Langston Hughes Equality

Langston Hughes’s poem “Oppression” is expressed in the form of a protest. However, his composition of words are all contrary to the title. Langston begins his poem expressing negativity, even tragedy. “Now dreams are not available to the dreamers, Nor songs to the singers.” This logically is a tragic statement due to dreamers need dreams to be dreamers and singers need songs to be singers. The nature of tragedy is contrary to the nature of oppression, which is expressed here as a force that divides a harmonious relationships (e.g singers and there songs). At the end of langston’s poem he makes a form of prophecy or positivity. “But the dream will come back, and the song break its jail.“ this is contrast to his previous writing assuring the

Langston Hughes was the leading voice of African American people in his time, speaking through his poetry to represent blacks. His Influence through his poems are seen widely not just by blacks but by those who enjoy poetry in other races and social classes. Hughes poems, Harlem, The Negro speaks of rivers, Theme for English B, and Negro are great examples of his output for the racial inequality between the blacks and whites. The relationship between whites and blacks are rooted in America's history for the good and the bad. Hughes poems bring the history at large and present them in a proud manner. The injustice that blacks face because of their history of once being in bondage is something they are constantly reminded and ridiculed for but must overcome and bring to light that the thoughts of slavery and inequality will be a lesson and something to remember for a different future where that kind of prejudice is not found so widely.

Langston Hughes and I have many things in common.. In “Theme for English B” Hughes talks about his truth, how he is very aware that he has a different skin color, but that is not what he thinks he should be identified by. What identifies him are the accumulation of the things in his life. I can relate with this because although I do not feel like I am discriminated for my race, I do feel like I'm discriminated against for not being like those of my race. I also know that certain points of one’s life shapes it. It is difficult to know what you are suppose to be when you are a the first born generation in a country. Much like Hughes at the time that he wrote the piece, I too am young and am eager to grow, while also being oblivious to what come

Hughes's poem builds on top of Whitman’s poem in more ways than one. Every single person with their described job in Whitman’s poem was said to have been sung loud and strong as to what they were doing when working, meaning that they took pride in how they worked and what kind of work they did. With how there's so many types of people and jobs being talked about in Whitman’s poem, you would think it would include the lives of blacks and how they have dealt with all the racism and stuff at the time (later on too). Hughes’s poem is a type of add-on to Whitman’s poem in the way of including the whole of black people into the mix, with many lines in the poem stating things of which overall say that even if you’re black you should still be allowed to partake in things and be in an area without any prejudice towards your skin color.

In the poem “As I grew older” by Langston Hughes explains his struggle with his skin color. He describes it living in the shadows and humongous walls coming up all over him. Despite him feeling like he has no way to break free or to get away from the prejudice, Langston uses imagery to explain how he used his bare hands to break the walls of prejudice. With the use of metaphors the author gives us and insight how it felt to have prejudice everywhere he went and how he broke free. In Langston’s poem the reader learns what prejudice he faced and how he broke free using imagery and metaphor he explain profoundly.

Langston Hughes used his poems to describe his philosophies of American social, political, and economic conditions. In, “Let America Be America Again” he attacks his point regarding economic and political statuses, explaining contradictory statements of America in context to real and diverse audiences. Most often his work incorporates an aspect of his development earlier on in life, ranging from the ideas his grandmother instilled in him to the lessons he learned as he grew up. In this specific piece, he expresses each race and class of this heritage and attacks the un fulfilled promises made by America. However the question that many have about this diplomatic poem still remains: Is Hughes viewpoint messages to the audience more personal or public?

In his life, his elders and people around him were “...descendants of slaves..” (Napierkowski 5). His ancestors had a slave and slave owner relationship so Hughes was handed the short-end of the “stick” of life. Because Hughes was neither completely African American nor was he completely white, Hughes was seen as an outcast or in better words, different. Hughes first hit the spotlight during the Harlem Renaissance when African-American culture was very prominent in society, music, and poems. During this time, people had an “urgent need to express a cultural identity” (Napierkowski 182). In most of his poems, Hughes shares the hardships of living in a society where African Americans were not thought of. “The southern legislatures,

The dream Hughes constantly talks about in “Let America be America Again”, is prominent. This dream consists of not only personal success, but success as a culture and as a society. America should bleed equality, yet people still have to fight for equal rights. Hughes does an excellent job depicting this philosophy in his poem. The way he flows from point to point, always reiterating that the dream is very much alive, albeit not for him, is what grabs the reader's attention. The struggle depicted in this poem, can be relatable to many social groups. Hughes comes across as if he believed that one day America would be free and equal to all. The people of America, have to keep fighting even in today's society to make that dream

Langston Hughes has a type of cynical view on America that seems to change its taste as he gets older. The first to look at is “I,Too” where he seems to have a hopeful view of his country and separates the citizens from the country. He says things such as “They’ll see how beautiful I am” which shows that he feels good about his future and the future of racial tension. Which he then transitions into “Let America be America again” where he is crtizieing the American people for saying that they are about liberty and freedom when they are his oppressors. It’s more of a call to action than his last few poems he is more so pointing out the injustices than just stating that there are some. And by the tone of the poem you can tell that he has lost

The poem, “Let America be America Again”, depicts American Dream by talking about inequality of opportunity, racial discrimination,and economic disparity. In the poem, the speaker represents every poor and starving people who are struggling in America. The speaker says, “Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed - /Let it be that great strong land of love/ Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme.” He addresses that the dreamers who have come to America with hopes and dreams should not be let down and crushed by one above rather they should have equal opportunity to work, to be educated, and move up the social ladder. The speaker repeats, “America never was America to me” and “It never was America to me.”

Throughout the poem there is the extended metaphor that America is not what it is meant to be and is compared to what it should be. For example; “Let it be the dream it used to be,” and “…the land where every man is free” (Hughes). What Hughes is trying to say throughout this whole poem is that America used to be the place where anything could happen, anyone could be anything they wanted to be, but then people let a silly thing like skin color get in the way of that dream. How could America be the land of possibilities when there are people that are constantly terrified of doing something as simple as drinking from the wrong water fountain? “Let America Be America Again” is a very powerful piece of work and deals with the fact the America needs to start being the land of the free again, that it’s not living up to its name and that something needs to be done about it.

In his poem, let America be America again, Hughes focuses on American freedom and equality. His concern was on the socio-economic division in the American society. Relating the American declaration at independence, Hughes observes that the road to achievement of equality and freedom lost. The country has become corrupt and its leaders and businessmen are greedy. The grabbed land and gold making them wealthier during the common American citizen; the Negros, red Indians, the poor whites and immigrants lavish in poverty (Schmidt, and Lynne, 776). They have not achieved the American promise of freedom. Hughes wrote the poem with the

Langston Hughes felt compelled to speak his mind for equality and his birthright freedom through his poetry. “Democracy will not come/ Today, this year/ Nor ever /Through compromise and fear” (lines 1 – 3). Hughes believed his rights as well as everybody else’s should parallel to those of the white people, without degrading themselves in any way. He declares he is an American and should have the right to stand on his two feet and own his land: “To stand/ On my two feet /And own the land” (lines 7 –