Objectives

• Analyse how Parks uses the brothers' names — Lincoln and Booth — to position the play within a specific tradition of American racial violence and national mythology.
• Analyse how Parks uses theatrical costume, stage direction, and vernacular dialogue to construct and destabilise ideas of identity and race.
• Trace how the three-card monte functions simultaneously as plot mechanism, metaphor for the American Dream, and structural principle across the six scenes.
• Explain how the inheritance envelopes — the $500 each brother keeps hidden — accumulate symbolic meaning related to abandonment, betrayal, and fate.
• Write a sustained, evidenced analytical essay that makes a clear argument about how Parks uses dramatic form and language to explore the failure of the American Dream for Black men in urban America.
• Evaluate how Parks's blend of vaudeville comedy and tragedy shapes audience response to Lincoln's death in Scene 6.

The sequence

1. Lesson 1: What's in a Name: Lincoln, Booth, and the Weight of American History in Scene 1

   60 min · ch. 1

   Do now

   Write down everything you know or can figure out about Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. After that, write one sentence predicting what it could signify for two Black brothers living in poverty to bear those names. You have five minutes — no talking, no phones.

   Teacher input

   Let's take a closer look at the opening stage direction in Scene 1 of the play. Parks describes the setting as 'a flophouse room' that features a 'Lincoln chair' and two beds, with Booth practicing three-card monte by himself. The term 'flophouse' immediately diminishes the significance of 'Lincoln.' While 'Lincoln' brings to mind ideas of presidential authority and emancipation, the reality of the room reflects a stark sense of dispossession.

   Now, let’s focus on Booth's first line: 'Watch me. Watch me watch me watch me.' The repetition here is crucial; it conveys both a sense of performance and an underlying desperation. This line sets up the topdog/underdog dynamic even before Lincoln arrives on stage. It’s a powerful way to establish Booth's character and his need for attention and validation in such a stark environment.

   Independent task

   Students will annotate the first two pages of Scene 1, covering everything from the opening stage direction to Lincoln's initial entrance. They should identify at least three instances where Parks uses the brothers' names, the objects in the room, or Booth's speech patterns to highlight the central tension of the play between aspiration and entrapment. Following this, students will compose a structured paragraph of at least 150 words that argues how Parks utilizes the setting and naming in Scene 1 to explore the American Dream. They must include at least two quotations, along with an analysis of specific word choices.

   Exit ticket

   In one or two sentences, explain why Parks might have chosen to have Booth — not Lincoln — be the brother obsessively practising the con in Scene 1, and what this reversal tells us about the topdog/underdog dynamic the title promises.

2. Lesson 2: Costume as Critique: Whiteface, the Arcade, and Racial Performance in Scenes 2 and 4

   60 min · ch. 2, 4

   Do now

   Look at the stage direction in Scene 2 where Lincoln enters 'still in his frock coat and top hat, his face in whiteface.' Before diving deeper, jot down two thoughts on what it might be like — both physically and mentally — to don that costume day after day, and pose one question you hope the play addresses regarding Lincoln's choice to wear it.

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of the exchange in Scene 4 where Booth says to Lincoln, "You look like a freak," and Lincoln responds with, "I look like Lincoln." This moment serves as an illustration of double-consciousness: Lincoln embodies and is constrained by the identity of the white national symbol. His straightforward reply, "I look like Lincoln," deliberately sidesteps the insult Booth offers. Guide students in linking this to W. E. B. Du Bois's idea of double-consciousness, ensuring that the analysis remains anchored in Parks's specific language and stage imagery without oversimplifying the complexity of the play.

   Independent task

   Students are tasked with crafting a comparative paragraph of at least 180 words that explores the differing presentation of Lincoln's costume in Scene 2, where he makes his first entrance wearing it, and Scene 4, where Booth's mockery intensifies. This paragraph should take a clear stance on what the costume signifies by Scene 4—whether it embodies humiliation, survival, irony, or something more nuanced. Additionally, students must incorporate at least three quotations from both scenes and analyze Parks's use of stage directions in conjunction with the dialogue.

