i
SOCIAL CRITICISM TOWARD SEGREGATION IN
LANGSTON HUGHES’S THREE POEMS, “
THEME FOR
ENGLISH B”,
“
LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN”, AND
“
I, TOO”
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the undergraduate of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
HARYO NOERANI WIDODO
Student Number: 004214112
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
v
“Langston Hughes is a titanic figure in 20
th-century American
literature…
A powerful interpreter of the American experience…
His poems are as vital as ever.”
–Philadelphia Inquirer-
Never give up to try is one kind of way to
appreciate God’s gift.
vi
This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to
My beloved mother; Retno Widowati
My special parents; Ir. T. Hadiwiryono S, BcM
My beloved brothers: Bregas and Arief
My beloved wife; Ayu Listya Samsudin, SSos
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank Allah the Greatest Creator for always
being here for me, blessing and giving me the chances to share joys and bitterness
of life. You will always be the light while I am in darkness.
I would also like to thank Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum, Dra. Th.
Enny Anggraini, M.A. and Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum as the Board of
Examiners for the questions, comments, criticism, and correction on my thesis.
My deep gratitude also goes to Dra. A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A. and Dewi
Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum who lend me books to support my resources. I also
want to thank to Bu Ninik, all lecturers and staffs of English Letters Department
for supporting me during my study in this department.
My special gratitude goes to my special persons in my life; my family. To
my mother, thank you for always standing besides me and sharing with me with
your grace and love that I always remember she never leaves me alone.
Furthermore to my wonderful father, thank you for all your support, spiritually
and financially. I will always love and thank you for all your encouragements. In
addition, to both my brothers Bregas and Arief, my aunty Rini and Wiwiek, my
uncle Fandy and Herman, my cousins, Dimas, Andy and Putri my gratitude goes
to all of you in giving all your supports, wish and advices.
viii
cannot mention, thank you for all your ideas and thoughts. Thank you for all your
supports and advices.
Finally, my special gratitude also goes to my beloved wife, Ayu Listya
Samsudin. You can encourage me in an amazing way and relieve me when I am
in sorrow. We can make it through the storm honey, thank you, my dear. I also
thank the family of Samsudin Mustafa, thank you for all your encouragement and
support, mentally and financially. More than ever to my son, Raditya, you are my
sunshine boy. Moreover, to anyone whose names I cannot mention, thank you
very much.
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE... i
APPROVAL PAGE... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE... iii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS.. iv
MOTTO PAGE ... v
DEDICATION PAGE... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS... ix
ABSTRACT... xi
ABSTRAK... xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
...1
A. Background of the Study... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 4
C. Objectives of the Study ... 4
D. Definition of Terms ... 5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW
... 6
A. Review of Related Studies... 6
B. Review of Related Theories... 9
1. Theory on Interpreting Poetry... 9
2. Review of Segregation in the United States in the 1920s until the
1960s... 12
3. The 14
thand 15
thAmendment, and the Civil Rights Bill of 1875.... 18
4. The Relation between Literature and Society... 20
C. Theoretical Framework... 21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
... 23
A. Object of the Study ... 23
B. Approach of the Study... 24
C. Method of the Study... 26
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
A. The Description of the America Life of the 1920s – 1960s ... 27
1. The Description of the America Life of the 1920s – 1960s in
“Theme for English B” ... 27
2. The Description of the America Life of the 1920s – 1960s in
“Let America Be America Again”... 39
x
B. Hughes’ Criticism toward the Segregation in the American Society of
the 1920s – 1960s... 56
1. Criticism toward Segregation in the American Society of the
1920s – 1960s as Represented in “Theme for English B”... 56
2. Criticism toward Segregation in the American Society of the
1920s – 1960s as Represented in “Let America be America
Again”... 62
3. Criticism toward Segregation in the American Society of the
1920s – 1960s as Represented in “I, Too”... 66
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION
...70
BIBLIOGRAPHY
... 71
APPENDICES:
... 73
Appendix 1: The poems of Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B”,
“Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”... 73
Appendix 2: The Biography of Langston Hughes ... 77
xi
ABSTRACT
HARYO NOERANI WIDODO (2008).
Social Criticism toward Segregation in
Langston Hughes’s Three Poems, “Theme for English B”, Let America be
America Again”, and “I, Too”
. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters,
Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis focuses on discussion Langston Hughes’s criticism toward the
segregation life in the era of 1920s until 1960s in America. The three poems
represent the speakers, who are African Americans shows the condition in the era.
The speaker tries to show his existence as the part of the society though he faces
the society that robs his freedom.
This research is meant to answer the problems concerning the speaker who
speaks up his idea about his society. There are two problems to analyze. Firstly,
the question reveals how the life of African Americans during the period between
1920s until 1960s is depicted in Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English
B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”? Secondly, the problem is
about how Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be
America Again”, and “I, Too” criticize the social life during the segregation era in
the period between 1920s until 1960s.
To complete the analysis, this thesis applies library research. It means that
the writer uses books, theories, and any information related to the topic. Review
on history of American Society in the 1920s until 1960s, review on the Fourteenth
Amendment, the Fifteenth Amendment, and the Civil Rights Bill of 1875, and
theory on Relation between Literature and Society are used to analyze the two
problems. The socio-cultural approach is employed because the focus of this
thesis is on the social interpretation on the Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for
English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” criticize the social
life during the segregation era in the period between 1920s until 1960s.
xii
ABSTRAK
HARYO NOERANI WIDODO (2008).
