Cross 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.

Langston Hughes’ “Cross” highlights the differences between black and white people using diction such as positive connotation when speaking about his white father, and negative connotation when referring to his black mother. Hughes opens the poem as an apology, then states “My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack.”(Arp 682), emphasizing the comparison. Hughes’ choice of “fine big house” creates a sense of inferiority to the “shack”, showcasing white supremacy and reflecting the power whites had over blacks at the time, both socially and politically. The difference between the treatment and way of living of these two groups confused Hughes. Coming from a white father and black mother, he did not know where he belonged or where he would lay, which he stressed by ending the poem with a rhetorical

In the poem “cross” by Langston Hughes, one comes to the understanding that the characters insecurities are derived from his identity crisis, which originates from his early childhood. where he struggles to fit in because “[his] old man’s a white old man / and [his] mothers black” (Hughes 1-2) which makes it hard for him to find his place in society and to fit in. In the case of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the author describes early on in the text about his differences from the people in his reservation, he was better in a way then the rest, he had more potential than anyone else in the family ever had. “Nobody in his family [his] family had gone near a collage”, (56, Alexie) and all he wanted was, a chance to act on his potential. This quote signifies his differences between him and the people around him and perhaps that further explains why he felt like the odd one out.

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.

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.

“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.

Theme is the purpose and/or overall idea communicated through a story. It is the message and main idea the author is trying to convey, and generally a moral that is trying to be expressed. In his story, “Why, You Reckon?,” Langston Hughes portrays some intertwining themes. He shows some evident themes such as anger, misery, defeat, and even bewilderment. Hughes corresponds such themes through his main character when he says, “I went on up the street hongrier than I am now.

The ballad "Cross" by Langston Hughes performs the battle of being biracial, especially in the mid 1900's. This sonnet is about his ethnic roots, Hughes is communicating his disappointment of being both high contrast yet he could never have a place nor be acknowledged by both of the two races. Particularly considering the way that blacks didn't care for that he was half white whites still looked down upon him on the grounds that he was half dark. He doesn't know where he will wind up in light of the fact that he's blended/ (biracial) not one race completely. So that is the place his perplexity lies, he considers how he will wind up rich like his dad or poor like his mom.

L. Hughes’ short story ‘Passing’ is driven by the conflict between the morals of having to behave like a white man and being African American by birth. The main character has a conflicting identity. ‘William Faulkner reminds us that in addition to a conflict of wills, fiction also shows “the heart in conflict with itself”’ (Burroway, J. 2011 pg. 249). This is particularly evident when the narrator, Jack says, ‘that’s the kind of thing that makes passing hard, having to deny your own family when you see them…you and I both realise it is all for the best, but anyhow it’s terrible’ (Hughes 1971 pg. 51). The main character is seen to although understand the privilege he has, also feel guilty about ignoring who he is by birth. David Lodge describes ‘…The beginning of a novel is a threshold, separating the real world we inhabit from the world the novelist has imagined. It should therefore… “Draw

The poem, "Life is Fine" was written by Langston Hughes. The poem was written during segregation and is about a person who attempts to commit suicide, but in the end decides not to. Hughes uses a sorrowful tone to help get his message across. Suicide is not the answer, there are always people who love you.

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.

Being a half black and half white man composed a conundrum for this young man in the early nineteenth century. The Civil Rights movement had no yet begun, and it was rather difficult for Negros to make a name for themselves. “Cross” was created out of the love he felt for his deceased parents. This poem was an apology letter to his white father and black mother. Hughes felt it was time to forgive his parents for the life they had given him, due to the fact that it was out of his control. What the nineteenth century did not realize is that everyone is equal. There is absolutely nothing morally wrong about interracial relationships. If anything they further develop our

In "You and Your Whole Race" by Langston Hughes he chooses to address his poem to an anonymous "you" so they all will think it's directed to them. The way the speaker criticized the people was to make people push for change. Langston starts the poem off by saying, “You and your whole race./ Look down upon the town in which you live/And be ashamed.” (Hughes ln. 1-3). Hughes says “you” in the opening sentence of the poem to indicate that what he’s going to say directed to you and everyone.

Langston Hughes in the poem “Mother To Son” illustrates the message that is you can live through life without giving up even though there will be challenges and difficulties you will have to go through and that will always be ahead of you. Hughes shows the message through the mother’s advice and how she compares her life to a flight of stairs. Through the poem the mother is trying to explain the son how life really is and how life goes in the real world. She is giving off advice on how you should actually look at life and that it isn't all just a fairy tale. Life is going to hard and have challenges in it and this are going to get rough at times but you can't give up no matter what because if you give up on life you are giving up on opportunity

“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.