Illusion of Escape is an alternative interpretation of a classic werewolf story by way of focusing on the subtext of the story taking place within the American plantation block. By approaching the werewolf transformation story in this way, I’ve constructed a look of the false transformation by way of minstrelsy and appropriation. Minstrelsy's long-lasting appeal in our culture comes from the “Flexibility of standards” it is believed to afford the participants. Taboos, emotions, and language are restricted by society, and often, whiteness can be addressed with a black facade. It can make the participant feel safe to approach what is often off-limits and gain a sense of power and freedom not present in their place in society.
The piece depicts a feminine pale hand surrounded by white lace peaking out from underneath a ridiculous and ferocious cartoon of a creature. The creature is her outlet for what she can’t obtain in her restrictions of white womanhood in the plantation block. But this momentary freedom is all an illusion. To acquire real freedom or the ability to go beyond the critique of society would be to exist in a way that is not burdened by the same restrictions. The dichotomy of the white lace and the black fur does not call to mind the realities of race but the idea of the Black subject. Similar to how minstrelsy’s, “Stump speech was used to make fun of black people’s ‘alleged insecure hold on language’ but actually made fun of language itself and its ‘insecure hold on the world’ minstrelsy was used to vent apprehensions on how tenuous language is (Mackey 280).”, the American Idea of blackness or the black exterior has less to do with black people and more to do with a societal critique.
Baldwin talks about how to acquire newness, one must be willing to give up what or who they think they are. This werewolf was unable to sacrifice who she was in her society and instead opted to air her frustrations through appropriation. The evidence of what got her is present in her missing hand that was no doubt separated while in her creature form, but slipping back into her human form and place in society does not heal. The illusion of that freedom is broken.
