Topsy Revisited- Chorus Member #1

"Sometimes I feel like a Topsy."

What?

"Or maybe I shouldn't say that. Maybe that's fucked up."

You're darn right it is. If the white girl in my Smith class hadn't caught herself, I might have had to slap her. We were discussing Rush Hour, and why characters like the one Chris Tucker played aren't seen as controversial. The point that the girl was trying to make before her slip-up was that Topsy-like characters are seen as fun-loving, comedic roles. These free-spirited clowns are appealing because they allow the actor to connect with a part of themselves that the role of the "stoic hero" might not. Okay, understandable. But the character of Topsy has a very complicated history that she seemed to have ignored. '

Topsy is a black character from Harriet Beecher Stowe's (in)famous novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Although I haven't read the novel, I have read a play adaptation by George Aiken. In the play, is the antithesis to young Eva. While Eva is pious and angelic, Topsy is a monstrosity that lies, steals and causes general mischeif. Eva evokes love and sympathy from the other characters; Topsy is treated with caution and at best, barely tolerated. She has lines like "I's so wicked" and says that she "Never was born". In many ways, Topsy represents America's perception of all young black children. She is just another pickaninny, devilish and disposable.

Robert Alexander does a very interesting interpretation of Uncle Tom's Cabin called "I Ain't Yo Uncle!" In his play, he has the black characters of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" put Harriet Beecher Stowe on trial for portraying them so inaccurately. He gives depth to his characters, and the Topsy character is no exception. In the play, she is a brash, unforgiving character who raps about her "wickedness." By the end of the play, and the trial, the Topsy character comes out dressed in "hip hop clothes", holding a boombox and violently rapping. Uncle Tom ends the play by asking the audience, "Any volunteers to take Topsy? Y'all think she come from nowhere? Do 'ya spect she just growed?"

I don't know if Topsy is a mischievous trickster, or an example of angry black youth. Either way, there is a lot more going on with this character than just a clown.