In the Langston Hughes’ poem “Theme for English B,” he writes about an African American college student who is given a writing assignment. This student is instructed to write a page of something truthful from himself. Through the poem, he considers his own personal truths and he questions whether his race makes his preferences differ from that of other races. He concludes that everyone is connected and that we all can stand to benefit from each other. Hughes uses apostrophe and understatement in an attempt to bring attention to the barriers between races. First, Hughes uses apostrophe through the student writing to his instructor for most of the poem. By having the student address the teacher, Hughes addresses the reader as well. This makes
