thesis statement for langston hughes

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A Good Thesis For Harlem By Langston Hughes

Brief Introduction to Langston Hughes’ Harlem

Langston Hughes is an acclaimed African-American poet whose poetic works explore a range of topics, particularly the themes of identity, race and oppression. His poem “Harlem” resonates with readers and continues to hold relevance today. His classic, nearly three-hundred-word poem was first published in 1951 and since has been discussed in academia, illuminated in classes, used in performances and quoted for its enduring power. It explores a dream deferred and how it might “dry up” or turn “sour.”

Thesis for Langston Hughes’ Harlem

The poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes examines the consequences of a deferred dream and the feelings of oppression that come with it. In this work, Hughes uses concrete images of a hidden reality to explore themes of race, identity and oppression. By intertwining his personal experiences of racism and oppression into the poem, Hughes is able to create a powerful statement about the devastating effects of a deferred dream.

Exploring the Deferred Dream in Langston Hughes’ Harlem

The poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes presents a vivid picture of what happens when a dream is deferred. The narrator of the poem wonders what happens to a dream that is pushed away, waiting for its eventual demise or “explod[ing]”. For the African-American community of the mid-20th century, these were not merely abstract concepts – they were an everyday reality. Many African Americans had to confront oppression and racism that made achieving their dreams nearly impossible. This was a central theme in many of Hughes’ works, and is explored throughout this poem in particular. The poem paints a bleak picture of a deferred dream, showing how it can cause a person to become frustrated, depressed and demotivated. Hughes does not simply offer a bleak assessment of a deferred dream. He also offers his audience an alternative – striving to push forward and preserve a sense of hope and optimism in the face of adversity.

Langston Hughes’ Harlem: Oppression and Racism

In “Harlem,” Hughes uses a combination of vivid imagery and concrete details to convey the impact of a deferred dream on the African-American community. At the time of its publication, Jim Crow laws were still in place, and the African-American community was subjected to widespread racism, segregation and discrimination. For many, their dreams were often deferred due to oppressive systems that were out of their control. This is a theme that Hughes addresses in this poem, as he portrays the effects of racism and oppression on the dreams of the African-American community. In the opening line of the poem, Hughes writes “What happens to a dream deferred?” This simple question speaks to the fact that many African-Americans have experienced dreams that have been put on hold or pushed aside due to oppressive forces and systems. By using vivid imagery, Hughes is able to depict the impact of racism and oppression on a deferred dream.

Langston Hughes’ Harlem: Moving Beyond Deferred Dreams

The poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes does not simply depict a deferred dream and its negative consequences, but ends on a hopeful message. In the poem’s final two lines, Hughes writes “Maybe it just sags/ like a heavy load. Or does it explode?”. With these lines, Hughes suggests that, although a deferred dream can be an oppressive and heavy burden, it does not have to be. He suggests that it is possible to reject the forces of oppression and push forward with one’s dreams. This is the central message of the poem, and one that resonates with readers even today. By using concrete imagery and vivid detail, Hughes creates a powerful and moving statement.

Power of African-American Identity in Langston Hughes’ Harlem

Langston Hughes primarily focused on the plight of African Americans in his work. This poem of “Harlem” further explores identity themes and the power of African-American identity in the face of oppression. In it, Hughes gives voice to a community that has traditionally been left out of the conversation. He speaks of the struggles of African Americans to attain their dreams despite the systemic racism and oppression that often impede their progress. He also speaks of their hope in the face of this oppression and creates a powerful and inspiring statement about the power of the African-American community. By combining his own experiences of racism and oppression with vivid detail, Hughes is able to create a powerful statement about the strength of African-American identity.

Langston Hughes’ Harlem and Contemporary Society

The poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes is a classic piece of American literature that continues to be relevant today. While the poem was written in the 1950s, its themes of oppression, racism and deferred dreams continue to hold relevance in contemporary society. The poem speaks to the power of identity and speaks of the strength of a community that has faced so much adversity. Today, many African Americans continue to struggle to attain the same opportunities and success that other Americans take for granted. This poem speaks to the power of their community and the importance of recognizing their unique circumstances. By speaking of their strength in the face of oppression, Hughes is able to create a powerful statement about the resilience of African Americans.

Analysis of the Tone in Langston Hughes’ Harlem

The tone of “Harlem” by Langston Hughes is one of despair, yet ultimately of hope. Hughes portrays the despair of deferred dreams, while also conveying the strength and resilience of the African-American community in the face of oppression. Throughout the poem, Hughes speaks of the oppression and racism that so many African Americans face, but he also speaks of their hope and their ability to overcome adversity. This duality of despair and hope is evident throughout the poem and creates a powerful statement about the strength of the African-American community.

Conclusion of Langston Hughes’ Harlem

The poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes is a classic of American literature that continues to resonate with readers today. It speaks to the despair of a deferred dream, combined with the strength of the African-American community in the face of oppression. By allowing the reader to explore his own experiences of racism and oppression, Hughes is able to create a powerful and lasting statement about dreams, identity and the power of resilience in the face of adversity. The poem mixes despair and hope in a unique blend, creating a work that stands the test of time.

