“One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes

In the poem, Blues at Dawn, Langston Hughes talks about how he does not think in the morning. He states, “I don’t dare start thing in the morning.” When he states this, he is talking about how he can’t think about what is going on in the world when he wakes up. In the fourth line of the poem, Hughes writes, “Them thoughts would bust my head.” In this line, it brings the reader into reality that the thoughts and world around are very chaotic.

In contrasting or comparing literary works it is crucial that the reader analyze the author's voice to gain a better understanding of the theme they are implying. In the contrast between the poems “I, too, sing America” by Langston Hughes, and “I hear America singing” by Walt Whitman it is clear that the two poets have very different point of views regarding American patriotism. Walt Whitman’s views on America’s joy and peace in his poems are very straightforward, while Langston Hughes poem--a response to Whitman’s--wants the reader to acknowledge what America should be like for everyone, including people of color such as himself. The authors of these poems prove to have conflicting judgements on matters in America including a theme of

The award-winning novel, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, is a story about a woman going through cruel things such as: incest, rape, and physical abuse. This greatly written novel comes from a very active feminist author who used many of her own experiences, as well as things that were happening during that era, in her writing. “The Color Purple” takes place in the early 1900's, and symbolizes the economic, emotional, and social deprivation that African American women faced in Southern states of America. The main character of the story is Celie, a fourteen-year old that starts writing letters to God for thirty years, and then to her sister, Nette, who ran away to Africa to save herself from the troubles Celie went through. Celie starts off as a pushover and very dependent girl that would eventually grow and develop into an independent flourishing woman that opens a business making pants for all genders. This novel shows the hardship of a girl becoming a woman over the course of her life and eventually standing up for herself and being confident. Many of the experiences and characters of “The Color Purple” are based on history of that time and a bit of the author’s personal experiences. Her use of epistolary allows the reader to learn everything in the point of view of Celie. Alice Walker's influences for writing this novel range from her childhood experiences to the white society in her hometown of Eatonville, Georgia. Even during these times, it still shows that women

For the longest time in American history racism has always existed to some certain extent. In the poem “Open Letter to the south” by Langston Hughes is about the inequality of people and how we should all come together as one no matter you skin color. In the Poem “Let America be America Again” also by Langston Hughes is from the perspective of a low class black man and expresses his difficulties. Both “Open Letter to the south” and “let America Be America again” compares the longings for acceptance, hope, and the future.

Langston Hughes declares that America should be America again. He starts to say in the beginning, "America was never America to me." He says America should go back to being the dream that the dreamers had, and be a "great strong land of love." There should not be kings or tyrants or people being crushed by someone above them. The speaker repeats, "It never was America to me." Hughes wants his land to embody liberty - not just by wearing a false patriotic wreath on its head, but through pervasive opportunity and equality. The speaker claims that he has never experienced freedom or equality in

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.

In our world today, it is unlikely that we will not face some sort of discrimination in some way. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary website, discrimination is defined as “the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people”. Someone’s discrimination can stem from past experience, the way they were brought up, or their own prejudices. In the movies The Jackie Robinson Story and A League of Their Own, racism and misogyny run rampant. These two groups both faced extreme discrimination in their journeys to fulfill their dreams of playing baseball. Whether it is Jackie Robinson being tormented for the color of his skin or the women being tortured for their sex, these two groups both found strength in themselves to fight off the negativity.

“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.

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

Langston Hughes discusses his hopes for America with the reality of life for those outside of the socially and economically dominant racial, religious and social groups. He kindles his passionate dreams of those who came to America with the idea to be safe from the oppression they endured in their country; but their dreams of America have never come true. The poem begins with Hughes desire for America to be what it once was; however he states satirically, that this image of America is false. Americans practiced slavery and oppression, consistently destroying the land’s native people in order to build their settlements. This idea of “America” only exists in dreams.

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

When speaking about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, she noted the lack of Black films produced in the industry leading to few nominations for people of color. The heavily criticized 2016 Oscars awards had a lack of diversity in their nominees. As a well-respected Black veteran actress, Davis has appeared in a numerous films, television shows, and even has some theatre credits! On top of it all, she has won many awards throughout career acknowledging her incredible work. As both a woman and a minority, Davis inspires many women of color in the country, as they can be successful in the entertainment industry

In the United States today discrimination is still an issue in society. As a society progress has definitely been made, but it has never fully gone away. Some of the most discriminatory action takes place in the American justice system. Young minority males between the ages of 25-29 are subject to being treated the most unfairly while whites of the same age are still being treated better than any race in this country. African American and Hispanic males are being incarcerated at higher rates than white males in America. Not only are minorities being incarcerated more, but also they are subject to harsher sentencing terms, fall victim to police racial profiling, and have disparities in the war on drugs. Also whites are still the dominant

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.

Not all poems fall into the category of epic poetry or ballads. Some pieces are short and concise rather than lengthy and elegant. A shorter poem may focus more thoroughly on diction, or the author’s specific choice of words, rather than things such as rhyme scheme or meter. Langston Hughes poem “Suicide’s Note” is a perfect example of this. Because it is only twelve words long, every single word is important and chosen carefully. This poem uses many literary techniques, none more than diction, to achieve its purpose. which is to focus on the split-second decision that is suicide.