Comparison of Themes in “Incident” and “Theme for English B”
The poem, "Incident" by Countee Cullen and Theme for English B by Langston Hughes, talk of racism. However, Theme for English B builds more on identity than in the Incident. The poem, Theme for English B, focuses on the complications of identity and the reality of understanding people. People are made aware of their role in life through the story of the young black student in America. Nonetheless, the poem introduces the reader to the dilemma the student undergoes, as he tries to understand the things that differentiate him with his white peers. He finally understands that he is not different because he dreams and wants the same things like the white people. On the other hand, the
He shows racism by communicating using strong words that define a message, and He says “…of all the things that happened there, that’s all I remember.” (Cullen). It shows how words can sink the audience into the reader's world. The speaker notices a child, his age and smiles up and says “…he was no whit bigger.” (Cullen). The word “Whit” suggests wit and white. The white child is not bigger than the black one. However, the whit shows his social power. The word is negative as it offers a subject place to the black. The blacks continue to be demeaned on account of their color, with efforts directed to fostering social integration to eradicate forms of discrimination, such as racism (Prager 638). The poem does well in presenting the social learning of the speaker. The racial incident turns to be his turning point. The eight-year-old is declaring that the other child is white, while he is black. The behavior of the white child disappoints him. The speaker stays in Baltimore “from May until December, but in his poem, he states the events of the incident with the child. He claims that it is the only memory that he could “remember.” (Cullen). The poet elucidates that racism is painful and it does not matter the age of the person experiencing it. Specifically, racism leaves a scar on the mind of the person for a lifetime – the
Nonetheless, they did not give up even though they faced instances of racism in a strictly diverse society. Hughes writes the poem from a perspective of a black student. He tries to connect the struggles of black individuals with the struggle of race. However, the entire poem can be applied to any person, who wonders about the issue of identity. Langston is a black adult in a racist world. He offers to write a poem with a narrative that centers on a student, who is asked to write a page about his life. The speaker reflects on himself and notices that he is colored. That day when going home he notices that he was the only colored student from his class. The speaker expresses himself in the essay by explaining that it was hard to talk about his true identity at such young age. However, he identifies himself with Harlem and all of New York. He is most contented in Harlem and likes the same things like the white people. As he writes the essay, he wonders whether if his work will be colored and not have the same perspective as the one the white instructor has. Nonetheless, he observes that his point of view may differ with the instructors, but they could observe and also learn from each
Poems and other readings with strong racial undertones such as Strange Fruit allow me to reflect back on the role race plays in my life as a black young woman and analysis if much has changed in terms of racism in the American society today.
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
Richard Wright describes in his autobiography 'The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch' the atmosphere at his first job, where his fellow workers would not teach him anything, just because he was black: "This is a white man's work around here, and you better watch yourself" (291). From that moment on, he never really felt at ease going to work. This kind of feeling of unease is also found in Countee Cullen's 'Incident.' It shows clearly how children are not really aware of the differences adults believe to exist between different races until being told that there is a difference. The poem seems to be a product of personal experiences as a child, when another child pokes out his tongue and calls the speaker of the poem "nigger" during a stay in Baltimore, and it pictures the human tendency to look no further than the colour of the skin. This is probably an event that stayed in the child's mind all his life, hence the final lines of the poem: "I saw the whole of Baltimore / From May until December; / Of all the things that happened there / That's all that I remember" (384).
The poem No Country for Black Boys by (Joy Priest 1988) represents the sorrowful incident which has happened on Feb, 26, 2012 for Trayvon Martin in Florida. Trayvon Martin was an innocent African-American young boy who bought the iced tea and some skittles. On the way back to his father’s home, he got shot by the neighborhood watch and he treated as a victim because of his skin color. Guilt not defined by what did Martin say, also it determined something deep-rooted in the young age. No weapon needed to identify him as a victim. He is a young black boy, so he is already guilty enough to be killed.