Langston Hughes’ Harlem as a Reflection of Struggles

One of the most powerful aspects of Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem” is its ability to reflect the struggles that African Americans have experienced throughout history. By speaking directly to the experience of racism and oppression, Hughes offers readers a shocking glimpse of the reality of a deferred dream. Through this poem, he is conveying the difficulties and realities of the struggle, showing a clear and heart-rending reminder of the often-unacknowledged conditions in which African-Americans have had to live. Hughes speaks to his audience directly, offering a first-person account of the daily struggles of an African-American trying to overcome a deferred dream.

Interpreting the Ripple Effect of a Deferred Dream in Langston Hughes’ Harlem

In Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” the effects of a deferred dream go far beyond the individual. In the poem, Hughes suggests that the consequences of a deferred dream ripple outward, affecting not just the individual, but the entire community. Hughes speaks to this ripple effect in the lines “Maybe it just sags/ Like a heavy load.” By using this imagery, Hughes is showing how a deferred dream can become a “heavy load” that affects not just the individual, but the entire community. He suggests that a deferred dream can have an impact on not only the individual struggling to make their dreams come true, but on the entire African-American community.

Langston Hughes’ Harlem and the Weight of History of Racism

In Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” he speaks to the weight of the history of racism in America. He acknowledges the systemic racism and oppression that has been inflicted on African Americans throughout history, and speaks to its devastating effects on the dreams of individuals. By speaking to the reality of oppression, Hughes helps readers to understand the challenges of pursuing a dream in the face of such overwhelming odds. He speaks to the power of dreams, but also to their fragility in light of the long history of racism and oppression.

Analysis of the Use of Imagery in Langston Hughes’ Harlem

The poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes is rife with powerful imagery that speaks to the deferred dreams of the African-American community. Hughes uses vivid imagery to depict the deferred dream, painting a picture of a “heavy load” that can be “fester[ing]” or “dried up.” By using imagery to convey the effects of a deferred dream, Hughes is able to illustrate the emotional weight of such a dream, as well as its devastating consequences. Hughes’ imagery adds depth to the poem and helps readers to understand the emotional turmoil of a deferred dream better.

Dannah Hannah is an established poet and author who loves to write about the beauty and power of poetry. She has published several collections of her own works, as well as articles and reviews on poets she admires. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, with a specialization in poetics, from the University of Toronto. Hannah was also a panelist for the 2017 Futurepoem book Poetry + Social Justice, which aimed to bring attention to activism through poetry. She lives in Toronto, Canada, where she continues to write and explore the depths of poetry and its influence on our lives.

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Breaking Ground

A Smithsonian magazine special report

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

What langston hughes’ powerful poem “i, too” tells us about america’s past and present.

Smithsonian historian David Ward reflects on the work of Langston Hughes

David C. Ward

In large graven letters on the wall of the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall is a quote from poet Langston Hughes: “I, too, am  America.”

The line comes from the Hughes’s poem “I, too,” first published in 1926.

I, too, sing America. 

I am the darker brother. 

They send me to eat in the kitchen 

When company comes, 

But I laugh, 

And eat well, 

And grow strong. 

I’ll be at the table 

When company comes. 

Nobody’ll dare 

Say to me, 

“Eat in the kitchen,” 

They’ll see how beautiful I am 

And be ashamed— 

I, too, am America.

From THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES. By permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated

The poem is a singularly significant affirmation of the museum’s mission to tell the history of United States through the lens of the African-American experience. It embodies that history at a particular point in the early 20 th  century when Jim Crow laws throughout the South enforced racial segregation; and argues against those who would deny that importance—and that presence.  

Its mere 18 lines capture a series of intertwined themes about the relationship of African-Americans to the majority culture and society, themes that show Hughes’ recognition of the painful complexity of that relationship.

There is a multi-dimensional pun in the title, “I, too” in the lines that open and close the poem. If you hear the word as the number two, it suddenly shifts the terrain to someone who is secondary, subordinate, even, inferior .

Hughes powerfully speaks for the second-class, those excluded. The full-throated drama of the poem portrays African-Americans moving from out of sight, eating in the kitchen, and taking their place at the dining room table co-equal with the “company” that is dining.

Intriguingly, Langston doesn’t amplify on who owns the kitchen. The house, of course, is the United States and the owners of the house and the kitchen are never specified or seen because they cannot be embodied. Hughes’ sly wink is to the African-Americans who worked in the plantation houses as slaves and servants. He honors those who lived below stairs or in the cabins. Even excluded, the presence of African-Americans was made palpable by the smooth running of the house, the appearance of meals on the table, and the continuity of material life. Enduring the unendurable, their spirit lives now in these galleries and among the scores of relic artifacts in the museum’s underground history galleries and in the soaring arts and culture galleries at the top of the bronze corona-shaped building.

The other reference if you hear that “too” as “two” is not subservience, but dividedness.

Hughes’ pays homage to his contemporary, the intellectual leader and founder of the NAACP, W.E.B. DuBois whose speeches and essays about the dividedness of African-American identity and consciousness would rivet audiences; and motivate and compel the determined activism that empowered the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century.

