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I Too Sing America Again Analysis

Decent Essays

While he is proud to be American, Langston Hughes does not hesitate to point out its flaws in both “I, Too, Sing America” and “Let America be America Again.” In both poems, there is a rather prominent undertone concerning problems within America, with a certain focus on racial prejudice. For example, in “I, Too, Sing America”, Hughes describes a situation where the narrator of the poem is sent away to eat dinner in a separate room because, “[He is] the darker brother” (“I, Too, Sing America”). This shows the narrator’s experiences with racial discrimination, a rather long-time flaw the United States possessed. However, hope is shown for when there will be a day when the narrator is not sent away, determined that those who did him wrong “[Will] see …show more content…

Likewise, “Let America Be America Again” embodies Hughes’ conflicting feelings regarding the United States. As argued by the parenthetical refrains throughout the poem such as, “(There’s never been equality for me, / Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)” (“Let America Be America Again”), America was never this epitome of freedom. In fact, Hughes argues that the country merely “markets” this idea, and fails to deliver the actual expectation. In the parenthetical refrains, he declares that “(America never was America to me.)” (“Let America Be America Again”), showing that his true experiences in America never matched the fairytale-like description of “The Land of the Free.” In reality, the United States was quite the opposite from what individuals expected, filled with inequalities and dead dreams, a world, “Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak” (“Let America Be America Again”) for those that weren’t previously well-off. Additionally, his use of repetition further emphasizes Hughes’ argument, as seen in the lines “(America never was America to

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