Smithers asks Jones about his law-breaking habits. Based loosely on an event in Haitian history, the play shows the decline of a former Pullman porter, Brutus Jones, who has escaped from prison to an unnamed Caribbean island. This play opens with the last of the many servants and subjects of a self-made "emperor" sneaking out from the palace and into the jungle. At the palace of the Emperor of an unidentified island in the West Indies, Smithers, a Cockney trader finds that all of the servants have left except for one old native woman. Our. Jones discovers that there are many white stones, none of which have food under them—he's in the wrong spot. The crocodile returns to river and the witch doctor disappears, but Jones just lies facedown and cries. Instant downloads of all 1408 LitChart PDFs Jones looks at his tattered shoes and decides they're making his feet hurt more. Jones is overconfident due in part to the fact that he has convinced the islanders that he possesses magical powers. Early in the morning, Jones enters another clearing by a river, still wailing. Smithers catches Jones's attention, admits that he woke Jones up, and tells Jones that he has news. He interrogates her and threatens her, and the terrified old native woman insists that … Emperor, two locomotives in the GWR Iron Duke Class Emperor , a locomotive in the South Devon Railway Buffalo class Emperor , one of the GWR 3031 Class locomotives that were built for and run on the Great Western Railway between 1891 and 1915 He confesses that he knew this day would arrive when he took the throne, since he has been stealing from the island an hiding a fortune in a foreign bank account. In the distance can be seen a vista of distant hills covered in palm trees. Smithers is disbelieving and asks Jones about the stories that Jones killed white men in the states. Smithers declares that Jones truly did trick the natives, and remarks on Jones's good luck. The Emperor Jones Summary. Find a summary of this and each chapter of The Emperor Jones! Chapter Summary for Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, scene 8 summary. When Smithers threatens her with a whip, the woman explains that all the natives have run away to the hills. Jones listens to the tom-tom and wonders if the natives have begun to cross the plain. Further, Jones says he'll kill Smithers if he doesn't straighten up. With help from Cockney adventurer Henry Smithers, Jones persuades the superstitious natives that he is a magician, and they crown him emperor. Discussion of themes and motifs in Eugene O’Neill's The Emperor Jones. The natives bought it, and Jones laughs that the natives are fools. They begin to wail rhythmically, and Jones notices them. Unscrupulously ambitious Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and through bluff and bravado finds himself the emperor of a Caribbean island. He explains that he and his men spent the night casting charms and melting their money to make silver bullets. He interrogates her to learn that the natives are plotting a revolution against the Emperor, an American fugitive named Brutus Jones. His uniform is even more torn, and he yells that he's melting in the heat. His pants are so torn, he's wearing little more than a loincloth. When Smithers apologizes, Jones insists that he's an entirely different person now. At a Baptist prayer meeting, the preacher leads a prayer for Brutus Jones, who is leaving to become a railway porter. As Jones studies the moon, a silent chain gang of black convicts walks onto the road, supervised by a white prison guard. Several hours later, the moonlight illuminates a clearing. As night falls, Jones reaches the edge of the forest. Through hallucinatory imagery and Jones' monologue we learn that Jones came to the island as a stowaway on a boat after killing a man over a game of craps and then killing a prison guard to escape from jail. Jones, terrified and enraged, shoots both men, using two more bullets. Jones notices nothing until the auctioneer calls the crowd to attention and taps Jones on the shoulder, motioning for him to get on the stump. The formless fears laugh in reply, and Jones leaps in fright. This is the 1933 “pre code” film version of the Eugene O'Neil play that many people now look on as a racist relic. Fatigued from his afternoon hike in the hot sun, Jones rests, listening to the steady beat of the drum, pulsating at a little more than 72 beats a minute, the rate of the normal heart beat. As Jones enters the clearing, he hears the clicking sound of the dice. In the center of the room is a huge chair made of uncut wood, which is obviously a throne. (including. He falls to his knees to plead with