During the Harlem Renaissance, Claude McKay and Langston Hughes were renowned figures that helped to sway the movement to a national level. They wrote many works of literature that brought much attention to the issues that were occurring in the United States. One of those issues that they wrote about was the racism that was discriminating the African-Americans. They both agreed that this racism must end. McKay shows this in his poem “America,” while Hughes wrote the poem titled “Democracy." They were in favor of radical and communistic ideas, which would hurt their image for years to come. Although, they had different opinions on the manner that racism should be fought, McKay and Hughes held the same belief that to end racism against African-Americans, radical moves are needed to be used. In his poem, “America,” McKay personifies the United States as a woman that feeds him the painful “bread of bitterness,” and extracts the pain he endures by the country's “Tiger tooth in his throat” (McKay 2147). He illustrates that the racism that the country gives him the pain that makes him very dependent on the current ways that the nation is treating him. However, the pain that he endures is drained by the love that he has developed for this country. In "Democracy", Hughes states that “democracy will …show more content…
This means that with the current racial discrimination that is transpiring in the country, he does not want to live on the paltry amount of payments that he receives. Hughes was only able to making a decent living, by writing literature in newspapers and journals (Hughes 2264). McKay expresses this problem as another form of racism because he believed that capitalism as a system that is created to hold racism against certain cultures. He visualized it as the structure that was to create an inequity to economics, where it attacked against different types of minorities (McKay
Berry, Faith. Langston Hughes Before and Beyond Harlem Connecticut: Lawrence Hill and Company Publishers, 1983
Throughout African American history different individuals have made a significant impact that would forever change things. In the 1900s Harlem became the governing body for the birth of jazz and blues. This also open door for a new era called the Harlem Renaissance. During this time a poet name Langston Hughes was introduced. Langston Hughes created poetry that stood out to people. It had that jazzy vibe mixed with articulate language of choice. He could seize the minds of people with the soulfulness of his writing, and depict the struggles of what was going on with blacks. Some individuals see Langston Hughes as the inspired poet of the Harlem Renaissance time. Mr. Hughes used his body of work to compare and contrast things to create the groundwork for the Harlem Renaissance period.
He is very disapproving and wants to persuade the African Americans to make a move. Claude McKay was a prominent figure during the Harlem Renaissance, so this would make it easier for him to persuade the African Americans. McKay believed that the treatment the African Americans were undergoing was utterly humiliating, and it was up to him to start a revolution. He also believed that African Americans deserved honor and respect, and this meant they should do anything to achieve their honor. Claude says, “The monsters he and his readers resist will be obliged to honor them, even though they are dead,” which suggests that McKay knew his poems would one day make a difference in the world even if it was after he died (Poetry for Students). Throughout the entire poem, McKay is encouraging his readers to make a difference and begin fighting back against the white Americans. The poem serves as a battle cry for the African Americans, so they could understand the harsh treatment they were putting up with and make a difference (Griffin). Claude McKay insisted, “Men should not be like penned-up animals that submit to their fate” (Poetry for Students). This shows that McKay thought a revolution was vital to saving the African American race. He did not believe the African Americans should put up with this unfair treatment and submit to this awful faith.
...nly country to force the race into slavery, they were just the last to free the slaves, and also had the worst treatment for the blacks. For years races were discriminated in the country of America, and it still this way today. Poets such as Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, and Colleen McElroy were evolutionary poets who wrote about their desire for freedom and equal treatment. Langston Hughes poems were more about the building up of the tension that existed in all of his people who were ready to start fighting for their freedom. Colleen McElroy wrote about how the blacks in America still were apart of there past because of the color of their skin and simply just because of where they were from. Lucille Clifton wrote about the desire for the recognition her race and all of the other races of America, besides the Whites, would finally be appreciated for their work.
The poem America by Claude McKay is on its surface a poem combining what America should be and what this country stands for, with what it actually is, and the attitude it projects amongst the people. Mckay uses the form of poetry to express how he, as a Jamaican immigrant, feels about America. He characterizes the bittersweet relationship between striving for the American dream, and being denied that dream due to racism. While the America we are meant to see is a beautiful land of opportunity, McKay see’s as an ugly, flawed, system that crushes the hopes and dreams of the African-American people.
...qual treatment for every single individual. Hughes is clearly motivating the reader or the listener to take action not against America but against the corruption that is taking place in America because the true America is pure and good.
Claude McKay was an important figure during the 1920's in the Harlem Rennaisance. Primarily a poet, McKay used the point of view of the outsider as a prevalent theme in his works. This is best observed in such poems as "Outcast," "America," and "The White House." In these poems, McKay portrays the African-American as the outsiderof western society and its politics and laws and at times, the very land that he is native to.
Like most, the stories we hear as children leave lasting impacts in our heads and stay with us for lifetimes. Hughes was greatly influenced by the stories told by his grandmother as they instilled a sense of racial pride that would become a recurring theme in his works as well as become a staple in the Harlem Renaissance movement. During Hughes’ prominence in the 20’s, America was as prejudiced as ever and the African-American sense of pride and identity throughout the U.S. was at an all time low. Hughes took note of this and made it a common theme to put “the everyday black man” in most of his stories as well as using traditional “negro dialect” to better represent his African-American brethren. Also, at this time Hughes had major disagreements with members of the black middle class, such as W.E.B. DuBois for trying to assimilate and promote more european values and culture, whereas Hughes believed in holding fast to the traditions of the African-American people and avoid having their heritage be whitewashed by black intellectuals.
