Summary Of The Weary Blues By Langston Hughes

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 was one of the great writers of his time. He was named the “most renowned African American poet of the 20th century” (McLaren). Through his writing he made many contributions to following generations by writing about African American issues in creative ways including the use of blues and jazz. Langston Hughes captured the scene of Harlem life in the early 20th century significantly influencing American Literature. He once explained that his writing was an attempt to “explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America” (Daniel 760). To fulfill this task, he wrote 15 volumes of poetry, six novels, three books, 11 plays, and a variety of non-fiction work (Daniel 760). He also edited over 50 books in his time (McKay).

Langston Hughes clearly connects with a wide range of audiences through the simplicity that surrounds his poetry. The beauty of this manner in which he wrote his poetry, is that it grasp people by illustrating his narratives of the common lifestyles experienced by the current American generation. His art form expresses certain questionable ideologies of life and exposes to the audience what it takes to fully comprehend what being an American truly means. Each individual poem describes and illustrates the strength and hardships the African American community was experiencing. Through his literature art form of poetry, Hughes was able to convey the common assertions of

Hughes also takes the view of culture but he examines it from the view of blacks that are not stuck in the ghetto but have stable backgrounds. Hughes takes the view that blacks are actually hindering themselves. He says that there is a huge obstacle standing in the way of every black person. He actually makes a reference about artist but it can be viewed as any black person. He says the obstacle is, “this urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible.” (Hughes, Langston) His example is a poet. This poet subconsciously wants to be white because he feels it will make him a better poet. This poet comes from a strong background in the middle class. According to Hughes, they attend church; the father has a steady job; the mother works on occasion; and the children attend mixed schools. However, the problem comes with how the parents treat their children. The mother says things like, “Don’t be like niggers” when the children are bad. In turn the father says things like, “Look how well a white man does things.” So in this home and many others, black is not praised or celebrated it is taught to be ashamed of. They are taught to want to be white. It is staggering what blacks do to themselves because of this. Fist Hughes says the more predominant don’t

Langston Hughes is infamous for his poetic style and his commitment to black themes and heritage; using jazz rhythms and dialect to depict the life of urban blacks in his work. In Hughes’ poem, “Mother to Son,” the narrator is a black mother speaking to her son, telling him to never give up, no matter what situation one is faced. The theme of this poem is evident through the the author’s use of diction, imagery, and figurative language.

The survival of the Black American family is a revolutionary act. The system of slavery purposefully separated and destroyed black families. Yet, in the face of obstacles, the Black family as an institution survived. Langston Hughes and Robert Hayden show the power of connection, love, and learning between the Black parent and the Black child. Many Black poets write about the Black experience in America, but few capture the interactions between Black parent and Black child the way Langston Hughes and Robert Hayden do in their poems “Mother to Son” and “Those Winter Sundays”, respectively. Langston Hughes and Robert Hayden use metaphors and imagery to portray the lessons Black children learn from Black parents.

He explains, “I was only an American Negro—who had loved the surface of Africa—but I was not Africa. I was Chicago and Kansas City and Broadway and Harlem. I was not what she wanted me to be” (Hughes as quoted in Cobb 44). Hughes wants to make sure people are aware that the life and culture of African Americans differ drastically from the romantic view of the Negro in Africa. In his poem “Mother to Son,” Hughes provides the story of struggle, poverty overcame by hard work, and hope for a more dignified life for the entire African American people (Niemi 1). Hughes recognizes that despite being oppressed, the black community is strong enough to empower itself with determination to succeed. When discussing working-class life, Hughes consistently “asserts blacks as fully complex, fully human, and equals in the American democratic experiment” and does not play into the thought that blacks should be kept down (Sanders 107). Langston Hughes’ “concern for the lives and oppression of poor and working-class blacks” is apparent in most of his work (Sanders 107). Through his writing he makes the population aware of the deep-set oppression put upon the black community.

Langston Hughes is one the most renowned and respected authors of twentieth century America not simply one of the most respected African-American authors, though he is certainly this as well, but one of the most respected authors of the period overall. A large part of the respect and admiration that the man and his work have garnered is due to the richness an complexity of Hughes' writing, both his poetry and his prose and even his non-fictions. In almost all of his texts, Hughes manages at once to develop and explore the many intricacies and interactions of the human condition and specifically of the experience growing up and living as a black individual in a white-dominated and explicitly anti-Black society while at the same time, while at the same time rendering his human characters and their emotions in a simple, straightforward, and immensely accessible fashion. Reading the complexity behind the surface simplicity of his works is at once enjoyable and edifying.