   Exit ticket

   Write one sentence that completes this argument starter without using the word 'shows': 'By having Lincoln wear whiteface to impersonate a president who freed enslaved people, Parks suggests that…'

3. Lesson 3: The Con as Metaphor: Three-Card Monte and the Structure of the American Dream in Scenes 3 and 5

   60 min · ch. 3, 5

   Do now

   Read Booth's three-card monte patter from Scene 3 — 'Lean in close and watch me now: who sees the card, who doesn't see the card' — and jot down what a con trick and the American Dream share. Identify at least three structural similarities before the lesson starts.

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of the teaching scene in Scene 5, where Lincoln finally agrees to show Booth the moves and delivers the line: "There's two parts to the con: the convince and the kill." Analyze how to interpret "the convince and the kill" as a thesis statement woven into the play's language — Parks is identifying the cycle of false hope and destruction that the American Dream imposes on the brothers. Illustrate how to follow this phrase to the climax in Scene 6, where Booth's gunshot embodies "the kill," and trace it back to Scene 1, where Booth's solitary rehearsal already represents "the convince" performed without an audience.

   Independent task

   Students are required to craft a structured analytical response of at least 200 words that argues how the three-card monte serves as Parks's central metaphor for the American Dream throughout Scenes 3 and 5. The response should: (a) provide a detailed analysis of Lincoln's line 'There's two parts to the con: the convince and the kill' from Scene 5; (b) link it to at least one moment from Booth's solo rehearsal in Scene 3; and (c) present a clear argument regarding what Parks suggests about the identity of the real mark — the person being conned — in the play.

   Exit ticket

   In two sentences, identify who you think is the 'mark' in the brothers' relationship by the end of Scene 5, and use one piece of evidence from either Scene 3 or Scene 5 to support your answer.

4. Lesson 4: The Envelopes: Abandonment, Inheritance, and Fate in Scenes 1–5

   60 min · ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

   Do now

   Without looking at the text, jot down what you recall about the two envelopes — who handed them out, the amounts inside each, where each brother stores his, and if either has opened his. Then write a sentence reflecting on what it suggests that neither brother has touched the money.

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of the moment in Scene 1 where Booth reveals that he keeps his $500 inheritance in a stocking tied to his body, while Lincoln mentions that his money is 'somewhere safe.' Explore how the physical act of hiding the envelopes serves as a theatrical symbol: the money represents both a wound (reflecting the emotional cost of their parents' abandonment) and a talisman (evidence that they were, if only for a moment, remembered). Guide students in tracking the evolution of the envelope's significance from Scene 1 to Scene 5, where Lincoln's envelope turns into a stake in a card game. This shift highlights how Parks transforms a symbol of parental neglect into a weapon for conflict between brothers.

   Independent task

   Students will write a 'symbolic tracking' essay of at least 200 words that traces the inheritance envelopes through a minimum of three scenes (selecting from Scenes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). The essay should begin with a clear thesis statement about what the envelopes ultimately signify by the conclusion of Scene 5. It needs to analyze specific stage directions or dialogue concerning the envelopes in each selected scene and explain how Parks's choice to make the envelopes the stakes in the final card game changes their significance.

   Exit ticket

   Write one sentence explaining why Parks might have given both brothers exactly the same amount of money — $500 each — rather than different amounts, and what that symmetry contributes to the play's argument about fate and equality.

5. Lesson 5: The Kill: Tragedy, Vaudeville, and the Climax of Scene 6

   60 min · ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

   Do now

   Read the final stage direction of Scene 6 silently: Booth stands over Lincoln's body and 'lets out a cry.' As a reader, I feel a heavy sense of sorrow and shock witnessing the weight of Booth's actions. In contrast, Parks likely wants a theatre audience to experience a mix of horror and empathy for Lincoln, heightening the dramatic tension; these responses differ because readers may internalize the moment more personally, while live audiences may react collectively to the performance's emotional intensity.

   Teacher input

   Model a close reading of the moment in Scene 6 when Booth shoots Lincoln and then utters, "I'm sorry." Analyze how these two words encapsulate the various dynamics established throughout the play: this apology serves as both an acknowledgment of his crime and a reflection of the parents' abandonment, which was itself an act of violence followed by silence. It also grotesquely mirrors the arcade scene where customers 'shoot' Lincoln and simply walk away. Guide students in connecting Parks's use of repetition—the reenactment of the shooting and the repeated name—to her argument that Black men in America find themselves trapped in cycles they did not create.

