“Theme for English B” at surface value is the autobiography of a well-educated, twenty-two year old college student at Columbia University. This autobiography is in response to an assignment given by the student’s professor. The assignment provides a way for the speaker to address his feelings to his classmates about the unjust treatment he receives at school. This young man is African-American and although his references to his race could be taken as basic facts about himself, they mirror his struggles with the racism, inequality, and feelings of inadequacy he deals with. The poem’s author, Langston Hughes, uses his personal experiences from his childhood, his time spent in Harlem, and his time at Columbia University to create the main character in the poem. The author, Langston Hughes, pulls experiences he had at Columbia and incorporates them into this poem to give the speaker life. Like the speaker, Hughes experienced racism during his time at Columbia due to the miniscule number of African-Americans at the school. Treated like a second-class citizen because of his race, Hughes struggled to find housing on campus, leading to his stay at the same Harlem YMCA that the speaker lives in (Dyson 8). Although there is no mention of hardship in finding a dorm in the poem, it is easy to assume that the speaker would have also had difficulty because of his race and because he is staying in the same place Hughes was once forced into. The description of the speaker’s walk home in lines eleven through fifteen provides the unfair lengths he had to go to because of Columbia not allowing African-Americans to live on campus (Dyson 8). The dorms at schools such as Columbia were not typically segregated so the rare African-American students t... ... middle of paper ... ...racter based on Hughes’ experiences during his life. The structure of “Theme for English B” is simple enough to allow average readers to understand the basic concepts but is also more complex in a way that readers must read deeper and more critically to connect Hughes to his piece. Works Cited Dyson, Cindy. "Hughes, Langston." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. Hughes, Langston. “Theme for English B.” Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. 5th ed. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford, 2012. 1054-55. Print. “Langston Hughes.” Poets. Academy of American Poets, 1997. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. Rummel, Jack. "A Lonely Youth." Chelsea House Biographies Online. Chelsea House. Web. 4 Feb. 2014. Rummel, Jack. "Columbia and the Harlem Renaissance." Chelsea House Biographies Online. Chelsea House. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
In his poems, Langston Hughes treats racism not just a historical fact but a “fact” that is both personal and real. Hughes often wrote poems that reflect the aspirations of black poets, their desire to free themselves from the shackles of street life, poverty, and hopelessness. He also deliberately pushes for artistic independence and race pride that embody the values and aspirations of the common man. Racism is real, and the fact that many African-Americans are suffering from a feeling of extreme rejection and loneliness demonstrate this claim. The tone is optimistic but irritated. The same case can be said about Wright’s short stories. Wright’s tone is overtly irritated and miserable. But this is on the literary level. In his short stories, he portrays the African-American as a suffering individual, devoid of hope and optimism. He equates racism to oppression, arguing that the African-American experience was and is characterized by oppression, prejudice, and injustice. To a certain degree, both authors are keen to presenting the African-American experience as a painful and excruciating experience – an experience that is historically, culturally, and politically rooted. The desire to be free again, the call for redemption, and the path toward true racial justice are some of the themes in their
1920’s Harlem was a time of contrast and contradiction, on one hand it was a hotbed of crime and vice and on the other it was a time of creativity and rebirth of literature and at this movement’s head was Langston Hughes. Hughes was a torchbearer for the Harlem Renaissance, a literary and musical movement that began in Harlem during the Roaring 20’s that promoted not only African-American culture in the mainstream, but gave African-Americans a sense of identity and pride.
Hughes, Langston. “Theme for English B” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings. Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, eds. New York: W. W. Norton & Compant, 2010. 799-800. Print.
When reading the literature of Langston Hughes, I cant help but feeling energetically charged and inspired. Equality, freedom, empowerment, renaissance, justice and perseverance, are just a taste of the subject matter Hughes offers. He amplifies his voice and beliefs through his works which are firmly rooted in race pride and race feeling. Hughes committed himself both to writing and to writing mainly about African Americans. His early love for the “wonderful world of books” was sparked by loneliness and parental neglect. He would soon lose himself in the works of Walt Whitman, Paul Laurence, Carl Sandburg and other literary greats which would lead to enhancing his ever so growing style and grace of oeuvre. Such talent, character, and willpower could only come from one’s life experiences. Hughes had allot to owe to influences such as his grandmother and great uncle John Mercer Langston - a famous African American abolitionist. These influential individuals helped mold Hughes, and their affect shines brightly through his literary works of art.
