34 pages 1 hour read

Katori Hall

The Mountaintop

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 2011

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Essay Topics

1.

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.

2.

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?

3.

Compare and contrast King and Camae. What ultimately connects them? Why do you think Hall constructed a fictional character to be King’s angel?