and the American dream. How does racism impact the lives of Black Americans hoping to find the same success as their white counterparts?

How are handguns used as a motif? What do they represent within the world of the play and which of its themes do they speak to?

What do King’s seeds represent? How does the hope that he nurtures that his seeds will grow speak to the hopes and dreams he has for his own life?