Name : Tobit Jones Kalai
Prof.: Tara Lesko
English 102
Historical analysis of the literary work “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes Man has always been interested in analyzing issues in the history of the world. People tend to appreciate it when grand historical events are described in works of literature. Consequently, writers and poets, try to capture every single step of societal and personal experiences in their works. One of such writers is Langston Hughes whose poem “Let America be America Again” speaks to certain events in the history of America. Several historical events provide context: the flowering of the arts during the Harlem Renaissance; the Great Depression; Americas’ migration story and Hughes’ activities with the Communist Party. It is a well known fact that America has gone through a long and complicated path to get to the stage it is today. Langston Hughes who happens to be black grew up in an America that at the time marginalized and was condescending towards people of his race and minorities for that matter. He was accordingly very much criticized and attempts were made to belittle not only his works but his person. Lindsay Patterson of the New York Times described him as “the most abused poet in America” who was largely ignored and taken less seriously (Patterson). In the face of difficulties and obstacles, Hughes managed to succeed in life, gained great popularity and touched the heart of Americans
Langston Hughes was a poet with many artistic abilities. His writing and drawings established the lifestyles of many African Americans during this time. In a poem called “I, Too” Hughes express his feelings as an African American, a brother, and someone who deserves to fit in society. He states “I, too sing America” (1039). Hughes saw himself as an individual who has a voice in America even though his skin is a little darker. In a poem called “Democracy” Hughes states: “I have as much right as the other fellow has to stand on my own two feet and own the land” (1043). Hughes was speaking for every African American whom were still dealing with segregation, racism, and freedom.
Hughes was said to have written with a sadness for the events that oppressed him, and at the same time with a sense of optimism for a better world he knew would come (Dickinson 326). For instance, Hughes fought segregation in the armed forces by writing scripts and songs for various government agencies, typically without pay
life. Hughes still feared for the future of urban blacks. His point of view became immense and
Life, liberty, freedom, equality, opportunity, and so many other words have been used to describe the United States of America. Every American child grows up with the words “the land of the free” pounded into their heads, and every morning schools declare America as a place of “liberty and justice for all.” Such inflated rhetoric presents America with large shoes to fill. Thus, America’s shortcomings should not be surprising. Langston Hughes and Upton Sinclair were two 20th Century writers, who saw past this idealistic talk and saw the jungle that the United States really was. Langston Hughes wrote in his poem “Let America be America Again”, “Let America be America again. –Let it be the dream it used to be. –Let it be the pioneer on the plain –Seeking a home where himself is free. –(America was never America to me) (1).” He highlights not only the experience of African Americans during the 1930s, but identifies with other oppressed groups including immigrants writing, “I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—And finding only the same old stupid plan –Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.” Likewise, Upton Sinclair conveyed his repulsion to immigrant oppression during the Industrial Revolution in his book The Jungle, emphasizing the gullibility behind trusting the grandiloquence of the American dream.
In the poem "Let America Be America Again," Langston Hughes paints a vivid word picture of a depressed America in the 1930's. To many living in America, the idealism presented as the American Dream had escaped their grasp. In this poetic expression, a speaker is allowed to voice the unsung Americans' concern of how America was intended to be, had become to them, and could aspire to be again.
Langston Hughes’ dedication to depicting the bona fide aspects of black life leads him to discuss struggle. One of the most omnipresent themes in black life, at the time of Hughes, is the constant struggle they face every
Written in the first half of the 20th century, “Let America Be America” is a poem that documents and responds to the oppressed state of the United States, in both the past and present. The poem is a plea for a return to the original principles of freedom that our country has seemingly forgotten. Additionally, the speaker sees America as the broken home to oppressed people who have lost sight of the ultimate goal of freedom and happiness. Although America is often perceived as the “land of the free,” Langston Hughes’s poem contradicts this ideology by not only painting a vivid picture of oppression in America but also by providing a desperate hope for the future.