The African-American, according to DuBois in his seminal work,  The Souls of Black Folks,  existed always in two ‘places” at once:

“One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”

DuBois makes the body of the African-American—the body that endured so much work and which is beautifully rendered in Hughes’ second stanza “I am the darker brother”—as the vessel for the divided consciousness of his people.

DuBois writes of the continual desire to end this suffering in the merging of this “double self into a better and truer self.” Yet in doing so, DuBois argued, paradoxically, that neither “of the older selves to be lost.”

The sense of being divided in two was not just the root of the problem not just for the African-American, but for the United States. As Lincoln had spoken about the coexistence of slavery with freedom: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Hughes ties together this sense of the unity of the separate and diverse parts of the American democracy by beginning his poem with a near direct reference to Walt Whitman.

Whitman wrote, “I sing the body electric” and went on to associate the power of that body with all the virtues of American democracy in which power was vested in each individual acting in concert with their fellows. Whitman believed that the “electricity” of the body formed a kind of adhesion that would bind people together in companionship and love: “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear. . .”

Hughes makes Whitman—his literary hero—more explicitly political with his assertion “I, too, sing America.”

The verb here is important because it suggests the implicit if unrecognized creative work that African-Americans provided to make America. African-Americans helped sing America into existence and for that work deserve a seat at the table, dining as coequals with their fellows and in the company of the world.           

At the end of the poem, the line is changed because the transformation has occurred.

 “I, too, am America.”

Presence has been established and recognized. The house divided is reconciled into a whole in which the various parts sing sweetly in their separate harmonies. The problem for the politics of all this, if not for the poem itself, is that the simple assertion of presence—“They’ll see how beautiful I am. . .” —may not be enough.

The new African American Museum on the National Mall is a powerful assertion of presence and the legitimacy of a story that is unique, tragic and inextricably linked to the totality of American history. “I, too” is Hughes at his most optimistic, reveling in the bodies and souls of his people and the power of that presence in transcendent change. But he fully realized the obstacles to true African-American emancipation and acceptance in the house of American democracy. He was the poet, remember, who also wrote “What will happen to a dream deferred?”  

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David C. Ward | READ MORE

David C. Ward is senior historian emeritus at the National Portrait Gallery, and curator of the upcoming exhibition “The Sweat of their Face: Portraying American Workers."

A Summary and Analysis of Langston Hughes’ ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ was the first mature poem that Langston Hughes (1901-67) had published, in 1921. The poem bears the influence of Walt Whitman, but is also recognisably in Hughes’ own emerging, distinctive voice.

You can read ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ here (the poem takes around one minute to read) before reading on to our summary and analysis of Langston Hughes’ poem.

‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ : summary

The poem is composed of five stanzas, of varying lengths. The speaker of the poem, as its title makes clear, as a ‘Negro’: a Black person of African descent. Hughes himself was one of the most noted African-American writers of his age, but here he adopts the voice of all Black people throughout history, going back thousands of years.

In the first stanza, the speaker tells us that he has known all kinds of rivers, including very old and ancient ones which even predate the earliest humans: before the first blood flowed through human veins, those rivers were flowing, and the speaker has known them all.

The second stanza is a single standalone line, which sees the speaker likening his own soul to those ancient rivers: like them, his soul has ‘grown deep’.

The third, or middle, stanza of the poem is also the longest. The speaker tells us that he bathed in the Euphrates, a major river in the Middle East. The ancient empire of Mesopotamia was actually founded between the Tigris and Euphrates, the two largest rivers in that part of the world; ‘Mesopotamia’ means ‘between the rivers’.

The world was young when the speaker bathed in the waters of the Euphrates. He built a hut for himself near another river, the African Congo, and the river soothed him to sleep. Elsewhere in Africa, he looked at the Nile and he built the Pyramids to tower above that river.

And, more recently, the speaker heard the ‘singing’ of the vast North American river, the Mississippi, during the nineteenth century when the young Abraham Lincoln, then still only a teenager, guided a flatboat down the Mississippi River to New Orleans in 1828, his first trip to the American South. Lincoln would later become US President, and, during the American Civil War, would become known as ‘ the Great Emancipator ’ for securing a victory for the Union in the war, leading to the abolition of slavery and the liberating of African slaves in the US.

The fourth and fifth stanzas are shorter. The fourth stanza is in many ways a shortened version of the poem’s opening stanza: the speaker tells us again that he has known rivers which are ancient and ‘dusky’ (i.e., dark). The fifth and final stanza is a word-for-word repetition, or reprise, of the second stanza, and brings the poem to a conclusion: the speaker’s soul, he tells us, has ‘grown deep like the rivers.’

‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ : analysis

‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ was published in Crisis , a journal of African-American writing, in June 1921. Hughes had written the poem while actually travelling on a river: he was crossing the Mississippi at the time, and it makes sense to view his poem as being about Mississippi above all.

His speaker is the spiritual embodiment of all African people, starting with the cradle of all humanity, ancient Mesopotamia, where, according to the Old Testament, the Garden of Eden was located.

We are also taken to the Nile, recalling those who built the Pyramids, before moving geographically and historically to those who, in America’s recent history, suffered under the injustices of modern slavery. (It’s perhaps also worth remembering that there’s a common perception that the Pyramids had themselves been built on slave labour . Throughout history, the African man has faced these injustices and hardships, Hughes’ poem suggests through its historical telescoping.)

