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Act 2, Scene 6: Zoot Suit Riots
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Zoot Suit, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism, Nationalism, and Scapegoating
Self-Presentation and Cultural Identity
Public Perception and the Press
Advocates vs. Saviors
Summary
Analysis
When Henry gets out of solitary confinement, he asks Alice why she’s working so hard to help him, and she says it’s because she can’t stand to see other people face mistreatment. As a Jewish woman, she has experienced what it’s like to face discrimination. “If you lose, I lose,” Alice says. She also says that she spends all of her time looking forward to seeing Henry. In response, Henry says that he thought about Alice constantly when he was in solitary confinement. He then tries to get her to admit that she has feelings for him, but she holds back because she doesn’t want to complicate their relationship. In order to help him, she says, she has to be his friend and nothing else—not, as she says, his “white woman.”
It’s clear that Henry and Alice have feelings for each other, but they aren’t in a situation where it makes sense for them to be together. First of all, Henry is in jail and is also still dating Della. More importantly, though, Alice doesn’t want to become Henry’s lover because she fears this might get in the way of her ability to support him. This might seem rather ironic, since becoming even closer to Henry would ostensibly make him feel more supported, but Alice is probably right to keep her distance, since other people might think the only reason she’s helping him is because she loves him, not because she believes in his innocence. To remain a truly effective advocate, then, Alice must refrain from entering into a romantic relationship with him.
Themes
Alice begins to cry, but her tears turn to laughter. She and Henry then start kissing, but the guard interrupts and tells Alice she has to leave. Before she departs, she tells Henry that Rudy is now in the Marines. When Alice leaves, Henry looks for El Pachuco, trying to tell him that he was wrong to be so pessimistic about the case, which Henry now thinks they can win. However, El Pachuco is nowhere to be found. As Henry calls out to him, the guard appears and tells him that the state is transferring him and the others to Folsom Prison. As the guard takes Henry away, El Pachuco appears. He’s elevated off the ground in a zoot suit, and Henry catches a glimpse of him as he raises his arms. Just then, the lights cut out and bombs begin to fall.
El Pachuco’s disappearance is worth noting, since it comes shortly after he was beaten and stripped by white servicemen in the Zoot Suit Riots. However, here he reappears more triumphant than ever, apparently hovering over the stage and once more wearing a zoot suit, thereby suggesting that racism and hatred can’t keep him down. In keeping with this, Henry feels optimistic about his appeal, filled with hope and love because of Alice’s advocacy efforts and, of course, the fact that they kissed.
Themes
