ABSTRACT
Dalam tugas akhir ini saya akan menganalisis tema dari tiga puisi karangan Langston Hughes yang berjudul “I, Too,” “I Dream a World” dan “Merry-Go-Round” melalui diksi. Selain itu, saya juga menganalisis tema dari
tiga puisi karangan Claude McKay yang berjudul “America,” “Enslaved” dan “The White House,” juga melalui diksi. Keenam puisi tersebut menggambarkan
penderitaan akibat dari praktek segregasi yang dialami oleh warga kulit hitam di Amerika Serikat dan keinginan mereka untuk memperoleh kesetaraan. Hal ini diungkapkan oleh Langston Hughes dan Claude McKay melalui gaya penulisan
mereka yang sangat berbeda.
Sebagai kesimpulan, saya berpendapat bahwa meskipun dengan
menggunakan cara yang bertolak belakang, Langston Hughes dan Claude McKay sama-sama berhasil menyampaikan pesan kepada para pembaca mereka untuk tidak menyerah kepada praktek segregasi. Melalui puisi-puisi tersebut, dapat
ditarik kesimpulan bahwa praktek segregasi adalah tindakan yang salah dan setiap manusia berhak memperjuangkan hak mereka untuk memperoleh perlakuan yang
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CHAPTER TWO: THE THEME ANALYSIS OF THREE
OF LANGSTON HUGHES’ POEMS THROUGH DICTION...
CHAPTER THREE: THE THEME ANALYSIS OF THREE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The United States of America has their own story with segregation, which is defined as “the policy or practice of separating people of different races,
classes, or ethnic groups, as in schools, housing, and public or commercial facilities, especially as a form of discrimination” (“Segregation”). Segregation
startedin 1896, when the Supreme Court legalized the separation of the races “by its ruling in H.A. Plessy v. J.H. Ferguson, which held that separate but equal facilities did not violate the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment” (“Brown
v. Board at Fifty: With an Even Hand”). This rule distinctly segregated and divided white people and black people, causing black people to live in suffering as
victims because they were considered inferior. The act of segregation led to the inequal practices: “railways and streetcars, public waiting rooms, restaurants, boardinghouses, theaters, and public parks were segregated; separate schools,
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Maranatha Christian Univesity designated for blacks” (“Jim Crow Laws”). For many years, black people have
tried to fight for equal rights. They use many ways to make their voice heard, one of them is through literature. Taking place in Harlem, the northern part of New
York, Harlem Renaissance was “burgeoning as an intellectual movement of black people protest towards their hardship” (“Harlem Renaissance”). The Harlem Renaissance is the name to “the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took
place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s” (“The Harlem Renaissance”). Members of the movement, such as Langston
Hughes, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen and Jean Toomer flourished and became influential figures in shaping the black people literature. Among those figures, there were two writers that share similarities and differences worth comparing,
namely Langston Hughes and Claude McKay. That is why I choose some of their works to be analyzed in my thesis.
The first author whose works I am going to analyze is Langston Hughes.
Even though Harlem Renaissance had many prominent and talented writers during his era, Hughes was able to prove himself as an exceptional author, as stated that
“Langston Hughes, although only twenty-four years old, he is already conspicuous in the group of Negro intellectuals who are dignifying Harlem with a genuine art life” (“Langston Hughes”). Hughes had created many works
especially in writing poetry. He used free verse in his poems and some of them were combined with blues and jazz music. Hughes’ inspiration of using blues and
Harlem and Washington, D.C., listening and writing, he tried to write poems like
the songs they sang on Seventh Street” (“Langston Hughes: The songs on Seventh Street”). Most of Hughes’ poems dealt with the harsh discrimination of black
people by white people and his discontent with the law of segregation. Hughes’ poems contained spirit of equality and he wanted to persuade his people to not easily surrender to segregation. Hughes, who had white ancestors, believed that
human is created equal. Hughes’ poems that I am going to analyze are “I, Too,” “I Dream a World” and “Merry-Go-Round.” I choose to analyze them because the
three poems strongly show the issue of segregation when black people received unfair treatment by white people.
The second writer whose works I am going to analyze is Claude McKay.
His poems published in Harlem Shadow collection are widely famous and are considered a great work from the Harlem Renaissance; even some critics have called it “the first great literary achievement of the Harlem Renaissance”
(“African American Literature”). He was also known for using sonnet form because he wanted “his poetry to be far-reaching and understandable by other
poets of his day, namely white poets” (“Claude McKay Vs Langston Hughes”). Through his poems, he blatantly expressed his hatred towards white society and his discontent against segregation, which he believed only gave suffering to black
people. He also wanted to encourage black people to fight for equality. I choose McKay poems’ “America,” “The White House” and “Enslaved” to be analyzed
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Maranatha Christian Univesity harsh reality, which can be seen full of grudge and hate, black people received
caused by segregation,
In my thesis, I would like to analyze theme through poetic diction because
both of the poets have successfully chosen proper words to describe the unfair treatment that black people had during segregation era. Diction itself refers to “Both the choice and the order of words” (“Definition of Diction”). Diction will
guide the readers to grasp the theme, which is defined as “the central idea or ideas explored by a literary work” (Wiehardt). The theme will display the poets’ point
of view as black people and will show that black people should not easily give up against inequality.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1. What are the themes of the poems?
