Thank You, Ma’am This short story by Langston Hughes carries out many central ideas and themes. Although one theme certainly caught my eye. Throughout the entire story the theme is carried out and developed through the main characters, and the actions they make. The predominant theme of this story was the sense of belonging, or lack thereof, which lead to many actions taking place. Towards the beginning of the story the boy is wandering the streets, just looking for his prey. He went in believing he would receive some type of monetary value, such as money, but he leaves with much more. The boy seemingly has no family, no means of support, and more importantly no sense of belonging. Without this support he was driven in the wrong direction.
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.
“I too” by Langston Hughes and “Dreams” by Nikki Giovanni are poems concerning conformity and rebellion. I too was published in the 1926 volume of poetry by Langston Hughes. It is about an African American man, who is “either a slave, a free man in the Jim Crow South, or even a domestic servant”, that conforms to the ideas and traditions between black and white people. He does this, while quietly waiting for the day that he will not have to conform or “stay in the kitchen” anymore. Dreams is about a black girl who dreams to be famous singer when she is a child. However, as she grows older, and starts to understand the labels and roles black girls are put in in society at the time, she conforms to the idea of settling down and letting her
Have you ever help someone that try to do you wrong? ¨Thank You, M'am.¨ by Langston Hughes is about a woman that helps out a young man. ¨ A Victim Treats His Mugger Right¨ by Michael Garofalo is about a man that helps the guy that try to steal from him. Julio Diaz and Mrs. Jones both help this young boys in many ways when they try to do something bad to them.Mrs. Jones and Julio Diaz have many things in common.
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
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 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
Nothing is more fascinating nor more compelling than the study of our own human condition. Often the most enthralling and alluring way of expressing the human condition can be found within the very literature we read, in particular, poetry. Poems are an expression of art; a way to simultaneously condense emotions in the pursuit of an ideal. One ideal of particular note is inspiration. So let me ask you this: if we live in a world where inspiration is so easy to come by through poetry, why is our world plagued with inequality and injustice? Why is it the case that race relations, racism and bigotry are never far from the surface? That, ladies and gentlemen, is my question to you. I’m your host James Pullen – welcome to Peace and Poetry.
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.
“Let America Be America Again” focuses on the idea of the American dream and how for many wanting freedom, equality and happiness which the dream itself to begin impossible to attain
In the short story "Thank You, Ma'am," by Langston Hughes, the main character Mrs. Jones is a compassionate character because she is protective, loving, and sympathetic. Mrs. Jones is an old lady who carries around a purse with everything in it but a hammer and nails. One day, when a young man named Roger tried to snatch her pocketbook, she kicks him in the blue-jean sitter, then she takes him home, but takes care of him! Mrs. Jones feeds Roger dinner. She feeds him beans and ham and cocoa.
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
The unidentified mother in the poem may be suggestive of the African American women motivating their sons to fight for prosperity. This poem is compose in the shape of a considerable monologue in black dialect. The idiomatic style of the tongue is cited in the context of the bravery, tolerance and sense of duty of the African American race. The tongue also gives a charged conversational component to the poem. The subject of the poem is persistence and determination.
“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.
America is often referred to as a melting pot of people with different cultures and backgrounds. Some Americans are born to wealthy, white parents, while others are children of immigrants. For those who are minorities or in poverty, living in America is a struggle and not the “American Dream” it is often associated with. Luckily, I have been blessed with a life in which I do not relate to these struggles. However, I relate to “Let America be America Again” by Hughes, as I have seen many members of my family fight to rise above their poor backgrounds and fail, as they are suppressed by those with wealth.
This poem, “Life is fine”, was written by Langston Hughes, who is an American poet and he is known as a significant poet of the Harlem Renaissance. This poem is considered Hughes’s most successful piece of work as it concentrates on the hardships of all humanity. In this poem, the speaker goes to the river and sits down by the bank to think. He jumps into the river because he can’t concentrate. He comes to the surface and cries out twice.