Jesus to forgive him for killing Jeff and the prison guard, and for stealing from the natives. As he does, the forest and the chain gang disappear, the tom-tom increases tempo, and Jones crashes away into the woods. Shortly after, Lem returns to tell Smithers that they killed Jones. At dawn, Lem, his soldiers, and Smithers approach the edge of the forest from the clearing. Find summaries for every chapter, including a The Emperor Jones Chapter Summary Chart to help you understand the book. When the smoke clears, Jeff is gone. He picks at his uniform, which is torn. Act 1, Scene 1 Summary The play opens on an interior of a palace in a high-ceiling room with a view from the portico looking out onto a vista of distant hills and palm trees. When the auctioneer begins the bidding, Jones realizes he's being sold at a slave auction. Jones insists he's not scared and reminds Smithers that he's an upstanding member of the Baptist Church. Brutus Jones is a former Pullman porter and convict who has escaped to an island in the West Indies and, over the course of two years, has made himself the emperor … Night has fallen sometime after 6:30 pm, and Jones has reached the edge of the dense forest. The Question and Answer section for The Emperor Jones is a great From the river, the witch doctor calls a crocodile god. Smithers seems terrified and reminds Jones that he's always been a friend, and finally tells Jones his news. eNotes critical analyses help you gain a deeper understanding of The Emperor Jones so you can excel on your essay or … The Emperor Jones Summary & Study Guide Eugene O'Neill This Study Guide consists of approximately 47 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Emperor Jones. Henry Smithers, a white trader, catches an old black woman sneaking through the emperor Brutus Jones 's throne room. Whenever he is overcome with a sense of dread or fear, he covers it over with a veneer of sureness, a dogged belief that all will work out. The Emperor Jones Character List Brutus Jones. Jones pulls out the bullet and tells Smithers that it's his good luck charm. He interrogates her to learn that the natives are plotting a revolution against the Emperor, an American fugitive named Brutus Jones. Jones comes into view on the edge of the clearing and tries to cheer himself up. When Jones rings the bell to call his servants, nobody comes. Angry, Jones lifts his arms over his head as though he has a shovel in his hands to hit the guard over the head with. Ostensibly a friend of Jones, but a profoundly racist white Cockney trader who … Jones runs away. The auctioneer tells Jones to stand on the tree stump, the auction block. GradeSaver, The Emperor Jones as a Statement on American Imperialism in Haiti, Read the Study Guide for The Emperor Jones…, View the lesson plan for The Emperor Jones…, View Wikipedia Entries for The Emperor Jones…. From his opening conversation with Jones, the viewer learns that Smithers gave Jones his start on the island by employing him, which allowed Jones to eventually become emperor. Struggling with distance learning? Henry Smithers, a Cockney adventurer, learns from a woman that the followers of Brutus Jones, the self-styled emperor of a West Indian island, are about to desert their ruler. Suddenly, he notices Jeff. "The Emperor Jones" was the 2nd of two plays I read by Eugene O'Neill, both published in 1921. Jones explains that he's not acting as emperor for the glory: he puts on a show to entertain the natives, but he just wants their money. Brutus Jones, the protagonist of the play, is a black American who has become the emperor of an unnamed island in the West Indies. Smithers warns Jones about Lem, the native chief, as Lem hates Jones. He's never seen it before and becomes terrified that there are ghosts around. To calm his nerves, Jones decides it's time to eat and he scans the ground in search of his white stone. It's late afternoon in the emperor's whitewashed throne room. Smithers knowingly asks Jones if he won't go back to the states, and Jones says he could, since he wasn't ever in jail there. However, Jones can’t find the food … He has visions of the man he killed as well as the prison guard. Smithers asks Jones if the rumors are true and he had a silver bullet made. Jones leaps up in an attempt to get away, and the auctioneer describes Jones's strengths to the assembled planters. The Emperor Jones is a 1920 play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill that tells the tale of Brutus Jones, a resourceful, self-assured African American and a former Pullman porter, who kills another black man in a dice game, is jailed, and later escapes to a small, backward Caribbean island