Have You Seen Us? Themes

Have You Seen Us? presents two types of prejudice: personal prejudices based on one’s experiences, and systemic prejudices based on widespread cultural stereotypes and hatreds. The play portrays individualized prejudices as relatively easy to work through, whereas systemic prejudices are much harder to overcome. Much of the play involves combative conversation between Henry Parsons, a South African former professor and intermittently recovering alcoholic, and Adela Venegas, a Mexican waitress who works at a…

Have You Seen Us? represents different immigrant communities in the U.S. as divided by their racial backgrounds and national origins, but it also suggests that the American immigrant experience can offer common ground to people of different racial backgrounds and nationalities. Initially, the play shows two of its main characters, White South African ex-professor Henry Parsons and Mexican waitress Adela Venegas, as divided by their different countries of origin despite the fact that both…

Have You Seen Us? illustrates how religion can either reinforce cultural prejudice or help to transcend it, depending on whether a person follows their religion shallowly or sincerely. In the play, main character Henry Parsons grew up in a culturally Christian milieu but is not himself religious. One Christmas Eve, he encounters a Jewish couple, Solly and Rachel, outside of a sandwich shop and casually wishes them a “happy Christmas.” When Solly expresses thanks…

Though Have You Seen Us? focuses mostly on prejudices based in religion, race, and immigration status, it subtly suggests that gender is another major area of prejudice in the modern world. The play’s central character, White South African ex-professor Henry Parsons, has an initially hostile and combative relationship with another central character, Mexican waitress Adela Venegas. The two characters sometimes play a nasty “game” in which each attempts to wound and humiliate the…