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The Importance of Visibility

Blog Prompt #3: The New Yorker describes Lynn Nottage as having "built a career on making invisible people visible." How does Sweat accomplish this and do you think enabling visibility is important? Why or why not?

The entire play is dedicated to uncovering the injustices faced by working-class Americans. Every character experiences these inequities differently while navigating life in industrialized Reading, Pennsylvania. At the beginning of each scene, Nottage includes a short snippet discussing the news, big events, and weather on a specific date. These often include political events (presidential elections/debates) or economic events (Dow Jones/stock market), but never the events taking place in the actual plot. This shows how the news only showcases events that occur on the macro level, making them visible. However, the effects of the big decisions (NAFTA, presidential elections, etc.) are not shown in national headlines, even though most Americans deal with them. Therefore, Nottage aims to make these seemingly "invisible" people the center of her story. 

Nottage accomplishes this in many ways - highlighting different aspects of the working-class experience through different characters. Jason falls into white supremacy, with "white supremacist tattoos inked across his face" (5). This seems to be his reaction to the horrible living conditions he faced, revealing that tough life experiences can cause individuals to blame/hate each other. Stan suffers some of the worst consequences after anger over job losses causes violence, leaving him with "a traumatic brain injury" that makes him incapable of even picking up a cloth (112). On the other hand, Brucie suffers from drug addiction as he tries to deal with the pressures and stress of living in a low-income area. He not only negatively impacts himself, but he also affects the rest of his family, especially after he steals Cynthia's "Christmas presents under the tree" and her "expensive new tropical fish" (17). All of these characters are "invisible" in the real world, but Nottage makes them visible by sharing their experiences - experiences faced by many working-class Americans today.







In my opinion, the visibility of people of all genders, sexual orientations, races, classes, etc is incredibly important for society. Visibility encourages education and reduces misconceptions about different people, allowing for a healthier and less hateful culture. Furthermore, seeing people like yourself represented in the media makes you feel seen and affirmed in your identity. Therefore, we should work towards including all different people in bigger spaces.

Comments

  1. Arya ShahNovember 12, 2023 at 12:46 PM

    I love how you discussed the short summaries of the events in "Sweat", it shed light on a part of the story I never really considered its significance of. However, I do suggest connecting the meme to your writing. I interpreted it as the working class going mad carrying everyone but no one to support them. Overall, I enjoyed reading your response!

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