where he sets himself up as emperor. A defining characteristic of Jones, and the motor of his hubris, is his belief that he can conjure confidence whenever he needs it. Cursing, Jones pulls out his revolver and shoots the guard in the back. Smithers laughs when he learns that the natives truly believe Jones's assertion that he can only be killed by silver bullets, and he calls Lem crazy. The clearing disappears and the tom-tom beats faster. Jones asks God to protect him as a Congo witch doctor jumps out from behind a tree. He tells himself that the fears were just pigs and urges himself into the forest. I gottter−ain't I−in my business? He's wearing a heavily decorated uniform. He cast Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, and Fredi Washington. Suddenly, the witch doctor motions to Jones, and Jones understands that he's going to be offered as a sacrifice. Jones prays to God that he doesn't see any more ghosts. Jones scoffs at the idea that his illiterate, uneducated, and superstitious subjects are capable of outsmarting him. After a moment, he composes himself and declares that it's time to resign. He says that all of this might not be true, but Jones will kill Smithers for telling anyone. Jones joins the congregation in a spiritual. The Emperor Jones was part of an amazing first year for O'Neill as a Broadway playwright. SMITHERS [Imprudently enraged]: Gawd blimey, you was glad enough for me ter take yer in on it when you Angrily, Jones draws his gun and shoots both the auctioneer and his purchaser. Summary The play opens in the late afternoon on an island in the West Indies. The witch doctor begins to dance and chant to the beat of the tom-tom, and Jones watches in fascination. Jones secretly takes up with Jeff's girl, Undine. The guard looks angrily at Jones and motions for him to join the convicts, and Jones obeys as though he's in a trance. Smithers explains that the natives have begun to prepare to cast spells. One soldier discovers the spot where Jones entered the forest. When Jones awakens, Smithers warns him of the plot and the danger of trying to make an escape through the dark forest of the island. When he finally realizes he has no shovel, he pleads with the convicts to lend him one of theirs. As the woman runs away, Smithers whistles. Try though it might to depict the horrors of white supremacy and the slave trade to show that Jones is a victim of a system that has devalued and abused him, Emperor Jones also represents blackness as akin to mindless savagery, and traffics in gross stereotypes—stereotypes that led the originator of the Brutus Jones role, Charles S. Gilpin, to have a falling out with Eugene O'Neill in the … He sounds afraid as he remarks that it sounds like dice. Copyright © 1999 - 2021 GradeSaver LLC. Scene 6 When Jones next appears, only his silver bullet remains in his gun. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. He is in a panic. He takes them off and holds them in his lap as a silent crowd of white Southerners, dressed in clothing from the 1850s, enters the clearing. The tom-tom's beat gets faster, and Jones runs back into the forest. O'Neill found inspiration for Expressionism in the work of Swedish playwright August Strindberg (1849-1912), whose A Dream Play (1902) and The Ghost Sonata (1907) explored and represented on stage complex states of mind, eschewing realistic style and imitating instead the fluid associative structure of human … GradeSaver "The Emperor Jones Summary". SMITHERS [Stung but pretending indifference−with a wink]: That's part of the day's work. Smithers reasons that the snapping could be Jones and the sound of rifles comes from the woods. He insists that the natives are stupid, his escape will be easy, and if the natives do catch him, he'll commit suicide with his silver bullet. He finds it, but instead of finding food under it, there's nothing. The revolutionaries set out into the forest to find Jones. Emperor Jones is a fascinating exploration of the mental decline of the self-imposed emperor of a small Caribbean island. As Jones sets off to escape from the revolutionaries, his mental state gradually collapses in the darkness of the forest. As he encounters each hallucination, he fires a bullet from his gun that has the rather counterintuitive effect of alerting his pursuers to his whereabouts. Smithers is disgusted, but Lem calmly tells Smithers that they'll catch Jones. Then he sells Jones to a Southern planter. The Emperor Jones study guide contains a biography of Eugene O'Neill, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. An old black native woman pokes her head around a doorway and when she decides the coast is clear, she