Clybourne Park

Debate around and agreement upon shared vocabulary is a major part of both acts of the play. It begins with Bev and Russ's naïve attempts to trace the etymology of the wordNeapolitan, and subsequent words for natives of various countries. This foreshadows the debate in the opening of Act Two, when the characters struggle to come to an agreement about architectural terminology. These discussions, though, are about more than the surface subject matter. They convey the importance of knowing, and choosing to use, the correct terminology for describing someone or something. They also show the significance of ignorance, whether willful or unwitting. For example, Jim urges Karl to use the term “Negro,” the preferred term in the 1950s, rather than “colored,” an outdated, even racist term, in his discussion about the family who bought Russ and Bev's house. Karl insists that he "said Negro to them" (28), the “them” in this case being the black family. When discussing "the Wheeler boy," (10) Russ uses the now-outdated word "mongoloid" (10), and taps his head to implicate the boy's developmental disability; at another point, and out of anger, Russ refers to him as "retarded" (38). The boy becomes "Mr. Wheeler" in the second act. Lena and Kevin both refrain from using words to describe him, also employing Russ's head-tap gesture. 

Interruptions plague mostof the dialogue in Clybourne Park. In numerous exchanges, the characters speak over or at the same time as each other, or change topics at inappropriate times, resulting in constant miscommunication and misunderstanding. Each character seems set on having their voice heard over others' voices. This resembles the struggle for representation faced by marginalized populations daily, and the space-taking enacted by members of dominant populations. Karl commits most of the interruptions in the first act, in a mode similar to how Steve does in the second act. Both men are stubborn and intent on having their opinions heard the loudest, and both men express racist, sexist, and/or homophobic opinions. By contrast, Lena tries to jump into the conversation with such politeness that she doesn't get to speak her piece until well into the second act. 

The first act of the play concerns itself with white flight, while the second act addresses gentrification. Post-WWII, many American cities experienced an exodus of white residents to surrounding suburbs, and a simultaneous influx of residents of color. This was driven by many factors, including whites' fears of property values being driven down by having neighbors of color, racist real estate practices, and desegregation of public schools. Money followed the movement to the suburbs, and, as a result, some American cities experienced urban decay, a process by which a previously thriving city falls into disrepair. In the 1990s and 2000s, money came back into areas of some cities via gentrification, where affluent residents or investors buy and renovate homes and businesses in previously rundown areas. Gentrification has mixed results. Revitalization is one outcome, but the more common consequence is displacement of people whose residences or businesses predate the gentrification, as they are often priced out of their own neighborhoods. In the United States, many of these residents are people of color.