34 pages • 1 hour read
Katori HallThe Mountaintop
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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When Katori Hall wrote The Mountaintop, her depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. was so controversial that she couldn’t produce the play in America. Instead, the play premiered in London. How might a British audience see the play differently? Choose three moments that stand out as uniquely American.
Read or listen to King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” What is the titular mountaintop? What is the significance of the mountaintop in the play?
Compare and contrast King and Camae. What ultimately connects them? Why do you think Hall constructed a fictional character to be King’s angel?
The storm in the play mirrors the real-life storm that occurred in Memphis, Tennessee, on the evening of King’s final sermon. What is the literal and symbolic significance of both storms?
Research the real-life King and compare him to Hall’s King. What parts of Hall’s King are based on history? Which are imagined? What effect do these imagined details have on the play?
How do Camae’s views on the current trajectory of the Civil Rights Movement differ from King’s? Given her life, why do you think she believes what she does?
Before reading the play, what did you know of King? How did the play support or undermine your knowledge? Choose three examples to discuss.
What are King’s “sins,” both in real life and the play? How does the play reconcile these traits with his legacy?
Hall wrote The Mountaintop in 2009, and it was first produced in America in 2011. What was happening in 2009 that might have prompted her to write the play? What was happening in 2011 that may have paved the way for the play to be featured on Broadway?
At the end of the play, King addresses the audience, pleading with them to pick up his baton. Who are public figures who have since done so? In what ways?