2. How do the dictions of the poems help in revealing the themes?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
1. To show the themes of the poems.
2. To show how the dictions help in revealing the themes.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
I conduct a library research for my thesis. First, I read the poems. After
number of references from books and Internet websites to help me with my
analysis. In the end, I draw a conclusion from my analysis.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
I divide my thesis into three parts, preceded by the Acknowledgments, the Abstract, and the Table of Contents. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, The Method of Research, and The Organization of the
Thesis. Chapter Two is the Theme Analysis of Three of Langston Hughes’ Poems. Chapter Three is the Theme Analysis of Three of Claude McKay’s Poems. Chapter Four is the Conclusion. The thesis ends with Bibliography and
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I am going to draw a conclusion on my analysis of three of Langston Hughes’ poems and three of Claude McKay’s poems revealed through
diction. The poems from Langston Hughes that I have analyzed in Chapter Two
are: “I,Too,” “I Dream a World” and “Merry-Go-Round” while the poems from
Claude McKay that I have analyzed in the chapter three are: “America,”
“Enslaved” and “The White House”.
The theme of Hughes’ “I,Too” is “Despite the unequal treatment that black
people receive, they remain hopeful and believe they will get equality because
they are part of America,” and it is revealed through words, such as “brother,” “grow strong,” “tomorrow” and “I, too am America.” The persona is a black
person who is treated unequally in his country. However, he has a hope that
The theme of Hughes’ “I Dream a World” is “Despite the unequal
treatment that black people receive, they have to stay optimistic and believe that
in the end they will get equality,” and it is revealed through words, such as
“dream,” “share,” “freedom” and “wretchedness will hang its head.” The persona
has a dream that one day white people will treat black people equally, no matter what their skin colors are, so, they can share love and peace together and in the
end every man in this world can taste freedom.
The theme of Hughes’ “Merry-Go-Round” is “Despite the unequal
treatment black people receive, they have to stay critical and believe they will get
equality in the end,” and it is revealed through words, such as “Jim Crow section,”
“On the bus we’re put in the back” and “but there ain’t no back to a merry
-go-round.” The persona is a black child who received an unequal treatment when he was still living in the south. The child is shown to be confused when he asks
where the Jim Crow section on the merry-go-round is. The child wonders where he has to sit because merry-go-round does not have fore nor rear. It shows us not all of things can be separated and it empowers black people to not easily surrender
to situation.
The theme of Claude McKay’s “America” is “Bitterness motivates black
people to fight for equality,” and it is revealed through words, such as
“bitterness,” “erect against her hate” and “rebel.” The persona is a black person
36 Maranatha Christian University The theme of Claude McKay’ “Enslaved” is “Suffering motivates black
people to fight for equality,” and it is revealed through words, such as “long
suffering,” “robbed,” “avenging angel” and “yoke.” who has a reflection of what
has happened to his race since a long time ago. He also feels the suffering that befalls his race and makes him want to fight for equality.
The theme of Claude McKay’ “The White House” is “Rage motivates
black people to fight for equality,” and it is revealed through words, such as “My
anger proudly and unbent,” “wrathful” and “superhuman power.” The persona is a
black person who is struggling under white people’s bad treatment. Deep inside his heart he feels this rage and he uses it to find wisdom so one day he could receives equality.
After analyzing the poems from Langston Hughes and Claude McKay, I found several similarities. First, both of the authors are Harlem Renaissance
writers. Second, they wrote the poems about bad treatment that black people receive from white people. Third, both of the poets have the same messages to remind black people to remain strong under the oppression and that they will get
the equality at the end.
But, besides the similarities, there is one difference between the poems written by Langston Hughes and Claude McKay. Hughes’ poems reflect a positive
attitude in delivering the author’s message about fighting for equality. These
depict hate, revenge and anger. However, McKay’s intention is not to tell black
people to give up. Instead, he wants to make black people realize their suffering and fight to reach equality.
As a conclusion, I believe Hughes and McKay have the same purpose to encourage black people to remain strong to get equality. However, they are using different ways to convey their messages, as reflected in the dictions and the
themes of their poems.
In my opinion, Langston Hughes and Claude McKay are both skillful in
expressing their disagreement towards segregation despite their different-yet effective-ways. However, I prefer Langston Hughes’ idea about being positive in all situation especially under bad treatment as I believe having a positive attitude
will boost your performance and give you a hope that tomorrow will be better than today. My favorite poem from Hughes is “Merry-Go-Round” because it
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text:
“Claude Mckay.” Poem Hunter.com. 2014. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
“Langston Hughes.” Poem Hunter.com. 2014. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
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