Berry, Faith. Langston Hughes Before and Beyond Harlem Connecticut: Lawrence Hill and Company Publishers, 1983
The civil rights movement may have technically ended in the nineteen sixties, but America is still feeling the adverse effects of this dark time in history today. African Americans were the group of people most affected by the Civil Rights Act and continue to be today. Great pain and suffering, though, usually amounts to great literature. This period in American history was no exception. Langston Hughes was a prolific writer before, during, and after the Civil Rights Act and produced many classic poems for African American literature. Hughes uses theme, point of view, and historical context in his poems “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” to expand the views on African American culture to his audience members.
Another example of Hughes’s constant struggles with racism and his inner and thoughtful response to that is clearly seen when he recalls being denied the right to sit at the same table. His point of view identifies that he was not able to sit at the table because he was an African-American. Yet, he remains very optimistic in not letting his misfortune please what is considered the “white-man” in the poem. Langston Hughes’s states,
Langston Hughes’ “Theme for English B” is a rhetorical poem in which Hughes asks the question about his social and racial status in society. Growing up through the First World War and took part in the Civil Rights Era, Hughes experienced racial tensions while going to school at Columbia University in a time when higher education was still for the affluent and dominantly white. His poem is a reflection of his reaction from a teachers’ writing prompt which influenced him to write on his racial and social tensions which is enhanced by his structure, rhetorical questions, and his use of first person. The speaker in this poem is Hughes himself, who is responding to a teacher’s prompt in which it says to express himself freely.
“Theme for English B” and “Let American be American again” share some similar elements. These poems both written by Langston Hughes both explain about inequality. Theme for English B revolves around the separation of the black and white man; the differences within each race were segregation was at a high point. Let America be America again revolves around the concept that America is supposed to be the land of the free, but to another race or background; it’s a total opposite. (I guess that being colored doesn’t make me not like the other folks who are other races. - Theme for English B). ...
The poem “Theme for English B” tells a story of a man and his struggle to write to his instructor about deeper matters. The poem by Langston Hughes explains the situation of a colored man. Everyone sees that he is different but to himself he knows he is the same by heart. He writes from his heart and from his own perspective. He explains to his readers that everyone may seem him in a different light but he must know himself enough to make his own independent judgements.
When I first read Langston Hughes' poem "Theme for English B", I did not particularly like it. But after reading it a second time and discussing it in class, I came to appreciate the poem on several levels. The way Hughes describes the setting of Harlem/New York is brief, but evocative. He also gives us insight into the thoughts and emotions of the main character, the young "colored" student, and ends the piece with several thought provoking passages.
The speech addresses the issues of racism as a barrier in culture, which is supposed to bring equality and inclusion to everyone. In the poem “The Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes, the author discusses the influence of dominant culture on a colored person in a school. Race is an aspect of dominant culture, and the color of your skin is a barrier between dominant culture and lesser cultures, and it can be overcome by the use of education. Race is an aspect of dominant culture, as it is a prejudgment of people’s classes and social standards by the assessment of their skin color. In “The Theme for English B” the author of the poem talks about dominant culture in a school setting from a colored student’s point of view.
In 1951, Langston Hughes wrote “Theme for English B” using the persona of a 22-year old African American who had come to New York City as part of the post-World War II Great Migration. The set up for the poem is deceptively simple: the English professor has given the students an autobiographical assignment in jaunty rhyme, “Go home and write/ a page tonight” (2-3). Everybody has done assignments like this, and from a position of privilege, the teacher assumes that the students will easily be able to fulfill the work comfortably. This reminded me strongly of other assignments that weren’t so easy for students and put them on the spot, like asking a classmate to do a family tree when they were adopted from another country, or asking someone who is a religious minority to stand up and talk about their holiday traditions.
Theme for English B is a poem that shows the discrimination between white and black. The author tries to show the agony that blacks felt in the hands and white. The author thinks that nothing he does is good enough for the white professor because he is
Langston Hughes once said in his poem, The Black Man Speaks, “I swear to the Lord / I still can't see / Why Democracy means / Everybody but me.” This quotation by Hughes is able to perfectly depict inequality which was just one of many struggles African Americans faced during Hughes’ time. Although literary critics felt that Langston Hughes portrayed an unattractive view of black life, the poems demonstrate reality. Hughes’ poetry contains many issues that typically plagued blacks at the time including racial abuse, lack of opportunity, and segregation.