Visions of “The Primitive” in Langston Hughes’s The Big Sea
Recounting his experiences as a member of a skeleton crew in “The Haunted Ship” section of his autobiography The Big Sea (1940), Langston Hughes writes
This rusty tub was towed up the Hudson to Jonas Point a few days after I boarded her and put at anchor with eighty or more other dead ships of a similar nature, and there we stayed all winter.
...[T]here were no visitors and I almost never went ashore. Those long winter nights with snow swirling down the Hudson, and the old ships rocking and creaking in the wind, and the ice scraping and crunching against their sides, and the steam hissing in the radiators were ideal for reading. I read all the ship’s library. (Hughes,
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Moreover, The Big Sea provides a trenchant commentary on writers such as Carl Van Vechten, whose novel Nigger Heaven (1926) promoted the associations of Harlem as an atavistic enclave for a disenfranchised black population.1 Indeed, Hugh M. Gloster describes Nigger Heaven as “a sort of guide book for visitors who went uptown seeking a re-creation of the primitive African jungle in the heart of New York City” (Gloster, pp.113-14). This Manhattan neighbourhood north of Central Park, with its growing population of Southern immigrants, would serve the Nordic author Van Vechten in much the same way that Africa did Conrad or India did Kipling: as an alien territory, forbidden, dangerous yet compelling in its intensity. It is ironic that this very conception of Harlem was one of the key reasons why it was overrun and exploited by sensation-seeking white outsiders. Hughes makes implicit comparisons between the colonial despoliation of African natural resources and the whites’ frivolous engagement with Harlem’s “exotic” cabaret nightlife in the 1920s.
Hughes’s gesture of throwing his own personal collection of books overboard at the start of The Big Sea before embarking for Africa as a merchant seaman on the S. S. Malone offers an immediate and provocative challenge to the
In the book, Robert Walton’s pride and confidence is seen in how he views himself, the expectations he has of his journey, and the sacrifices he is willing to make. Walton believes he is superior to all on his ship and claims he will not find a friend onboard. He calls his crew “uneducated”
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).
“The history for Blacks in America starts at slavery,” the further I ponder this statement from my friend Joe, a navy veteran, the more I do not believe it to be true. Today many Blacks in America do not remember stories of their African heritage. Although, they may not know their African history, it does exist, and they did originate from Africa. So, their history does not start at slavery. In a recorded interview, Langston Hughes says he wrote the poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” in 1920, after he completed high school. Hughes also credits his source of inspiration to the Mississippi river which he passed, while on the train, to visit his father in Mexico. He acknowledged what the Mississippi symbolized to Negro people and how it was linked
Langston Hughes was one of the first black men to express the spirit of blues and jazz
Burroughs talks about how the sea is contradictory on its own, in its immensity. It mocks its victims “with the most horrible thirst”, and it smites everything like a hammer, while sometimes caressing like the hand of a lady. The breaking of its waves is violent, yet as it reaches the sands it reminds us of the rustle of a child's
Langston Hughes was someone who never gave up on his dream. He was an African-American born in Missouri in 1902. He received his education at Columbia University and later went on to go to Lincoln University. Although he is most well known for being a poet, he held a variety of other jobs ranging from a busboy to a columnist in his early years. In the 1920s America entered the Harlem Renaissance, a time of appreciation for black heritage. It was at this point in history that he became an important writer. The reason he was so important to this time in history is because his writing, “offers a transcription of urban life through a portrayals of the speech habits attitudes and feelings of an oppressed people. The poems do more, however, than
People always listen to music, watch movies or plays, and even read poetry without once even thinking what is could be that helps and artist eventually create a masterpiece. Often times, it is assumed that artists just have a “gift”, and people just do not consider the circumstances and situations that gradually mold a dormant idea into a polished reality. This seems to be the case with nearly every famous actor, writer, painter, or musician; including the ever-famous Langston Hughes.
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
Many men, women and children died on this brutal two-month trip. Starvation, illness, floggings and men jumping overboard into the seas took the lives of some around me. It was hard to fathom the horrible treatment the crew inflicted upon all of the men, women, and children; how they treated us
Imagine sitting in your favorite chair or, favorite spot on the couch when it’s a snowy day outside. You grab a favorite book of yours and begin reading it for the 3rd or 4th time. It’s a book you can’t put down because each time you pick it up, you just cannot put it down until you finish it, just one more sentence, one more paragraph, one more chapter. The text is so enthralling, that you start to envision how the scenes would look in real life. From the seafaring literature of Patrick O’Brian’s “Master and Commander.” The sails of the ship letting down, the seamen’s voices over the crashing of waves or the cannon’s going off during a sea
Nathaniel Philbrick was an author who wrote many books about voyages at sea. His interest in writing so often about historical adventures on the ocean can only be because he himself, in 1978, was the first intercollegiate All-American sailor for Brown University. His book “Mayflower,” being one of his bestsellers, is an interesting book that not only presents the over told story of the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in the year 1620, but it also digs deep into the many struggles they faced after finally reaching the New World.
It’s easy to tell that the ocean is a mysterious and isolating place from all of the tragic tales we hear from sailors both real and fictional. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and an anonymous author’s “The Seafarer” are quite similar in that they both revolve around said tragic tales told by sailors. However, there seem to be more commonalities between their themes, tones, and messages rather than their seaward-bound settings. But before we can discuss these similar settings and deeper themes, we have to tackle their origins.
Langston Hughes’s writing showcases a variety of themes and moods, and his distinguished career led his biographer, Arnold Rampersad, to describe him as “perhaps the most representative black American writer.” Many of his poems illustrate his role as a spokesman for African American society and the working poor. In others, he relates his ideas on the importance of heritage and the past. Hughes accomplishes this with a straightforward, easily understandable writing style that clearly conveys his thoughts and opinions, although he has frequently been criticized for the slightly negative tone to his works.
The African-American literary period of Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism, also referred to as the Age of Wright, was when the writers and artist would expose the realities and identities of living in America and the harshness of society. This African-American literary period would begin around the time the Great Depression ends and would end the year in the death of Richard Wright, which was 1960. One of the most notable writers of this period was, of course, Richard Wright. By his way of thinking and the way he wrote literature, “Wright [had] effectively executed his own blueprint by rejecting what Locke termed the ‘decadent aestheticism’ of Harlem Renaissance writers and by drawing on the presumably more ‘nourishing’ elixir of Marxism and social protest” (Gates, 97). Richard Wright’s Blueprint for Negro Writing appeared in the journal New Challenge that he and other African-American writers had published in 1937. Although Richard Wright’s Blueprint for Negro Writing was written before 1940, this literature work makes an excellent representation of Urban Realism. This text represents this literary period because it tells about the reality, but also the promotion of success in African-American literature by criticizing black culture and nationalism in literary works.
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.