Jean Toomer Research Paper

In the early 1920s, three works signaled the new creative energy in African American literature. McKay’s volume of poetry, Harlem Shadows (1922), became one of the first works by a black writer to be published by a mainstream, national publisher (Harcourt, Brace and Company). Cane (1923), by Jean Toomer, was an experimental novel that combined poetry and prose in documenting the life of American blacks in the rural South and urban North (Andrews 4). Finally, There Is Confusion (1924), the first novel by writer and Editor Jessie Fauset, depicted middle-class life among black Americans from a woman’s perspective (Andrews 4).

This paper examines the perspective of Langston Hughes and how his style of writing is. It looks at how several interrelated themes run through the poetry of Langston Hughes, all of which have to do with being black in America and surviving in spite of immense difficulties. Langston Hughes is one of the most influential writers because his style of work not only captured the situation of African Americans; it also grabbed the attention of other races with the use of literary elements and other stylistic qualities. Langston Hughes became well known for his way of interpreting music into his work of writing, which readers love and enjoy today.

Toomer is a controversial literary and cultural figure who gets criticized by people for rejecting his race. He is praised by others for the confines of rigid ethnic distinctions. Toomer’s rejection of race drew sharp criticism from many people, especially from members of the African American community. They found him being self- loathing rather than racial unification (Claypool 2). Toomer has been criticized for failing to write about the experience after Cane. Many people said he denied his African American heritage out of shame and cowardice (Claypool 4). Many critics have credited his work with ushering in the Harlem Renaissance noting the book’s representations of African American characters and culture. Others have located it within the lost generation owing to its literary experimentation, romantic primitivism, and its critiques of postwar values (Jones 3). The analysis of Cane contains Toomer denying his racial heritage. This book also contains the extracts from most of the important early Cane criticism (Golding 3).

The writer was a poor boy growing up. He was also a Negro, so things were bad for him and his family in white America. He probably felt sad every day of his childhood so he turned to books for entertainment and maybe escape. When he started reading, he found that he liked it and wanted to create stories for other people to enjoy, but he was a poor Negro boy who could not expect help from the whites, so he taught himself to write. That is similar to Sonny, who taught himself to play the piano.

Each part of the United States had their different standpoints towards blacks and the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance were devoted to crushing the negative attitudes placed upon the Afro-Americans. During this time race was a social construct. Everyday lives were affected by skin color whether people were aware or not. For years African Americans were shunned into a classification that viewed their society as less than human. Toomer’s novel shows the ability race has to affect and intersect different aspects and domains of society and life, as well as dismantle it. Jean Toomer created this piece of art for a reason. Cane suggests that the social construct created upon race should be avoided, for people of all different social classes have equal potential for success.

Leslie Lieber is a mother of 3 and many people don't know this, but she is related to one of the most famous country singers in the world. Some call him the “King of Country”, some call him a superstar, but Leslie Lieber calls him her half brother. Lieber is my mother so that makes me George Strait’s half niece, and although I have never met him face-to-face he is still a big inspiration because I share his love for music. When Leslie Lieber was 18 years old she was told a secret that would change her life forever, she is related to George Strait who is 11 years older than her. Being the sibling of a famous person can be tough, this is something Leslie would soon find out.

McKay was not the only writer of the Negro Renaissance to upset respectable Negro society. During the end of 1921, McKay started receiving stories from a gentleman named Jean Toomer. Nathan Eugene Toomer was born in Washington, DC on December 26, 1894. His surname was Pinchback but he used his father’s last name as an adult and changed his name from Eugene to Jean when he began to write. Toomer spent his early years in Washington in the home of his grandparents. They were racially mixed and could have been considered white but his grandfather identified with the blacks. He attended six institutions of higher

Michaelle Jean is a Catholic who was born on September 6, 1957, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This year she is 59 years old. In her early life, she lived a middle-class life. Her parents decided not to let her go to school because she would have to swear under the dictator, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Instead, Michaelle was home-schooled. Her father got tortured, so he fled to Thetford Mines, Quebec in 1967, and the following year, Michaelle and the rest of her family joined. The family eventually separated because her father became violent. Michaelle left with her mother and sister to go to Montreal. She received a bachelor's degree in Italian and Spanish at the Université de Montréal. She received many scholarships to let to make trips to Italy to study at the Perugia, Florence, and Milan universities. She knew how to speak five languages and worked for shelters for abused women. She married a Canadian filmmaker, Jean-Daniel Lafond, and adopted Marie-Éden from Jacmel.

