In Amiri Baraka's Dutchman, the black-white binary is incorporated into the characters on the subway. Lula, who embodies her image with control and deception through her white skin, represents a significant driving force. Clay, facing manipulation by the oppressive white presence of Lula and the others on the train, must step up and become an opposition force. During these characters' transformations from individuals to powers, they express a combination of double consciousness and self-awareness to reveal their true identity. Most of the work focuses on the aspect of double consciousness using actions such as staring, stereotyping, and seducing. For example, the initial interaction between Lula and Clay involves looking at each other through the subway window. While the word look suggests innocent, even friendly behavior, Lula interjects Clay with her own interpretation, saying, "But only after I turned around and saw you staring through that window at my legs and my ass" ( Baraka 7 ; italics mine). Lula's use of the word stare adds a dimension of judgment to the action, transforming what was an innocuous gesture into a more intense and seductive exploit. Another perspective on this scene comes from Nita Kumar's essay, "The Logic of Retribution: Amiri Baraka's Dutchman," in which she interprets Lula's opening dialogue as "[it] begins to hint, very intrusively, at the hiatus between “being” and “looking” and later, “‘Looking,’ both in its active sense of ‘seeing’ and ‘perceiving,’ and in its passive sense of ‘appearing,’ constitutes a central concern of this work” (Kumar 5). Using his interpretation, another binary emerges between the real individual and the perceived mask, which… in the center of the card… a cyclical pattern has been established with the presence of the type reinforced by the second young black Man. Lula, who loses her height and must regain not only her composure but her entire sense of identity, prepares to reproduce the stereotypes again. His identity is false, ever-changing, and never accountable, while Clay loses his life for embracing his identity. By exploiting Clay through double consciousness and using others on the train as props, self-consciousness must take over to form remnants of identity that Lula has long forgotten. Through the preservation of culture and the realization of individuality, Clay maintains his identity in death. Works Cited Baraka, Amiri. Dutch. New York: Harper Perennial, 1964. Kumar, Nita N. “The Logic of Punishment: The Dutchman of Amiri Baraka.” African American Review (2003): 9.