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
The dance scene gradually dissipates as a newsboy enters and begins selling papers to random passersby, announcing that a grand jury will hear the case of the Sleepy Lagoon murder. Meanwhile, a group of reporters flock to Lieutenant Edwards, asking him about the case and wanting to know more about the “Mexican crime wave” the newspapers have been referencing. In response, he explains that the Sleepy Lagoon is a reservoir where many young Chicanos go to swim. Hearing this, a reporter named Alice Bloomfield asks if this is because the Chicano community isn’t allowed to frequent the public pools—a question that draws attention to her, as one reporter suspiciously asks if she works for The Daily Worker.
Once again, the news media makes its way to the forefront of the play. In doing so, it comes to seem inescapable, as if Henry and his friends exist in a world in which it’s impossible to avoid the public gaze. In this case, the inescapability is rather unfortunate, since the newspapers use terms like “Mexican crime wave,” ultimately setting forth a negative image of the Chicano community. And when Alice Bloomfield questions this one-sided narrative, she receives judgement and scorn, as one reporter asks her if she works for The Daily Worker, a communist newspaper (something that would be frowned upon in the United States at the time).
Themes
Moving on, a reporter asks Edwards if he was really the first person to arrest Henry, and Edwards says that he was, adding that he saw “leadership potential” in Henry but that it’s impossible to “change the spots on a leopard.”
When Edwards says that he was the first person to arrest Henry, it almost seems as if he and the press think this is something be proud of. In reality, though, Edwards wrongfully arrested Henry for driving his own father’s car, thereby giving the young man a criminal record for no reason. Nonetheless, Edwards maintains his racist belief that it’s impossible to “change” people like Henry, despite the fact that Henry didn’t even deserve to go to jail in the first place.
Themes
