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In Blues for Mister Charlie, guns represent how in a white-supremacist society, Black people are denied the right to legitimate self-defense. Early in the play, Lorenzo, a Black student who has been protesting for civil rights, points out that white counter-protestors have been trying to kill the Black protestors, the white police won’t protect Black people—and the Black protestors have “no guns.” In a flashback occurring later in the play, a young Black man, Richard Henry, tells his grandmother Mother Henry that he has a gun and means to use it if attacked—horrifying her, implicitly because she believes white people would kill him if they found out he possessed a weapon. Later, to soothe his grandmother, Richard gives the gun to his father, the Christian minister Meridian Henry, for safekeeping. After Richard—while unarmed—is shot to death by a virulently racist white store owner named Lyle Britten, Meridian wonders aloud to his white friend Parnell James whether he did the right thing in asking Black protestors not to secure weapons and to protest only nonviolently. When Parnell argues that Black people would “be slaughtered” if they took up arms, Meridian observes that Black people are being “slaughtered anyway.” Thus, guns represent a catch-22 for Black Americans in a white-supremacist society: they will be killed for securing guns with the intention of defending themselves against racist violence—but they will also be killed if they are unarmed.
This catch-22 becomes even clearer during Lyle’s trial for Richard’s murder. Though Lyle shot Richard to death, the defense lawyer (called only The State) spends a great deal of time trying to establish whether Richard had a gun, erroneously implying that Richard’s having a gun would justify Lyle’s murder of him. Thus, in the play, guns represent how only white people are allowed to defend themselves with violence; Black people are treated as suspicious and killed if they defend themselves—but they’re also killed if they don’t defend themselves.
Guns Quotes in Blues for Mister Charlie
The Blues for Mister Charlie quotes below all refer to the symbol of Guns. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1
Quotes
Juanita: And then you wouldn’t be any better than they are.
Lorenzo: I don’t want to be better than they are, why should I be better than they are? And better at what? Better at being a doormat, better at being a corpse?
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Act 3
Quotes
Lorenzo: They been asking me about photographs they say he was carrying and they been asking me about a gun I never saw. No. It wasn’t like that. He was a beautiful cat, and they killed him.
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Get the entire Blues for Mister Charlie LitChart as a printable PDF.
Guns Symbol Timeline in Blues for Mister Charlie
The timeline below shows where the symbol Guns appears in Blues for Mister Charlie. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
...access to an obsolete library. Now white people are killing them, while they don’t have guns and the police won’t protect them.
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Richard takes out a gun and tells Mother Henry that he’ll “take one of the bastards with me” if he...
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...warn them in case white men came around there. Lorenzo laments that they have no guns like Freddy Roberts—and suggests that white men wouldn’t feel so confident about invading Black neighborhoods...
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...it and asks forgiveness. Richard claims “there’s nothing to forgive”; then he takes out his gun, says it upset Mother Henry, and asks Meridian to hold it for him—until Richard asks...
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...still—and wonders aloud whether it was a mistake to counsel the Black townspeople against having guns. Parnell argues that if the Black townspeople had guns, they’re the ones who’d be killed....
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...would find someone competent to lead them. Parnell asks whether he means “someone with a gun.” Meridian says that before they were converted to Christianity, Black people weren’t raised to “turn...
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Act 2
...two on one, Lorenzo points out that he never touched Lyle—Lyle’s no good without his gun. Lyle threatens them with jail. Lorenzo claims they’ve been in jail already and says he’ll...
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Act 3
...himself and naked white women. Lorenzo says no—people keep asking him about photos and a gun, but Lorenzo never saw either. The judge dismisses Lorenzo.
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...in town feels Mrs. Henry’s pain—but then asks whether Richard came to town with a gun. Mother Henry says she never saw a gun—and repeats it even when the State reminds...
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...says that Meridian, as a minister, certainly wouldn’t have encouraged his son to carry a gun. Meridian says he and Richard never really discussed that—he never saw Richard carry a gun,...
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...but not Meridian. Parnell objects, saying he served in the army alongside Black soldiers with guns. The State points out that soldiers have “a common enemy.”
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...reaction to its racial politics. The State asks whether Richard told Black people to carry guns or showed around photos of naked white women. Parnell says he never heard of Richard...
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When Lyle pulls out a gun, Richard asks why Lyle won’t stop harassing him, saying that he wants nothing from white...
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...suggests that things began and may end for Black people with “the Bible and the gun.” Juanita asks what Meridian did with the gun. When Parnell asks whether they have Richard’s...
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