But if the poem hints at the dark recent history of the United States, it is also a hopeful and celebratory poem. Lincoln, after all, would lead the way to the liberation of African slaves, just as he had guided his boat down the Mississippi as a young man of nineteen (did that journey, and his encounters with Black people which Lincoln must have had during his time in Louisiana, imbue him with a greater sympathy for the plight of Black slaves, one wonders?).

The fact that the ‘muddy’ waters of the river turn ‘gold’ suggests that the Black speaker, and all Black people, are finally coming into the inheritance they have been owed for so long.

And ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ bears the influence of religious verses: there is something psalm-like about its rhythms, about the repetition (that repeated line, almost a refrain, about the speaker’s soul growing deep like the various rivers of the world) and the anaphora Hughes uses. Anaphora is a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of successive clauses, as Hughes’ speaker does when he says, ‘I’ve known rivers’ at the beginnings of the poem’s first two lines, and then begins each line of the third stanza with the word ‘I’ (‘I bathed …’, ‘I built …’, ‘I looked …’, ‘I heard …’).

So, there is almost something of the preacher in Hughes’ speaker, and it’s worth noting that he is speaking , rather than writing (contrast him with the young speaker of Hughes’ ‘ Theme for English B ’, who is writing his college homework assignment). So there is a sense that the speaker is declaiming – proclaiming even – and speaking with an authority and a confidence that is almost religious in its flavour.

Rivers have long had spiritual meaning to peoples and cultures around the world. Just twenty years after Hughes published his poem, T. S. Eliot, in ‘ The Dry Salvages ’ (1941), would describe the river as a ‘strong brown god’; curiously enough, he, too, is thinking specifically of the Mississippi. So the fact that the speaker’s soul has grown deeper like the rivers that have watered and nourished him need not surprise us. It has become part of his identity, formed who he – and his ancestors – have become, and played a key role in his history.

And as well as betraying a biblical inspiration, the rhythms of Hughes’ short poem also recall the long, rolling lines of Walt Whitman: another great emancipator in nineteenth-century history, although this time of verse rather than slaves. Whitman (1819-92) was an important early guide for Hughes’ own poetry, and his own free verse compositions are often celebratory, recalling the sprawling lines of the Old Testament psalms.

‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ would continue to be an important poem in Langston Hughes’ oeuvre, and one of his most defining works, even though it is, in many respects, atypical of his work in terms of its rhythms, style, and structure. But it was this poem, rather than his later jazz- and blues-influenced lyrics, which was read at Hughes’ funeral in 1967.

‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ : form

As we remarked above, ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ is influenced by the free verse of Walt Whitman, and Hughes’ poem is an example of free verse, too: it is unrhymed and has no regular metre or rhythm (contrast it with, say, Claude McKay’s near-contemporary poem, ‘ If We Must Die ’, and you can immediately hear the difference between the two poets).

‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ also has lines of varying lengths and its stanzas range from just one line to four lines. This style is entirely appropriate for a poem that surprises us with its unexpected connections between very different places and historical periods, and conveys the excitement of the speaker concerning the spiritual link between these rivers and his own soul.

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Theme for English B

18 pages • 36 minutes read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

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Racial Difference in the College Classroom

Being Black in an academic institution is a primary theme in “Theme for English B.” The speaker mentions his Blackness several times in the poem, and he notes that he is the only Black “student in [his] class” (Line 10). Even in the 21st century, this reflects the experience of many Black academics—being vastly outnumbered by students of other races. Hughes himself had a similar experience when he studied at Columbia University, where campus racism drove him to withdraw.

After leaving this predominantly white university, Hughes went on to receive several degrees from the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in America, Lincoln University. According to Lincoln University’s Langston Hughes Memorial Library website , Hughes “refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people without personalizing them, so the reader could step in and draw his own conclusions.”

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Mother To Son Thesis Statement

In Mother to Son, Langston Hughes discusses the struggles that African American men have faced in the United States throughout history. In this poem, Hughes casts his mother as a symbol of darker races fighting against adversity. Mother to Son was written in 1922 while Hughes was still a student at Columbia University and was first published in The Crisis magazine, a NAACP publication. Mother to Son is a message of encouragement and optimism to African American youth.

Though Mother to Son was published prior to the Harlem Renaissance, it successfully contributes to the same movement by enforcing its messages: pride in one’s skin and heritage and the fight against oppression. Mother To Son similarly extols themes contained within “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, celebrating the richness that black culture brings as well as venerating black history. Mother To Son also makes reference to two songs from spirituals sung during slavery, We’re Marching On and Steal Away.

In Mother To Son, Hughes uses many literary devices to send his message of hope for brighter future for African Americans. The most important device Hughes uses in Mother To Son is personification. Mother To Son is a poem written in first person, and Mother is portrayed as being a real person. Mother’s strong presence comes from the fact that she has a voice of her own, with thoughts and feelings of her own separate from those of Hughes.

