Analysis of the play FLORENCE by Alice Childress

This 1950 play by Alice Childress takes place in a train station waiting room in a very small town in the south. The play describes how Miss Whitney, an old black woman, discovers that her premonition of the success of her daughter, Florence, as a black actress is undesirably similar to that of a racist, white society. This troubling discovery has just as strong an impact on the reader as it does on Miss Whitney. This …

…colleges. This makes it known to the reader that Miss Whitney feels it "takes an awful lot of goin' to school to be anything." (Childress.1322) Mr. Brown also informs Miss Whitney that his brother saw Florence in a movie. This excites Miss Whitney only for a second as she proceeds to ask Mr. Brown about his brother's aspirations, as if it were more interesting. The conversation is short due to the entrance of Mrs. Carter.