Louis Armstrong Black And Blue Essay

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Recommended: Compare the messages of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois

Louis Armstrong- Black and Blue


What are the different meanings of the title?
- The meaning of Louis Armstrong’s song title can have two different interpretation: literally and figuratively. The literal meaning of his title “Black and Blue” illustrates Louis’ outer appearance and emotion which he highlights upon in his lyrics. On the other hand, the figurative aspect of the title’s meaning could be understood as a message or his personal testimony to society, which Louis ponders upon his implication of his skin tone.

What is the tone of “my only sin is my skin” and “I’m white inside”?
- The tone of the lyrics perfectly exemplifies Louis’ contemplation or his inner dilemma as a black man. In his lyrics, Louis examines his identity as a black man and declares that his only sin was his skin. The strong statement behind Louis’ lyrics served to …show more content…

While Booker T. Washington’s tone on how African-Americans should approach their civil rights shadowed some dark cynical mood of their reality, in contrast, W.E.B Dubois took a more optimistic and critical tone of pursue their political rights. The difference of the tone was significant because while one believed that the reality of African Americans was hopeless, the other believed that African-Americans deserved same rights, thus, they should be optimistic of pursue their rights. Furthermore, in the poem, the literary elements played a major role identifying the tone of each person. For instance, we see that W.E.B Dubois uses simile, metaphor, and rhyme (“try your little plan, but as for me, I’ll be a man”) to effectively bring out the positive tone that he sees within the pursuit of taking actions and instead of doing nothing. Moreover, unlike W.E.B Dubois, Booker T. Washington uses dictions such as vain, figurative phrases (“folks have missed the boat”), and rhyme to carry out his cynical tone of the reality that he

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