Mother to Son was written as if Hughes were speaking directly to his mother, but Mother is given life beyond what any mother could be expected to accomplish; Mother becomes an entity who defies both time and physicality. Mother can even be seen as invincible; rather than dying like most parents do, Mother lives on forever: “Forever and forever / I’ll say it again. ” Another literary device used in Mother To Son is hyperbole. It would be impossible for anyone’s mother to have lived “forever”. Mother would have died eventually, which is why having Mother live forever becomes a symbol of Mother’s strength.

Hughes uses hyperbole to show Mother’s indomitable spirit and Mother’s willingness to do anything for her son, even if it means the possibility of death. The third literary device used in Mother To Son is symbolism. Throughout Mother To Son, Mother becomes more than just an ordinary human being because she takes on the qualities that could be expected from a mother. Mother is nurturing toward her son not only physically but also mentally; she supplies him with all he needs for his education.

Mother’s wisdom guides Hughes toward manhood while his father remains absent throughout this poem. While other African American men are portrayed as having to overcome much adversity to reach manhood, Mother offers her son the opportunity for success. Mother is also a black woman who provides hope and unity in Mother To Son. Mother’s presence in Mother To Son lets African American mothers know that they are not alone in their fight against oppression. Mother to Son demonstrates African Americans’ unified efforts toward racial equality during the Harlem Renaissance era.

The mother then advises her child to work hard and not become a victim of circumstance by continuing, “You’s old enough to climb. Motherhood is a struggle that doesn’t always have happy ending, but the Mother in this poem had children so she would have someone to take care of her when she grew older. Motherhood can be defined as a woman giving birth to a child. Motherhood is a position which involves taking care of one or more children at home or through out their life cycle stages while being aided by the father working outside the home full-time.

And parents value what they do for their kids more than material things so they’ll try anything within their means for their kid/s to have a bright and secure future. Mother to Son’s key words embedded in the poem are: Mother, Motherhood, Life, Stairs, Climb and so on. The Mother felt that she hasn’t been treated fairly all her life because of her race and gender by stating “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. ” The mother goes on to say that it’s been hard for her climb every step of the way as a result of their color and sex, but she had children so she would have someone to take care of her when she became older.

Motherhood is a position which involves taking care of one or more children at home or throughout their life cycle stages while being aided by the father working outside the home full-time. Motherhood can also be defined as a woman giving birth to a child. Motherhood is a struggle that doesn’t always have happy ending because the Mother in Mother to Son had children so she would have someone to take care of her when she grew older. The Mother wanted her son not only to understand life, but also succeed in it for himself by climbing every step just like she did.

“Mother to Son” By Langston Hughes Mother to son Talkin bout, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. ” In the poem, Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, the protagonist of this poem is a mother who’s trying her best to motivate her son as much as she can before he leaves home and makes his own path in life. She tells him that just because life has been hard on her doesn’t mean it will be for him also. She says not to give up hope on God and your dreams which gives a sense of hope to her son that he will make it too.

Mother to Son Mother’s eyes on me, pleading, “Don’t you fall now – Mother’s hand reaching out, touching, saying goodbye. ” Mother talking loud with fear, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. Don’t the sun look cold through the frozen window pane? Don’t you lie awake in the dark and listen to the ragin’ wind? ” Mother walking proud down a street of glitterin’ lights; Mother havin babies without no husband in sight; Mother got weary feet and dirty dress ties; Mother worryin about this world full of trouble an hate. Mother tries t o touch my arm but I moves away – ‘Cause that would bring us sorrow Mother, Mother don’t you cry!

Mother to son Talkin bout , “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. ” He says: Mother, I’m goin out in the world. Mother speaks loud and “Don’t you fall now – Mother’s hand reaching out, touching, saying goodbye. ” Mother talking with faith in her heart: “Build a dream and maybe it will come true. Don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do; It looks like hard work but don’t be afraid – No man can get more than he bargains for Out of life. ” Mother’s eyes on me pleading,”Don’t you fall now! ” Mother lowerin her head and walkin away. I rise above it all and then

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The Model Short Story

On "salvation" by langston hughes.

Matthew Sharpe

“Salvation” is the third chapter of Langston Hughes’s memoir The Big Sea , but this two-page tour de force of prose is also a compact and complete story. Here are five things I like about it:

• The control of time.  As the story opens, time breezes along in the weeks leading up to the revival meeting at twelve-year-old Langston’s church. Time then slows down paragraph by paragraph until, as Langston’s decisive moment approaches, it creeps.
• The control of space.  Sometimes we see close-ups from twelve-year-old Langston’s point of view of “old women with jet-black faces and braided hair, old men with work-gnarled hands”; other times we see long shots, as if from up in the church’s rafters: “Suddenly the whole room broke into a sea of shouting. Waves of rejoicing swept the place.” And, as the church does, the author imbues with enormous significance the ten feet of space between the front row of pews and the altar, which the boy must cross to be saved.
• The doubleness of the narrator.  His diction and sensibility move fluidly back and forth between the man’s and the boy’s.
• Polyphony.  Not only the two Langstons’, but his Auntie Reed’s, the preacher’s, and his friend Westley’s voices are heard, as is the voice of the church via the liturgy.
• Irony.  The verbal irony of the title, “Salvation,” is a kind of shorthand for the dramatic irony of the plot, wherein the more lost young Langston feels, the more his fellow congregants are convinced they are saving him.