   Independent task

   Write a comprehensive analytical essay of 500 to 650 words that addresses the following question: "In what ways does Parks employ the climax of Scene 6 to clarify the play's commentary on the American Dream, racial identity, and the dynamic between Lincoln and Booth?" Your essay should: begin with a thesis that articulates a clear, debatable assertion regarding what Scene 6 reveals; analyze in detail at least two specific moments from Scene 6, incorporating and explaining quotations from both the dialogue and stage directions; connect Scene 6 to at least one earlier scene (from Scenes 1–5) to illustrate how Parks has been preparing for this conclusion; and examine how Parks's fusion of vaudeville comedy and tragedy influences the audience's reaction to Lincoln's assassination. The essay must be composed in formal analytical prose and should avoid the use of the first person.

   Exit ticket

   Write a single sentence — your thesis — that a reader who has never seen the play could use to understand Parks's central argument in Topdog/Underdog, making sure the sentence names at least one specific dramatic technique Parks uses and the idea it conveys.

Activities

Assessment

• Scene 1 annotated paragraph (Lesson 1): marker checks whether students are analysing specific word choices in Parks's stage directions and dialogue, not summarising plot.
• Exit ticket from Lesson 2: marker checks whether students can complete a syntactically coherent analytical sentence that names a technique and an effect, without using 'shows.'
• Scene 3 and 5 independent task (Lesson 3): marker checks whether students have identified Lincoln's 'the convince and the kill' as a structural metaphor and traced it across more than one scene.
• Envelope timeline activity: marker checks whether students are tracking shifts in symbolic meaning across scenes rather than simply listing where the envelopes appear.
• Lesson 5 exit ticket thesis sentence: marker checks whether the thesis names a specific dramatic technique, makes an arguable claim, and avoids plot summary.

Standards covered

Common Core 11 12

• RL.11-12.1 — Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• RL.11-12.3 — Analyse the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama, including where a story is set, how the action is ordered, and how the characters are introduced and developed.
• RL.11-12.4 — Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyse the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
• RL.11-12.6 — Analyse a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant.

AP Literature

• Literary Argumentation (LAN-1) — Develop a thesis that makes a defensible claim about an interpretation of literature and use evidence and commentary to support and develop a line of reasoning.
• Figurative Language (FIG-1) — Explain the function of specific words and phrases in a literary text, including how Parks's vernacular patter and stage directions create layers of meaning.
• Character and Narration (CHR-1) — Explain the function of character in Parks's drama, including how Lincoln and Booth's relationship develops and what it reveals about the play's central argument.
• Structure (STR-1) — Explain the function of structure in Parks's play, including how the six-scene arc and the repetition of the shooting tableau build toward the climax of Scene 6.

AQA

• AO1 — Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression.
• AO2 — Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in Parks's play, including her use of vernacular language, stage directions, naming, and theatrical form.
• AO3 — Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which Topdog/Underdog was written and received, including the post-Civil Rights urban context and Parks's position as the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
• AO5 — Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations, including readings of the play through the lens of the American Dream myth and through the lens of racial identity and double-consciousness.

Edexcel

• AO1 — Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology and coherent, accurate written expression.
• AO2 — Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in Parks's dramatic language, including her use of repetition, vernacular rhythm, costume as symbol, and the structural parallel between the card game and the assassination.
• AO3 — Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which Topdog/Underdog was written and received, including the 2001 premiere context and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize.
• AO4 — Explore connections across literary texts, including the relationship between Parks's play and the tradition of American tragedy.

IB Lit

• Literary forms and contexts — Analyse how Parks's choice of dramatic form, including the two-hander structure and vaudeville conventions, shapes the meaning of Topdog/Underdog.
• Intertextuality — Examine how Parks's allusions to the Lincoln assassination and to the three-card monte street tradition create layers of meaning that extend beyond the play's immediate narrative.
• Reader, culture and context — Evaluate how a reader's or audience's knowledge of American racial history affects their interpretation of the brothers' names and Lincoln's whiteface costume.