begins to sneak across the room. After wandering for another two hours, Jones wanders into a clearing that's long and skinny, with vines creating an arched ceiling. Jones is enraged. When Smithers says that the natives are out of money, Jones laughs and says that's not true, since he's still emperor. Jones yells and threatens to hurt whoever woke him up. On the island, he quickly sets up an empire, with himself as emperor. As Smithers continues to insult the natives, Lem continues to reply with the same thing. An old white sailor, Smithers, intercepts her halfway across the floor. Jones insists that the emperor doesn't have to follow the laws, especially since "big stealin'" like he does is what made him emperor. The tom-tom's rhythm quickens, and Jones flings the match away. As the voices fade, Jones continues his mad dash through the forest. Smithers also warns Jones about the creepiness of the forest, but Jones brushes off these warnings. It's late afternoon in the emperor's whitewashed throne room. The sound of a tom-tom reaches the palace. Smithers sarcastically asks Jones where the court and the servants are, but Jones just yawns and says they're drinking rum in town—and Smithers should know this, given how much time he spends drinking with the natives. Prior the start of the play, Jones worked for ten years as a porter on Pullman sleeper trains, where he learned from listening to white passengers that "big stealin" is far more profitable than "little stealin'." “Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Jones is offended, but Smithers says that Jones's story about the silver bullet was luck: when Jones first came to the island, he got into an altercation with one of the natives and when the man's gun misfired, Jones shot him and then said that he could only be killed by silver bullets. The tom-tom reaches a fever pitch as Jones cries out, grabs his gun, and shoots the crocodile with his silver bullet. The screenplay was written by DuBose Heyward and filmed at Ka… Jones is transfixed and he addresses Jeff, wondering with fear how Jeff ended up on the island. The Emperor Jones takes place on an island in the West Indies and resides in the stylish throne room of the island’s ruler or “emperor,” Brutus Jones. Though he tries to ignore them, Jones raises his voice to join theirs. He begins seeing hallucinations of his innermost fears, in spite of being alone. They scuttle into the forest, and Jones listens to the tom-tom. Just before midnight, Jones stumbles upon a road. Lem tells him that he and the other revolutionaries melted down silver coins to make silver bullets that would kill Jones. Jones insists he's not scared of lynching. Jones turns around to scan the plain as the "little formless fears," grub-like creatures with glittering eyes, crawl out of the forest. Smithers retorts that nobody else would hire Jones once it got out that he'd been in jail in the United States, but Jones simply looks at Smithers and says that he knows Smithers has been in jail too. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. They sit along each side if the clearing, swaying as though they're in a ship. The Emperor Jones was also the first of several experiments with Expressionism for O'Neill. The heat is oppressive and he mops sweat off his brow. The Emperor Jones tells the story of Brutus Jones, a porter on a train car who, after killing a black man and then a white prison guard in the United States, escapes to a Caribbean island. A few hours later, Jones reaches a clearing with a stump in the middle of it. It takes place on and island in the West Indies. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs. Jones turns to face the forest and asks the forest if it's mocking him. The titular emperor of an unidentified West Indies island spent ten years working as a train porter in the... Smithers. Smithers tries to laugh, and Jones tells more of his story: he suggests he might've gone to jail for killing a black man who cheated him at dice, and then he might've also killed a prison guard. This study guide for Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones offers summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. He decides that lighting it was stupid, as it'll give his location away. His next hallucinations are a slave auction, a slave ship, and a Witch-Doctor in the Congo, who tries to kill him with the help of a hungry crocodile. Soldiers emerge from the forest carrying Jones's dead body. When Smithers scoffs that drinking is part of his job, Jones sneers. They gather around the stump as an attendant leads in a group of slaves. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. An old black native woman pokes her head around a doorway and when she decides the coast is clear, she begins to sneak across the room. Smithers laughs and Jones bids him goodbye. The play recounts his story in flashbacks as Brutus makes his way through the jungle in an attempt to escape former subjects who have rebelled against him. — duke1029@aol.com At a Baptist prayer meeting, the preacher leads a prayer for Brutus Jones, who is leaving to become a railway porter. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. The moonlight brightens incrementally and two rows of black men, also wearing loincloths, come into view. The doctor dances a story of being pursued by devils and as the tension rises, Jones begins chanting and beating the ground in time. Jones wails to God wondering what he'll do, since he only has his silver bullet left. Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones Chapter Summary. Smithers returns to the play in the final scene, and meets up with the leader of the insurrection, Lem, who previously tried to shoot Jones. The crocodile stares at Jones as the witch doctor motions for Jones to approach it. The Emperor Jones Summary At the palace of the Emperor of an unidentified island in the West Indies, Smithers, a Cockney trader finds that all of the servants have left except for one old native woman. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. He decides he needs to rest and throws himself onto the ground. After an earlier attempted assassination, Jones successfully constructed the myth that he can only be killed with silver bullets. LitCharts Teacher Editions. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class.”. Jones explains that at the first whiff of trouble, he'll resign, take his money, and leave. The Emperor Jones is a 1933 American pre-Code film adaptation of the 1920 Eugene O'Neill play of the same title, was made outside of the Hollywood studio system, financed with private money from neophyte wealthy producers, and directed by iconoclast Dudley Murphy, who had sought O'Neill's permission to film the play since its 1924 production in New York. In the darkness, Jones sets off into the forest with a gun loaded with five lead bullets and one silver bullet. He sees apparitions of slaves, planters, and an auctioneer. Lem smiles and tells Smithers that Jones is dead. Once on the train, Jeff, a porter, shows Jones the ropes. Jeff, the black man Jones killed in the States, crouches and throws dice on the ground. When they hear snapping twigs in the forest, Lem sends in soldiers. We'll make guides for February's winners by March 31st—guaranteed. Moments later, Brutus Jones, the emperor, enters the throne room with an annoyed, sleepy look on his face. He yells, pulls out his gun, and shoots at them. The Emperor Jones is a long, tightly constructed, one-act play with eight scenes. Jeff doesn't reply, and Jones shoots Jeff. Smithers mocks Jones's body and mocks the natives as they carry Jones away. Jones is distraught and lights a match to see better. The Emperor Jones SCENE ONE 3. He moves as though he's in a trance and sinks to his knees beside a pile of rocks that resemble an altar. Jones has no shovel but he matches the shoveling motions of the others; despite this, the guard whips him anyway. JONES [Contemptuously]: Yo' business! He intends to act as a white emperor rather than a black one by creating “an image of identity and the transformation of the subject in assuming that image”. He shoots at the crocodile with the last remaining silver bullet. Summary The play opens in "the audience chamber in the palace of the Emperor—a spacious, high-ceilinged room with bare, whitewashed walls." Jones puts a hand on his revolver and reminds Smithers to be polite. As Jones rests, he wonders where the road came from. Jones asks Jeff if he's a ghost. An old white sailor, Smithers, intercepts her halfway across the floor. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Jones pulls off his coat and flings it away. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Jones sits on his throne and demands that Smithers tell him the news. Smithers is a cantankerous white sailor and a friend of sorts of Jones 's. A planter finally purchases Jones and the auctioneer pushes Jones towards the man. When Jones notices the chain gang, the gang begins working on the road. The only item of furniture in the room is the emperor's throne, painted a bright scarlet with two orange cushions on it. Smithers angrily reminds Jones that he helped Jones when he first arrived on the island. Teachers and parents! Jones says they are, and explains that he told the natives that he'll kill himself with it. Synopsis.