Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” is a bold poem written during an eventful time for civil rights history, the Harlem Renaissance. During the Harlem Renaissance the African American community endured extreme racism and degradation. McKay wrote this poem with the intent to display his feelings as an immigrant who moved to America for a better life but instead was thrown into a situation where he was treated like an animal instead of a person. He chose to write this poem in the form of a…
Screen time addiction, or screen obsession, is a vexed subject as the majority of parents and society view it as a problem, while rest feel that it is not a huge concern. Some feel the need for people to crack down on screen addiction because they compare the U.S to countries like South Korea or China where there already is an epidemic on screen usage. Also, screen time doesn’t just cover the internet, but much more, ranging from phone usage to video games, and just about anything that allows…
The Breakfast Club, directed by John Hughes, displays that stereotypes do not define an individual because each person is far deeper than their outer shells show. He delves into the importance of external and internal identity by introducing five different characters, each embodying a specific high school stereotype. All five students are seen by others ‘in the simplest of terms’ and by the most convenient definitions. As the film progresses each character realizes that they are more complex…
Explication of poem I, too by Langston Hughes In the poem “I, too” by Langston Hughes, an African-American man expresses his demand about equality and arouses others to pursue against racism in America. The writer uses short but explicit language that brings the topic to a direct and clear understanding. His constant belief of improvement and change allow a positive outlook throughout. He exclaims his importance and value and doesn’t allow himself to show any weakness in his description that…
Naturally the past seems to fade from the forefront of our minds as new times encroach. All that remain are brief fragments of a previous time. Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues”, and Robert Frost’s “Directive”, offer a limbo between the past and the present. Modernity is inevitable, yet the past still lingers in the shadows. While their styles may differ, both poems provide a vague depiction of times lost. By doing so, they provide no sufficient solution to issue, but merely offer a momentary…
There have been numerous poets that have graced the Earth with their talents, providing humans with some of the simplest words; however, those simple words could have a deeper meaning than that of the ocean. One of these poets, Langston B. Hughes, was born in Joplin, Missouri. As an African-American, he faced many hardships in furthering his learning. While studying in New York during the Harlem Renaissance, he was inspired to write poetry. He had many works of poetry, “Theme for English B”…
There seems to be nothing more unnerving than carrying feelings of undesirability, isolation, struggle, and desolation. As early as the 1600’s African Americans have had to fight for their voices to be heard, for the definition of equality to be understood, and for the barrier between the oppressed and the oppressor to be shattered once and for all. Despite the plethora of adversities that African American people had to face during previous years, a motif was apparent, not giving up. In the…
In Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902, James Mercer Langston Hughes was born to the parents of James N. Hughes and Caroline M. Hughes. Hughes parents decided it was best for them to separate shortly after his birth. Hughes father made the decision to leave The United States due to the racial discrimination in which African Americans endure, he later settled in Mexico. Hughes was mainly raised by his grandmother, Mary Patterson Langston until she passed away in his early teen years. He then…
1 Fences is a play written by the playwright August Wilson, who dedicated himself to writing plays capturing what it was like to be an African American in the United States during every decade of the 20th century. Fences was a play that was specifically written to provide an outlook into the lives of African Americans in America during the 1950s, during the process of demarginalization. Each character of the novel provides a unique perspective to capture different aspects of the “African…
Langston Hughes provides insight on the race relations between Whites and Blacks during his lifetime, in the poems, "I, Too" and "Theme for English B", In "I, Too", Hughes mentions that he is "…the darker brother", referencing his darker skin compared to the rest of America, and how he is sent to the kitchen to eat when company comes over. He feels as if he is being pushed aside when asked to eat in the kitchen like a second-class citizen, but he does not get angry. Instead of letting those…