Mulato By Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” is a poem that could be endlessly applied to where America stands today. This poem illustrates the morals, ideas, and visions set forth by those who found this country and how America has begun straying from those principles. The poem expresses that America is made up of all walks of people and that no man should be crushed by those above him, but rather be given the same opportunity as those above him. Hughes desire to make America great again can be shared in some way or another by most Americans making this poem everlasting. “Let America Be America Again” has the personalization, the language, the connection shared by every American, and the rhyme to allow readers of every race, gender, or religious belief to be brought together as not only people but as Americans.

Throughout Langston Hughes' novel, Not Without Laughter, the author introduces multiple characters that reveal their notions of prejudice. The novel explores that prejudice in one form or another is in every aspect of one's life. Prejudice can be defined as an opinion for or against a person's look, race, class, or religion, which is usually formed by a hasty generalization. Most of the main characters, Aunt Hager, Sister Johnson, Jimboy, Harriet, and Tempy contain different accounts of prejudice in the world, which stimulate many of Sandy's thoughts of life as he comes of age. Aunt Hager, Annjee, Harriet, and Sandy, are a multi-generation poor African American family that live in a small home together but are eventually divided by multiple circumstances. The story takes place during the 1910s in the small town of Stanton, Kansas.

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 two poems “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey and “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes were written to express racial dilemmas that the authors went through. Thematically, they represent the American Dream. In “White Lies” we see that Trethewey went through some racial identity issues. She felt as if she had to lie to blend in with the rest of the whites, which was easy for her because she was mixed. To understand the full meaning of this poem, one assumes that Trethewey was the product of an interracial marriage. This type of thing was frowned upon during the time she grew up. In the poem “Theme for English B” Hughes seems to accept the fact that he is different. Hughes does not seem to have a problem with expressing his difference. He looks at as his individuality and strives to let everyone know that he is proud of who he is. The two poems have many similarities and differences.

In From The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, Hughes states, “Most of my own poems are racial in theme and treatment, derived from the life I know”(807). Hughes is aware of the fact that because he is a Negro he is different, and is treated differently. He bases most of his poetry off of that fact. In the rest of the paragraph he goes on to discuss the fact that even though he knows he is different, he does not let that stop him from accomplishing his goals, and writing what he wants to write. Hughes continues to be questioned by his “own people” because of the content in

The Harlem Renaissance was a time period when African American culture came to fruition. Many musicians, artists, and literary authors published their work, and are still read to this day. Some of these works include Langston Hughes’ “Dreams” and Zora Neale Hurston’s “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”. While both these authors faced some of the same problems, they have different attitudes and outlooks toward life.

“Perhaps the mission of an artist is to interpret beauty to people – the beauty within themselves”. Langston Hughes Langston Hughes was known for his artistic expression of his culture during the Harlem Renaissance along with other great artist, writers, and musicians such as Jamal May and Zora Neale- Huston. These writers posit when people are allowed to show their true character, they are as important as a high class person.

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

Lorraine Hansberry, the author of Raisin in the Sun, simulates the title of her play from the famous line in the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes, in which the poet asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” A dream deferred is a vision that someone has, but due to certain circumstances, their fantasy life is either ignored or put on hold. For the Younger family, their dream of living as an ordinary middle-class black family and being accepted by the whites was deferred at one point. At the time the story took place, the blacks in the Chicago area still faced racism just like the south. The dream of the Younger family was very essential to each of them. They were willing to do literally anything to make their dreams come true.

“Seek the good in others and the best you will find.” In the short story, “Thank You, Ma'am” by Langston Hughes, Mrs.Jones lives by this quote. When a raggedy boy runs up behind you and steals your pocketbook you naturally would think,”he is not a good boy.” Well when this happened to Mrs. Jones one night she had a different approach. She sought the good in others by looking past the bad, giving second chances and kindness. She shows this when she took Roger in and taught him a lesson. From this story, we can all learn the important lesson of seeking the good in others.

Supremacist and predicaments in Hughes’s childhood clouded his envisioned proficient future while molding him for the better. Racial experiences in his earlier years would stick with him forever by shaping him into a confident artist determined to expose the nation to his exquisite persona. Since Hughes lived during racially hostile America, it is no surprise he had some memorable experiences. In The Big Sea Hughes points out a situation when he was having trouble being admitted into a school since no other black families were there (14). Likewise, in his stories Hughes creates scenarios demonstrating the prejudice and racially orthodox issues seen in America. Not only are these problems caused by non-ethnics, but in his writing he attacks

America is often referred to as a melting pot of people with different cultures and backgrounds. Some Americans are born to wealthy, white parents, while others are children of immigrants. For those who are minorities or in poverty, living in America is a struggle and not the “American Dream” it is often associated with. Luckily, I have been blessed with a life in which I do not relate to these struggles. However, I relate to “Let America be America Again” by Hughes, as I have seen many members of my family fight to rise above their poor backgrounds and fail, as they are suppressed by those with wealth.

The poem “Cross” by Langston Hughes deals with the struggle to find ones own identity. To be more specific this poem deals with a persons struggle to find their own heritage. Although the poem is short and simple it holds a strong meaning. The poem expresses the frustration of a man. The author writes that the narrator addressed his father and mother as “my old white man” and “my black old mother”.

My people is one of Langston Hughes’ poems which is about working class black African American people. In this poem, he compared the beauty of nature to the beauty of his people. My people is a very short poem, built in three stanzas which consist of two lines in each stanza. This poem was written in simple language, therefore, the readers can easily understand what he is trying to convey. I believe, beneath its simple words, this poem depicts the beauty of working class black African American people that go beyond the beauty of physical appearance.

“Merry-Go-Round” is a poem about a little colored child that goes to the carnival. The child wants to ride the merry-go-round, but has a problem finding the back. From where the child comes from, Jim Crow laws segregate the blacks from the whites. This poem has a lot of depth and meaning, although it sounds very simple. It also tells us the mindset of most blacks in the South in the days of segregation. I chose this poem because the boy’s innocence was touching and its deep meaning was very powerful.