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes

I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved. It happened like this. There was a big revival at my Auntie Reed’s church. Every night for weeks there had been much preaching, singing, praying, and shouting, and some very hardened sinners had been brought to Christ, and the membership of the church had grown by leaps and bounds. Then just before the revival ended, they held a special meeting for children, “to bring the young lambs to the fold.” My aunt spoke of it for days ahead. That night I was escorted to the front row and placed on the mourners’ bench with all the other young sinners, who had not yet been brought to Jesus.

My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul. I believed her. I had heard a great many old people say the same thing and it seemed to me they ought to know. So I sat there calmly in the hot, crowded church, waiting for Jesus to come to me.

The preacher preached a wonderful rhythmical sermon, all moans and shouts and lonely cries and dire pictures of hell, and then he sang a song about the ninety and nine safe in the fold, but one little lamb was left out in the cold. Then he said: “Won’t you come? Won’t you come to Jesus? Young lambs, won’t you come?” And he held out his arms to all us young sinners there on the mourners’ bench. And the little girls cried. And some of them jumped up and went to Jesus right away. But most of us just sat there.

A great many old people came and knelt around us and prayed, old women with jet-black faces and braided hair, old men with work-gnarled hands. And the church sang a song about the lower lights are burning, some poor sinners to be saved. And the whole building rocked with prayer and song.

Still I kept waiting to see Jesus.

Finally all the young people had gone to the altar and were saved, but one boy and me. He was a rounder’s son named Westley. Westley and I were surrounded by sisters and deacons praying. It was very hot in the church, and getting late now. Finally Westley said to me in a whisper: “God damn! I’m tired o’ sitting here. Let’s get up and be saved.” So he got up and was saved.

Then I was left all alone on the mourners’ bench. My aunt came and knelt at my knees and cried, while prayers and song swirled all around me in the little church. The whole congregation prayed for me alone, in a mighty wail of moans and voices. And I kept waiting serenely for Jesus, waiting, waiting – but he didn’t come. I wanted to see him, but nothing happened to me. Nothing! I wanted something to happen to me, but nothing happened.

I heard the songs and the minister saying: “Why don’t you come? My dear child, why don’t you come to Jesus? Jesus is waiting for you. He wants you. Why don’t you come? Sister Reed, what is this child’s name?”

“Langston,” my aunt sobbed.

“Langston, why don’t you come? Why don’t you come and be saved? Oh, Lamb of God! Why don’t you come?”

Now it was really getting late. I began to be ashamed of myself, holding everything up so long. I began to wonder what God thought about Westley, who certainly hadn’t seen Jesus either, but who was now sitting proudly on the platform, swinging his knickerbockered legs and grinning down at me, surrounded by deacons and old women on their knees praying. God had not struck Westley dead for taking his name in vain or for lying in the temple. So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, I’d better lie, too, and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved.

So I got up.

Suddenly the whole room broke into a sea of shouting, as they saw me rise. Waves of rejoicing swept the place. Women leaped in the air. My aunt threw her arms around me. The minister took me by the hand and led me to the platform.

When things quieted down, in a hushed silence, punctuated by a few ecstatic “Amens,” all the new young lambs were blessed in the name of God. Then joyous singing filled the room.

That night, for the first time in my life but one for I was a big boy twelve years old – I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn’t stop. I buried my head under the quilts, but my aunt heard me. She woke up and told my uncle I was crying because the Holy Ghost had come into my life, and because I had seen Jesus. But I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me.

“Salvation” from  The Big Sea by Langston Hughes. Copyright © 1940 by Langston Hughes. Copyright renewed 1968 by Arna Bontemps and George Houston Bass. Reprinted by permission of Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. www.fsgbooks.com

Langston Hughes  (1902-1967) was a poet, novelist, playwright, columnist, memoirist, and short story writer. The author of more than 30 books and a dozen plays, he was extremely influential during the Harlem Renaissance and in the decades beyond; he also had a profound influence on a younger generation of writers, including Paule Marshall and Alice Walker. “Salvation” is taken from his memoir,  The Big Sea .

