Langston Hughes Early Autumn

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In the short story Early Autumn by Langston Hughes, we saw an interaction between Mary and Bill who haven’t seen each other in awhile. We can conclude that they used to be old lovers based on the interaction between them. How would someone feel if they ran into their ex after a long time and they weren’t interested in them? Hughes uses imagery and dialogue to convey that Bill is not interested in Mary. Many times throughout the story Bill points out Mary’s flaws. The words Hughes uses helps us understand the interaction better by painting a picture in the reader's minds. When he said, “At first he did not recognize her, to him she looked so old” (Hughes). It shows that right from the beginning of their interaction he did not have any feelings left for her. If he had any feelings left for her, he would not point out her flaws. Another part of the story is when he almost said something disrespectful to her: “You’re looking very….. (he wanted to say old)..... well, he said” (Hughes). This just shows that he has no love for her. …show more content…

The title Early Autumn means it is fall. During fall, the leaves die and fall off the tree. “The leaves fell slowly from the trees in the square” (Hughes). Hughes did not put this into the story for no reason. The leaves falling paints the picture that their love is over just like the life of the leaf. The setting of the story takes place in New York, which is a very busy city. “People came between them outside, people crossing the street, people they didn’t know” (Hughes). This symbolizes that their love is fading away. In New York, everything is fast-paced. Everyone is in a rush and everyone just keeps moving. The people they see now slowly fade away just like their love. Hughes did not use these imagery examples for no reason. He wanted to make sure the readers understand that the love between them is

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