One of the advantages of how he wrote his poetry is that it can take hold of people by exemplifying his accounts of the everyday life that the disenfranchised experience. Hughes took on the injustices that other dared no to speak of. He wrote about how the African-American people of the 1920’s suffered the plight of racial inequality. In many cases I believe that Hughes used his writing as an instrument of change. In “Come to the Waldorf-Astoria” (506) Hughes tackles the drastic disparity between wealthy whites and the African Americans of the 1930’s. This piece displays an unconventional style for a poem; using satire to capture the reader’s attention. By using this satiric form of poetry Hughes is able to play on the emotions of the white reader, while at the same time inspiring the black readers. Hughes is constantly comparing the luxuries of the Waldorf-Astoria to the hardships that the African American people were experiencing. “It's cold as he...
...xperienced about not being able to eat at the table when guests would come which refers to how White America has been treating Black America. He then comes to the conclusion that this too shall pass and believes that he will be able to overcome his oppression. McKay portrays his experiences by speaking in a more mature tone about the significant events that have occurred and tries to find a way to tolerate the oppression. He lets White America know that what they have done to Black America was wrong. He shows that even though white America has alienated African Americans and treated them with disrespect, he will not stoop to their level although he is angry about it. The writers make it clear that their poems may differ yet they hold the same meaning of that White America has wronged Black America but it shall pass and in the future they will regret their actions.
Langston Hughes was probably the most well-known literary force during the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the first known black artists to stress a need for his contemporaries to embrace the black jazz culture of the 1920s, as well as the cultural roots in Africa and not-so-distant memory of enslavement in the United States. In formal aspects, Hughes was innovative in that other writers of the Harlem Renaissance stuck with existing literary conventions, while Hughes wrote several poems and stories inspired by the improvised, oral traditions of black culture (Baym, 2221). Proud of his cultural identity, but saddened and angry about racial injustice, the content of much of Hughes’ work is filled with conflict between simply doing as one is told as a black member of society and standing up for injustice and being proud of one’s identity. This relates to a common theme in many of Hughes’ poems: that dignity is something that has to be fought for by those who are held back by segregation, poverty, and racial bigotry.
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes opened the doors to African American art. Throughout history, there has been a lot of issues with racial inequality. During the Harlem Renaissance, many African Americans wanted to prove they were just as intelligent, creative, and talented as white Americans. Langston Hughes was one of the people who played an influential part in the Harlem Renaissance. His poem “Harlem” painted a very vivid picture of his life and his outlook on the society he lived in.
Alexis de Tocqueville and Langston Hughes both have their own ideas about what America is, was, and should be. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America praises American democracy in which everyone is included. This inclusion allows for democracy that everyone can be a part of and feel like they are contributing. On the contrary, Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” depicts an excluding America that does not treat everyone equivalently. Hughes portrays America as a misrepresentation that does not uphold the ideals that it is so famous for. The two works contrast in many ways but do have some similarities. Although their ideas are different, politics is still a choice. Tocqueville describes politics as a choice that everyone should make as it benefits them all while Hughes describes politics as a choice that some do not have the power to take part in. The differing sentiments between Democracy in America and “Let America Be America Again” stem
Both authors took a leap by publishing works that criticized their oppressors, a leap that put them each in harm’s way. Each poet was able to inspire and educate in their own way, using their own personal touches; Hughes, working to inform his people and unite them against a common enemy through passionate prose, and McKay, working to ignite the passions of his audience in order to compel them to take a forceful stand. The importance of both perspectives operating in unison cannot be understated. A broader set of perspectives and beliefs about the same issue is effective in inspiring a broader, larger, and more diverse group of readers. The sad image that Hughes creates was most likely effective in reaching even the white Americans who already enjoyed their full freedom, by opening the eyes of whites and other unoppressed races to the plights of early African-Americans. In contrast, McKay’s poem was most likely more effective in rallying African-Americans specifically. The advantage of these (though not greatly) differing messages was immense, and underlines the importance of differing viewpoints, and also inspired different groups of people, in order to bring about a more rapid, and more universally agreed upon change. Against a tyrannical force such as a racist majority, these two viewpoints
McKay’s long poem contains many progressions. There is no space between lines; it is a continuous poem as it requires the readers remain focus from the beginning to the end. This poem could be effectively presented as a speech to soldiers who are about to fight with their enemies. Therefore, the poem must be long so that it can gradually stir up the morale of the soldiers. Each line is almost the same length, indicating the formal attitude of the speaker who is possibly the leader. Also, as a motivational speech, it has to be consistent so that it can capture the soldiers’ attention without distraction. However, in contrast, the length of “Harlem” is short, and the poem is inconsistent: it consists of eleven lines broken into four stanzas. The first and last stanzas contain one line, while the other two contain seven and two lines respectively. Some lines are short, others are longer. Therefore, readers might become uncomfortable or frustrated while reading it; but this seem to be the poet’s purpose, Hughes utilizes the length of his poem to convey to readers, especially the whites, the blacks’ feelings of dreams being deferred because of racism and injustice in society. Additionally, because the poem is short, the readers might understand Hughes’ point quickly. It also implies that the speaker has