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Langston Hughes Essay

James Langston Hughes was born in Joplin on Feb. 1, 1902. Although he did not live there for long, he was always proud of his connection to the state. Until 1915 he lived in Lawrence, Kansas, close to the Missouri border. He had close relatives who lived in Kansas City, Missouri. But his link to Missouri ran deep into history. From his maternal grandmother, Mary Langston, he learned much about the Kansas-Missouri border wars and their historic consequences for blacks especially. Her first husband had died fighting alongside John Brown at Harpers Ferry, and her second, Hughes’s grandfather, had also been a militant abolitionist. Such events cast a long shadow over Hughes as he grew up in increasingly segregated Lawrence. His rich career should be seen as his calculated response to the challenges of this history, but by the time of his death he clearly had made peace with Missouri. Elected a trustee of the Missouri Society of New York in 1963, he was proud to be part of a great literary tradition that includes Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, and Hughes’s good friend the poet Marianne Moore. Hughes’s parents, James Nathaniel and Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes, met in Oklahoma. She was an aspiring actress and writer; his great goal was to be a lawyer and successful businessman. They were married in Guthrie, Oklahoma, but soon moved to Joplin when he found a promising job there. Being black, however, he found it virtually impossible to gain admission to the bar. When Langston was born, James was probably far away. His ambition took him first to Cuba and then to Mexico, where he found jobs commensurate with his talents and training. He lived in Mexico for the rest of his life. (He and his family barely missed the horror that struck Joplin in April 1903. A white mob stormed the city jail, lynched a black man accused of killing a policeman, and violently expelled many blacks from the town.) Hughes saw little of his father after that. Materialistic and cold, as Langston saw him, James disapproved of his son’s passion for poetry and his sympathy for the black masses. Attempts at reconciliation in Mexico failed. They did not see one another after 1921. Mainly Langston grew up in Lawrence, Kansas with Mary Langston. After her second husband’s death, the family fell into poverty. Langston’s mother was often away, searching for work. Hughes grew up a lonely child who came to believe less in people than in fiction and poetry. In 1915, when his grandmother died, he joined his mother and her second husband in Lincoln, Illinois. There he wrote his first poem. They moved next to Cleveland. He lived there from 1916 to 1920. Sometimes he lived alone, as his stepfather scrambled to find work. However, at the progressive Central High School he received a first-rate education. In the school magazine he published several poems and stories. In 1921, funded reluctantly by his father, he entered Columbia University in New York, but left after a disillusioning year in search of freedom and literary inspiration. In 1921 he published in The Crisis his signature poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” in his first appearance as a writer in a national magazine. Its opening line (“I’ve known rivers”) had come to him just as he was crossing the Mississippi at sunset on a train from Kansas into Missouri, going to join his father in Mexico. The four years after Columbia found him roaming the coast of Africa as a seaman, or working in Paris and in Washington–but always writing. In 1926, his first book, The Weary Blues, confirmed his status as a star of the Harlem Renaissance. That month, January, he also entered Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (his B.A. came in 1929). Also in 1926 The Nation magazine published his manifesto for younger black writers, the essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” In 1930 he published his first novel, Not Without Laughter. Politically, Hughes moved in the 1930s to the far left, as did many other Americans also pushed by the Great Depression. In 1931-1932 he toured the South and the West by car, taking his poetry to the people. In 1932 he joined a group of young blacks invited to the Soviet Union to make a movie about American race relations. The project collapsed, but he spent many months living in Moscow and also touring the Asian republics of the USSR. Returning to the US in 1933 via Japan and China, he lived in California for a year. In 1934, he published a hard hitting collection of stories, The Ways of White Folks (1934). Also in the 1930s he worked hard at writing plays. His tragedy about miscegenation, Mulatto, opened on Broadway in 1935. In 1936, still haunted by the Depression, he published his memorable political anthem “Let America Be America Again.” Often broke, he tried to work in Hollywood but found it demeaning to blacks. In 1940 came an autobiography, The Big Sea. About this time Hughes found himself hunted because of radical poems he had published in the early 1930s, especially one (“Goodbye Christ”) about charlatans who exploit religious faith. Retreating, he turned to safer themes, including the nascent modern civil rights struggle. Attacks on him continued, however, culminating in a somewhat humiliating appearance in 1953 before Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communistic subcommittee. But by this time, by dint of hard work and his versatility, he had also enjoyed some success. In 1947, his work on the Broadway opera Street Scene enabled him to buy a modest townhouse in Harlem. He lived there for the rest of his life. Hughes continued to publish books. They included more poetry but also another autobiography, I Wonder as I Wander; books for children, such as The First Book of Jazz and The First Book of Africa; histories such as Fight for Freedom, the story of the NAACP; various plays; and anthologies of African American and African writing. He pioneered the development of the gospel musical, notably his Black Nativity. In 1960, the NAACP awarded him its highest honor, the Spingarn Medal. He toured Africa on behalf of the U.S. State Department. He was still an active force when complications after surgery ended his life in a New York hospital on May 22, 1967. Langston Hughes was arguably the premier poet of the black American experience, the most versatile of black writers, and one of the finest authors in American literature. Widespread academic attention to him began, fittingly, at a conference in 1983 organized in Joplin at Missouri Southern University, when Joplin reclaimed and celebrated him as a favorite son. Arnold Rampersad Stanford University

Mother to Son Summary & Analysis by Langston Hughes

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

“Mother to Son” is a poem by Langston Hughes. It was first published in 1922 in The Crisis , a magazine dedicated to promoting civil rights in the United States, and was later collected in Hughes’s first book The Weary Blues (1926). The poem describes the difficulties that Black people face in a racist society, alluding to the many obstacles and dangers that racism throws in their way—obstacles and dangers that white people don’t have to face. At the same time, the poem argues that Black people can overcome these difficulties through persistence, resilience, and mutual support.

• Read the full text of “Mother to Son”

The Full Text of “Mother to Son”

1 Well, son, I’ll tell you:

2 Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

3 It’s had tacks in it,

4 And splinters,

5 And boards torn up,

6 And places with no carpet on the floor—

8 But all the time

9 I’se been a-climbin’ on,

10 And reachin’ landin’s,

11 And turnin’ corners,

12 And sometimes goin’ in the dark

13 Where there ain’t been no light.

14 So boy, don’t you turn back.

15 Don’t you set down on the steps

16 ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

17 Don’t you fall now—

18 For I’se still goin’, honey,

19 I’se still climbin’,

20 And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

“Mother to Son” Summary

“mother to son” themes.