To start with the central idea of Hughes poem for an example of his poem The Weary Blues. Waldron Edwards say’s “The theme of this poem is that it begins with a celebration of blackness and ends with black american showing sense of purpose and equality.” Waldron Edward’s also say’s “another theme of a poem is Ask Your Mama; the theme of this poem or collection was designed to be read or sung with jazz accomplishments.” (Waldron Edwards 1) The main point of his writings or poems is to express ideas on black community’s in white locations.

In his personal life, his father had divorced his mother and left their family for Mexico, claiming that he could no longer stand the difficulties and obstacles of racial injustice that society was forcing him to suffer through. As a young adult, Hughes ended up dropping out of college for the same issue concerning the ability to tolerate racial injustices. In his short story “Blessed Assurance”, the narrator of the story states that “Negros have enough crosses to bear” (Blessed Assurance 231). Langston Hughes, who was writing at the time of the Harlem Renaissance, was “…unashamedly black at a time when blackness was démodé… pressures to survive as a black writer in a white society (and it was a miracle that he did for so long) extracted an enormous creative toll…he recorded faithfully the nuances of black life and its frustrations” (Patterson, 1). During the Harlem Renaissance, despite the criticism he received from the white audience of America, Langston Hughes used his writing to express and bring to light the racial struggles of African Americans. Also, in his poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, Hughes uses the poem to “reflect his African and global consciousness about displacement, estrangement, belonging, and empowerment” (Reyes, 270). Langston Hughes expressed his honesty, frustration, and compassion about the struggles of the African American community through his writing on several occasions

Langston Hughes was an African American writer who took the literary world by storm in the twentieth century. Hughes was known for incorporating African American culture into his poems and plays. Langston Hughes did this so much so that per, "Masterplots II: African American Literature" he was "…recognized as the unofficial poet laureate of the African American urban experience…" (Niemi). Hughes has written several poems in his career. Most of them have a theme of racial pride incorporated somewhere in the poems. By analyzing Langston Hughes's writings, it can be inferred that the poems "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", "Negro" and "I, Too" all have the theme of racial pride.

Hughes’ works reflect the thoughts and views of society by showing how racism and isolationism affected society. In many of Hughes’ works, he gives advice for those who are suffering from racism and isolationism, which is to not let anything get in the way of dreams. Hughes expressed this idea in his poem titled “Mother to Son”. In the poem, Hughes states, “ . . . don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps” (Baym, 2013, p. 1039). Many people that the racism and isolationism affected would turn to giving up on almost everything in their lives, but Hughes gives advice to those who wanted to give up by saying to never give up. Hughes wanted the society to know that they shouldn’t let the racism affect their lives, but to ignore the racism and to keep moving forward. In his novel, Not Without Laughter, Hughes says, “Ever’thing there is but lovin’ leaves a rust on yo’ soul. An’ to love sho’nough, you got to have a spot in yo’ heart fo’ ever’body - great an’ small, white an’ black, an’ them what’s good an’ them what’s evil - ‘cause love ain’t got no crowded-out places where de good ones stay an’ de bad ones can’t come in. When it gets

Langston Hughes was writing poetry during the period of the Harlem Renaissance. This literary era between the 1920s to mid-1930s was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that created a breakthrough for black identity. This greatly affected Hughes work where he would write about life as an African American. In this poem, “Mother To Son”, he writes about a mother and son relationship. The mother is giving crucial advice about life influenced by her own experiences as a black woman. In this poem, the first line opens with,” Well, son, I’ll tell you,” which introduce the speaker as the mother who is teaching her son. The overall concept the mother portrays is advice to overcome obstacles

Langston Hughes, author of the short story "On the Road" and the poem "Mother to Son," often illustrated in his writing the hardships experienced by the characters--products of African American life in the United States. While Hughes and other young African-American authors wanted to define and celebrate black art and culture, they were also responsible for changing the preconceived notions of most Americans' erroneous ideas of black life (Mabunda

“Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes was written in 1922 by Langston Hughes. The poem first appeared in Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri to James Nathaniel and Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes. Hughes mother and father separate shortly after his birth. His father moved to Mexico in pursuit of a better life and his mother moved often from state to state because of financial difficulties. Hughes lived with his grandmother until her death in 1910. He then went to live with family and friends and later settled in Illinois with his mother. Hughes attended Central High School, where he poetry and short stories for the school newspaper. He attended Columbia University for a short period of time before leaving the institution. Hughes continued to practice writing poetry. His work attracted many famous writers such as Vachel Lindsay. Hughes and several other African-American artists and writers started the Harlem Renaissance Movement, “the cultural, artistic, and social movement that took place in Harlem in the 1920’s”( Wormser). “Mother to Son” depicts a mother sharing encouraging words with her son to motivate him not to give up on life as he encounters different hardships. The theme of determination, perseverance and motivation is developed by the use of extended metaphors, free verse and symbols.