     It was then that he began to pursue a writing career. At the time he got his first typewriter, he was also introduced to the blues and the black rights movement, of which both had great influences on his writing. Also during that time, he dropped his birth father’s name. Though he was unable to succeed in poetry, he was able to transition himself into a successful playwright. After visiting a friend in St. Paul, Minnesota, he decided to stay. At the urging of his friend, he wrote his first play, Jitney, set in a gypsy-cab station, and another following that, Fullerton Street. Only afterwards was he able to concentrate solely on composing, eventually producing Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, his breakthrough product, which was based on a blues singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Then he wrote Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, and Fences, which was based on his stepfather who could not gain a football scholarship because of his ethnicity.

Langston Hughes is an extremely successful and well known black writer who emerged from the Harlem Renaissance (“Langston Hughes” 792). He is recognized for his poetry and like many other writers from the Harlem Renaissance, lived most of his life outside of Harlem (“Langston Hughes” 792). His personal experiences and opinions inspire his writing intricately. Unlike other writers of his time, Hughes expresses his discontent with black oppression and focuses on the hardships of his people. Hughes’ heartfelt concern for his people’s struggle evokes the reader’s emotion. His appreciation for black music and culture is evident in his work as well. Langston Hughes is a complex poet whose profound works provide insight into all aspects of black

Langston Hughes is a famous poet known mostly for his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote many inspirational poems that are still read and used for educational purposes. Many of his poems were inspired by his life and his story. One of his many poems entitled “Theme for English B” talks about how his teacher instructed him to write a page about himself and it will be true. In a “Theme for English B”, Hughes uses tone, and characterization to display a relationship between race and writing.

Langston Hughes’s poem I, Too published in 1926 speaks at great length about the American identity: to be an American is an issue that transcends race, and all Americans should be treated equally. Writing from the perspective of an initially subservient African American, Hughes presents a story that begins in oppression and ends in triumph. A throwback to the prior institution of slavery, the setting of I, Too is confined to a single slave owner 's house; yet, it paints an image of struggle, growth and unity like none other of its time.

Over time, it has become relatively easy, almost second nature, for people to devise strict societal barriers and categorize people, cultures, and ideas into separate boxes. In Jean Toomer’s “Portrait in Georgia”, however, this is exceptionally challenging for the reader to do so. With his poetic paintbrush, Toomer describes a beautiful woman, but he intentionally blurs the racial lines of black and white in order to illustrate an underlying theme concerning the deep-rooted problems of racism in America. To help convey this theme, Toomer utilizes the literary tool of imagery, and he does so masterfully. Each image is meticulously placed and organized to provide the most powerful impact possible. While certain images emphasize the beauty and grandeur of a woman, others bring up unbelievably violent, gory, and horrific images of death associated with the treatment of African Americans during the time of Jim Crow Laws. Overall, Toomer’s use of imagery brings “Portrait in Georgia” to life, grabs the reader’s attention, successfully demonstrates an extremely powerful message, and causes society’s darker parts to be questioned.

     Like it was previously stated, the author is primarily targeting black women to encourage them to appreciate what their female ancestors suffered through to keep their heritage and spirit alive. However, Walker may have also had the intent to inform other audiences what it was like to be an African American woman in history. To accomplish her aims, she used certain types of style and tone that were very effective. Her stylistic approach was the use of many different examples. She tells the heartbreaking tale of little Phillis Wheatley, a “sickly, frail black girl” who was taken from her home as a small child to live and die as a slave in America. She includes a short passage written by poet Jean Toomer, in which he speaks to a black prostitute who falls asleep while he encourages her to express her artistic spirituality in a different way. She describes why these oppressed black women were named “Saints,” and at the conclusion of her essay, she uses her own mother as an example, and her own questions about her mother’s ability to keep her creative spirit alive throughout her

Firstly, it is worthwhile to examine the time when both of these literary works were written. The writers studied in this paper are part of the Harlem renaissance, the period of rebirth of the African American creative expression. During this time, the time of so-called “New Negro,” the African American communities more likely developed a sense of Negro pride (Rasche 5). In addition, the Harlem Renaissance writers attempted to relate their history to their present condition, as well the urban and rural experience of the African Americans. Thus, writing was the product of and their respond to their historical and cultural context (Rasche 6).