Racism is an ugly word that churns up strong emotions whenever it is mentioned. Shocking images of lynchings, church bombings and race riots creep into the mind, and cause an almost physical reaction of repulsion and disgust. History books and old television clips do a good job of telling the story of racial hatred in America, but not what it actually felt like to be an African American during those times. James Baldwin, a noted African American author from New York in the 1950s and 1960s, knew what it was like to experience years of unrelenting, dehumanizing racial injustice. In his essay, “Notes of a Native Son,” Baldwin uses his literary skills to tell about his family’s painful history under racism and also to analyze the effects of racial hatred on society – hatred that he compares to a disease of the human spirit.
There are many different ways to express feelings towards an individual's race, culture, and ethnicity. It is one thing to talk about them, but it is another when everything spoken is nothing but positivity. In Carl Sandburg's poem “Nigger”, he portrays the positive vibes of African Americans. Looking at a title can be very deceiving until actually read. With everything written in free verse, Sandburg expresses the good qualities of individuals through different races, nationalities, and celebrates the common people in the language of the streets.
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,
“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). ...
Through the decades, there have been different types of social issues that affect many people. “The personal is political” was a popular feminist cry originating from civil rights movements of the 1960s, called attention to daily lives in order to see greater social issues on our society. This quote can relate back to many social issues that still occur till this day that many people are opposed of. One of the major social issues that still exist today, for example, is discrimination against colored people. In Javon Johnson’s poem, “Cuz He’s Black,” he discusses how discrimination affects many people, especially little kids because they are growing up fearing people who are supposed to protect us. Johnson effectively uses similes, dialogue
...ites a short 33-line poem that simply shows the barriers between races in the time period when racism was still openly practiced through segregation and discrimination. The poem captures the African American tenant’s frustrations towards the landlord as well as the racism shown by the landlord. The poem is a great illustration of the time period, and it shows how relevant discrimination was in everyday life in the nineteen-forties. It is important for the author to use the selected literary devices to help better illustrate his point. Each literary device in the poem helps exemplify the author’s intent: to increase awareness of the racism in the society in the time period.
The poems, “I, Too” by Langston Hughes and “Incident” by Countee Cullen employ visual imagery, tone, literary devices such as hyperboles, symbolism, and foreshadowing in different ways to illustrate the public life interaction between two different races, and the private life of an African American’s internal struggle of not being able to fight against the prejudice towards them. Both poets share racism as their piece of life, and although dealing with racism is the central tension engaged in the poems, Cullen suggests that experiences can affect your view on life and change your attitude. Hughes on the other hand, proposes that with an optimistic attitude you can change the outcome of your future, and that your attitude is independent from past experiences.
Although “Theme for English B” was published in 1949, it has many of the characteristics that his earlier works from the Harlem Renaissance possessed. The rhythmic rhyming adds to the musicality of the poem. The language is simple, yet effective in making a very important social statement. An especially intense aura of American separatism is present throughout the poem. A sense of egalitarianism is also present throughout the poem: the instructor is just as much student as the student is professor, young and old each have much to offer the other, and black and white partake of each other.
... They focus more on the cultural aspects of identity that Hughes is very proud of, while poems “Democracy” and “Theme for English B” touch on some of the social concerns that created a struggle for dignity as a black person in the early/mid twentieth century. The “Democracy” is a slightly stern and direct request to take action and fight for civil rights. The “Theme for English B” is a compassionate and low-key personal anecdote that reiterates the unpracticed concept that “all men are created equal”. Despite the difference in tone and subject, all four poems relate to the central theme that dignity is something that white men may take for granted, but Langston Hughes, as a black man and a writer, sees and feels dignity as a fight and a struggle that he faces and that the black community as a whole faces every day.
Over the years, the notion of discrimination has evolved. In the modern world, it has become more implicit, however, in the early 18th-century discrimination in the form of slavery and racism was evident. Though most people accepted this act, there were some who opposed it. William Blake, a former poet rejected the idea of hierarchy and supported equality. Blake believed that black people were not inferior to white people and treating someone on the basis of his skin colour is ignorance. The essay will look at how Blake’s view is represented in the poem “The Little Black Boy” which is derived from the Songs of Innocence and Experience.