Racism and Perseverance

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mother to Son”

Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare.

But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light.

Lines 14-16

So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Lines 17-20

Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

“Mother to Son” Symbols

• Crystal Stair
• See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“Mother to Son” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

End-stopped line.

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

Alliteration

Extended metaphor, polysyndeton, “mother to son” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• A-Climbin'
• Landin's
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mother to Son”

Rhyme scheme, “mother to son” speaker, “mother to son” setting, literary and historical context of “mother to son”, more “mother to son” resources, external resources.

Into to the Harlem Renaissance — A detailed history of the Harlem Renaissance—with links to other Harlem Renaissance writers and texts—from the Poetry Foundation.

The Weary Blues — An article from the Academy of American Poets on The Weary Blues, Langston Hughes's first book of poems, which collected "Mother to Son."

Langston Hughes's Life Story — A detailed biography of the from the Poetry Foundation.

Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance — An article on Langston Hughes's influence on the Harlem Renaissance.

The Poem Read Aloud — The actress Viola Davis and the poet Langston Hughes both recite "Mother to Son."

LitCharts on Other Poems by Langston Hughes

As I Grew Older

Aunt Sue's Stories

Daybreak in Alabama

Dream Variations

I Look at the World

Let America Be America Again

Night Funeral in Harlem

The Ballad of the Landlord

Theme for English B

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

The Weary Blues

Everything you need for every book you read.

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes Literature Analysis Essay

Introduction.

The interpretation of the term salvation can take different dimension depending on certain aspects such as one’s background or age. Children, for instance, have their own understanding of religion and salvation as explicated by Langston in his literal understanding of the term salvation.

His inadequate understanding of the term resulted to an unwilling salvation process as a way of pleasing church members and his friend, which left him doubt on whether he received the real salvation. This document, therefore, is going to, extensively, analyze Hughes’s salvation scenario, in order to achieve a clear understanding.

In as much as it is fundamental to embrace salvation by accepting the lord almighty (Jesus Christ) as the sole savior, liberator or protector of all beings, it is also necessary to analyze and understand the process through which individual receive salvation as exemplified by Langston Hughes’s salvation experience.

By analyzing the article on “salvation” by Hughes, it is undoubtedly clear that Hughes never received salvation, despite being part of the salvation prayers held at the church. However, several factors contributed to Hughes’s situation of never receiving salvation, which includes his misunderstanding of the salvation process.

Hughes understood the term salvation in a literal perspective, instead of getting the deeper meaning of the term. He thought that when one receives salvation, he or she must physically observe Jesus Christ coming to his rescue. His understanding followed various explications by his aunt and other elderly individuals, whereby they claimed that one must see and feel the presence of Jesus Christ while receiving salvation.

In addition to his limited understanding ability, her aunt’s inadequate explanation of salvation also significantly contributed to Hughes’s literal thoughts of the salvation process. Hughes’s aunt should have given a detailed explication so that Hughes comprehends salvation process adequately and not in a literal perspective.

This would have helped Hughes to receive salvation in a comfortable and acceptable manner, rather than to act in pretense. Moreover, it would have also helped the young lad to not to, unwillingly, deceive the entire congregation that he wanted to receive salvation.

Conversely, it is also not fair to, completely, blame her aunt’s description, since Hughes was young and could not adequately understand the inner meaning of the salvation process. Whether Hughes’s aunt could have deeply explained the meaning of the salvation process or not, it is highly likely, that Hughes could have misunderstood the whole process. This is because of his tender age, which limits his understanding capacity.

Aside from the factors that contributed to Hughes misunderstanding of the salvation process, it is also clear that Hughes’s decision of receiving salvation had some influence from the church congregation and his friend. This, therefore, meant that Hughes decision of receiving salvation was not his own will, but rather a way of pleasing the congregation and his friend. In other words, Hughes never received real salvation.

Hughes is a young lad who misunderstood the salvation process thus making him question whether he received salvation. He argues that he never literally saw Jesus Christ in the process of getting salvation; thus, he never received salvation. His misguided thoughts about salvation, however, are due to a number of reasons.

Some of the aspects or factors include his tender age and his aunt’s inadequate explanation of the term salvation. His limited capacity of giving the term a deeper meaning also played a central role in Hughes’s misunderstanding of the term salvation.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, April 24). "Salvation" by Langston Hughes Literature Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/salvation-by-langston-hughes-literature-analysis/

""Salvation" by Langston Hughes Literature Analysis." IvyPanda , 24 Apr. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/salvation-by-langston-hughes-literature-analysis/.

IvyPanda . (2020) '"Salvation" by Langston Hughes Literature Analysis'. 24 April.

IvyPanda . 2020. ""Salvation" by Langston Hughes Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/salvation-by-langston-hughes-literature-analysis/.

1. IvyPanda . ""Salvation" by Langston Hughes Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/salvation-by-langston-hughes-literature-analysis/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""Salvation" by Langston Hughes Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/salvation-by-langston-hughes-literature-analysis/.

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