Powerlessness In Anne Deavere Smith's Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
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In Anne Deavere Smith’s book Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, the overlying theme and message that struck me the most was power. One of the most fascinating things about the book happens to be the fact that there are several different ways one might look at this. One might think that the theme of abuse of power persists among the police and government, but one also might believe that the theme of powerlessness was a prominent feature in the people of Los Angeles, most specifically those deeply affected by the riots. Anne Deavere Smith shows how humanity has an automatic trait of powerlessness if the subject is put in the right situation. Ranging from the trials to the interviews to the riots themselves, one of the most captivating things I noticed was how that specific feeling of powerlessness differed from place to place.…show more content… Elaine Young is a real estate agent living an idyllic life in Beverly Hills: “Well maybe I should lead up to explain why I said what I did and how frightened / Why I was so frightened / On the day of the riot, we were sitting here safe and sound in Beverly Hills” (Deavere Smith 38) How does where someone live affect how they feel in a situation like this? Although living in such a prosperous neighborhood only went to her benefit, she still was frightened. She still was bound to feel powerless if the majority of the city was in ruins, constantly becoming more and more terrorized by the police. Then you can compare this to the much more prominent feeling of powerlessness accentuated throughout the book. In fact, Rodney King himself had that. What was he to do while he was being beaten? He couldn’t get up. He couldn’t call the police for