All throughout Langston Hughes writing he works to make the statement that no matter what, he will never conform to white ideals. In “The Negro Artists and the Racial Mountains” he writes,” I am a Negro – and beautiful!” He even often calls out black writers for trying to conform and blend in with white culture, and he deliberately does not write in “proper” English like white people do because he wants to express his culture and where he comes from. Langston writes,” It is the duty of the younger Negro artists… to change through the force of his art that old whispering ‘I want to be white,” here he is saying that black artists need to push away the boxes and ideals that white people have placed on them, and to help the fight for independence
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In the second stanza he writes,” I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen, when company comes...” the poem is written from a slave like perspective, this is conveyed through them having to eat alone, away from everyone, and whoever sent them there to eat obviously has some type of control over them. Then, in the third stanza he writes of the future and how he will no longer have to sit and eat in the kitchen alone, he will be strong, he states, “Nobody’ll dare say to me, “Eat in the kitchen,”. In this stanza he also uses the conjunction nobody’ll, to show his refusal to conform to a white writing style. The most powerful part in this poem is found in the fourth and fifth stanza, when Hughes states,” Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am, And be ashamed- I, too, am America.” This is directly related to the quote from “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” It is the duty of the younger Negro artists, if he accepts any duties at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old whispering ‘I want to be white,’ hidden in the aspirations of his people, to ‘Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro¬¬—and beautiful!’” He constantly expresses the need for African Americans to not be ashamed of their culture and background, and he constantly encourages blacks to not conform, but to express themselves by speaking out with their voices and their art. He advocates for acceptance without conforming to the surrounding white
In the second stanza he writes,” I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen, when company comes...” the poem is written from a slave like perspective, this is conveyed through them having to eat alone, away from everyone, and whoever sent them there to eat obviously has some type of control over them. Then, in the third stanza he writes of the future and how he will no longer have to sit and eat in the kitchen alone, he will be strong, he states, “Nobody’ll dare say to me, “Eat in the kitchen,”. In this stanza he also uses the conjunction nobody’ll, to show his refusal to conform to a white writing style. The most powerful part in this poem is found in the fourth and fifth stanza, when Hughes states,” Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am, And be ashamed- I, too, am America.” This is directly related to the quote from “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” It is the duty of the younger Negro artists, if he accepts any duties at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old whispering ‘I want to be white,’ hidden in the aspirations of his people, to ‘Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro¬¬—and beautiful!’” He constantly expresses the need for African Americans to not be ashamed of their culture and background, and he constantly encourages blacks to not conform, but to express themselves by speaking out with their voices and their art. He advocates for acceptance without conforming to the surrounding white