Can you identify and explain at least three conflicts in Mine Eyes Have Seen?

Mine Eyes Have Seen contains an African-American family of three siblings who have migrated to the North from the South, an immigrant Irish widow with five children, and a Russian immigrant. What do these characters, now neighbors, have in common? What does each character contribute to the discussion concerning Chris’s being drafted and potentially serving in the military? Please explain.

DO NOT ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN A 1-24 FORMAT! THE QUESTIONS ARE THERE AS A GUIDE. THE ASSIGNMENT QUESTION IS ABOVE^^^^^

Fact-Based Information (Fact-based information is presented as a series of questions (some with statements), which you should be able to answer after reading the play.)

1. Can you identify and explain at least three conflicts in Mine Eyes Have Seen?

2. At the close of Mine Eyes Have Seen, Cornelia states, “As He died to make men holy, let us die to make Them Free!” Who is the “He” to whom Cordelia refers? Who is the “us” to whom Cordelia refers?

3. What is Dan’s philosophy and position on the question of whether Chris should serve?

4. What is the play’s setting?

5. What do we learn from Mine Eyes Have Seen about African-American life before 1918?

6. How was Dan injured?

7. How did Dan, Lucy, and Chris’s parents die?

8. Dan and Lucy have a very revealing conversation about their former lives in the South. What do we learn from this conversation?

9. We see that Dan, Lucy, and Chris live in a diverse neighborhood: they have neighbors who are Irish and Jewish. Can you discern anything that unites these neighbors?

10. What is “a settlement worker”?

11. Bill Harvey is identified as a muleteer. What is a muleteer?

12. Can you identify Chris’s two obligations, as he sees them?

13. What two names does Dan call Chris? Why?

14. What is Lucy’s disability?

15. Dan tells Chris that African Americans have served bravely in every American war before World War I: 1776, 1812, 1861, and 1898. Can you name the war that began in each of the above listed years?

16. How was Mrs. O’Neill’s husband killed?

17. What effect, if any, does the marching band’s playing The Battle Hymn of the Republic have on the characters in the play?

18. What is Ms. Dunbar-Nelson’s reason for writing Mine Eyes Have Seen?

19. What was happening in Europe in 1918 when Mine Eyes Have Seen was written and produced?

20. What was happening in America in 1918 when Mine Eyes Have Seen was written and produced?

21. Can you explain the position of each character in the play on the question: Should Chris serve in the American military?

22. Can you identify at least three themes in the play Mine Eyes Have Seen?

23. Do you have an opinion on whether or not Chris will serve? Why? What causes you to take this position?

24. What do you believe is Ms. Dunbar-Nelson’s position on whether or not Chris will serve?