Langston Hughes inspired others to reach their true potential in their work by using their own life as a catalyst:
“The Harlem Renaissance was a time where the Afro-American came of age; he became self-assertive and racially conscious… he proclaimed himself to be a man and deserving respect. Those Afro-Americans who were part of that time period saw themselves as principals in that moment of transformation from old to new” (Huggins 3). African Americans migrated to the North in great numbers to seek better lives than in the South as the northern economy was booming and industrial jobs were numerous. This movement brought new ideas and talents that shifted the culture forever. Black writers, such as Langston Hughes, used their work to claim a place for themselves and to demand self-respect in society. Poems that Langston Hughes wrote captured the essence of the complexity of a life that mixes joy and frustration of black American life through the incorporation of jazz and blues in order to examine the paradox of being black in mostly white America, the land of the not quite free.
“Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes, a poem describing the unequal and biased land of America, uses symbolism to illustrate Hughes’s dreams of America being the land in which all people are truly free. At the beginning of the poem Hughes states, “Let it (America) be the dream it used to be” (2). From this line, the “dream” symbolizes the hope the Founding Fathers had for America when they were writing the United States Constitution. Later in the poem, Hughes promises America will become this dream, but only with the aid and perseverance of all citizens. Additionally, the “dream” exemplifies his yearning for liberty, equality, and freedom for all people no matter their differences.
In the fight for equality, people of color often feel isolated and separated from those whose privilege reinforces their oppression. However, there are and always have been white people who see the inequalities that are practiced in society and speak out against them in hopes of reaching equality for all. Langston Hughes used his voice in poetry to express his experience as a black man in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement, and his is a household name. There is no doubt that his words have power. The reader expects to feel his experience and gain empathy and understanding through his poetry. In his poem, “Let America Be America Again,” Hughes presents his experience of American life in a powerful contrast to the experience
Baseball, hot dogs, and coke. Fourth of July, family, and fireworks. America. America, the Dream. America, the home of the free. The people working towards a common goal-- the American Dream. But what is it? According to Langston Hughes in his piece Let America Be America Again, America needs fixing before she can be the Dream. With the use of parallel structure, rhetorical questioning, and other rhetorical strategies, Hughes calls out the wrongs in America but also states what he believes to be the cure to the poison that has diseased this nation.
“Let America Be America Again” becomes personal for the audience which is what makes this poem so easily appreciated and enjoyed. The poem refers to the many races and backgrounds by referring to, “the poor white, fooled and pushed apart” or “the Negro bearing slavery’s scars” (Line 19 and 20). Whether the reader is poor, rich, white, black, or Indian the poem goes in detail of how for better or worse everyone makes up America. With Langston Hughes being African American, he obviously witnessed and endured racism and hardships, but he broadened the discussion by not only mentioning the Negros, but of the poor whites and the “red man” to make
According to Biography, James Mercer Langston Hughes is considered to be an African American poet who is college educated and comes from a middle-class family (Langston Hughes Biography). He attended college in New York City and became influential during the Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes Biography). Although Hughes was a talented writer, he faced some challenges early on and it was stated that his “early work was roundly criticized by many black intellectuals for portraying what they thought to be an unattractive view of black life” (Langston Hughes. American Poet). They believed that his work helps the spread the stereotypes of African Americans. “Hughes, more than any other black poet or writer, recorded faithfully the nuances of black life and its frustrations” (Langston Hughes. American Poet). Langston Hughes’s poems “The Negro Mother”, “Let America be America Again” and “The Weary Blues” were influenced by his life during the Harlem Renaissance and the racial inequality experienced in the late 1920s through the 1960s.
The poem Harlem by Langston Hughes mirrors the post-World War II manner of different African Americans. The Great Depression when all was done; the war was done, however for African Americans the fantasy, whatever specific structure it took, was in the meantime being surrendered (Kemp, 2013). Despite whether one's fantasy is ordinary as hitting the numbers or as respectable as needing to see one's kids raised appropriately, Langston Hughes considered every single one of them basic; he takes the deferral of each fantasy to heart.