Notesale: Turn your study into money

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What purpose does the opening scene serve in this play as a whole?
C: The scene creates a mood or a tension that captures the audience’s attention
immediately
...
Lincoln, the older one of
the brothers and the one that Parks identifies as the topdog used to be a
successful three-card monte player until his partner got shot, after which Lincoln
gave up cards and found a legitimate job instead
...
Suzan-Lori Parks chooses to open the play with
Booth’s monologue and the demonstration of his poor skills when it comes to
playing three-card monte, and then go on to introduce the character of Lincoln
and jump straight into the action
...


The very first thing a reader or an audience member will notice are the stage
directions or the way the stage is set together with the stage business if a
character is present – aspects which Parks uses effectively to draw in the
audience from the very beginning
...
” immediately catches attention of the audience for several
reasons: the room clearly belongs to somebody from a poor background as there
isn’t a bathroom, kitchen, or any other facilities that the general audience is used
to
...
Secondly, the description of Booth’s
moves as “studied and awkward” especially together with the later mention of
Lincoln “[standing] right behind Booth” without Booth’s awareness of Lincoln’s
presence suggests the relationship between those two characters, and already
creates a tense mood
...

Parks chooses to let the dialog flow naturally, as if it was ordinary speech of
lower class members, yet loads it with foreshadowing that is too subtle for a
reader reading the play for the first time to notice, and hence she adds to the
creation of a tense mood which the audience can feel but is unable to describe
...


Parks seized the chance to jump straight into the action and since the play is
intertwined with tense mood that constantly requires all of the audience’s
attention, the opening scene is not any different in this matter
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