Social Criticism toward Segregation in
Langston Hughes’s Three Poems, “Theme for English B”, Let America be
America Again”, and “I, Too”
. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters,
Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
Skripsi ini fokus pada diskusi tentang kritik Langston Hughes terhadap
kesenjangan kehidupan di masa 1920an sampai 1960an di Amerika. Tiga puisi
tersebut mewakili pembicara yang merupakan orang Afrika Amerika yang
memperlihatkan kondisi di masa tersebut. Pembicara mencoba untuk
menunjukkan keberadaannya sebagai bagian dari masyarakat meskipun dia pun
menghadapi masyarakat yang merampas kemerdekaannya.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjawab problematika yang mengarah
kepada pembicara yang mengungkapkan gagasannya tentang masyarakatnya.
Tertera dua problematika untuk dianalisa. Pertama, pertanyaan mengenai
bagaimana kehidupan orang – orang Afrika Amerika pada masa antara 1920an
hingga 1960an yang muncul di dalam puisi – puisi Langston Hughes, “Theme for
English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and
“I, Too”? Kedua, problem
tentang puisi – puisi Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be
America Again”, and
“I, Too” mengkritisi kehidupan sosial yang berhubungan
dengan jaman kesenjangan di dalam periode antara 1920an hingga 1960an.
Untuk menyempurnakan analisa, skripsi ini menggunakan pencarian
pustaka. Ini berarti bahwa penulis menggunakan buku – buku, teori – teori, dan
berbagai informasi yang berkaitan dengan topik. Wacana dalam sejarah
Masyarakat Amerika di tahun 1920an hingga 1960an, wacana dalam Amandemen
ke empat belas, Amandemen ke lima belas, dan Hak Sipil Bill pada tahun 1875,
serta teori dalam Hubungan antara Kesusastraan dan Masyarakat digunakan untuk
menganalisa kedua problematika. Pendekatan Sosial Budaya juga digunakan
karena fokus dalam skripsi ini adalah pada Interpretasi Sosial terhadap puisi –
puisi Langston Hughes “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America
Again”, and “I, Too” yang mengkritisi kehidupan sosial yang berkenaan dengan
jaman kesenjangan pada periode antara 1920an hingga 1960an.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Harlem is one of the business districts in Manhattan, New York city.
While Manhattan known as the central business, financial, commercial, cultural,
medical, manufacturing, and tourist centre, Harlem magnified people to settle
down as the resident. Several factors above are the closest suitable reason for
many people to choose Manhattan as the most preferred place to stay. In addition,
Manhattan gives opportunities for several races including for African Americans
to get a better life.
As Meltzer explanation in his book The Black Americans, A History in
Their Own Words about Harlem descriptions,
Harlem’s Blacks numbered 50,000 on the eve of World War I, by 1920 black Harlem stretched from 130th Street to 145th and from Madison to Eighth Avenues and Included 80,000 people. Ten years later the southern border had moved down to 110th Street and the black population had swelled to 200,000. (Indeed, by 1940 there were eleven cities with as many as 100,000 Blacks,). (Meltzer, 1987: 202)
Those movements began in the mid till late 1920s, and then faded in the
mid of 1940s. Harlem Renaissance remarkably took the African American
literature and art seriously at the first time on major publisher and critics from the
nation at large. It was a literary movement at the first time and strongly related to
the developments of African American music, theatre, art, politics and social
culture. Furthermore, African American intellectuals were also gathering in
It has remained so because most of scholars and student agree that the 1920s was
a decade of extraordinary creativity in the art of African Americans centralizing in
New York City, particularly in the district of Harlem.
African American Literature begins to accomplish world literature
including poetry. The fact that before and in the 20th century the world of poetry
was dominated by Caucasian artists shows the existence of Black American poet
in America as well. Mostly, poetry written by white poets presents the
experiences of white people. It was the only kind of verse most folks had ever
heard. However when Harlem renaissance started in the 1920's this relatively
genteel world of American poetry was shaken to its foundations. Powerful black
voices, writing with African American rhythms and cadences broke out all over
the country. The history of Black American poet’s struggle is not written by a
single pen at that time but countless number of pens, where there is no pen that is
more important to each other.
In the Harlem, there were chances for African American Literature to
grow up and express their ideas in the literary works. As stated by Franklin and
Moss in From Slavery to Freedom,
It listed a figure of talented Black Americans to go up as writers, performers and musicians. Among its best figures of writers and authors were Countee Cullen, Claude Mckay, Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. They were all the people who used literature as a main power of great struggle for justice and equality (Franklin and Moss, 1988: 324-336).
The writer focuses the discussion in the era during 1920’s to 1960’s,
bearing in mind the time when Langston Hughes started his important works as
during that period lies big moments for a new African American generation to
revolve the history of America.
Three poems of Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B”, “Let America
Be America Again”, and “I, Too” are selected to be analyzed in this thesis in order
to find out how Hughes represents the life and struggle of the African Americans
in 1920s until 1960s. Langston Hughes’s works are the reflection of love to
humanity especially to the African Americans, makes the focus interesting to
analyze deeper. To get the spotlight of the topic in this thesis, the writer considers
that segregation is one major dilemma that is still significant until this day.
As social documents, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America
Again”, and “I, Too” can be made to defer the outlines of society’s social history.
According to Wellek and Warren in their book, Theory of Literature:
Literature could be multiplied indefinitely. One can assemble and exposit the ‘world’ of each, the part each gives to love and marriage, to business, to the professions, its delineation of clergymen, whether stupid or clever, saintly or hypocritical. But such studies seem of little value so long as they take it for granted that literature is simply a mirror of life, a reproduction, and thus, obviously, a social document (Wellek and Warren, 1970: 103-104).
Literary works deal with the expression of one’s mind, and ideas.
Hughes’s poems reflect, in one or other ways, the strength to carry on of a
personal or a group suffering. His poems stress on how the African Americans
must strife for their own dignity and rights their life as a part of America. By
analyzing the selected poems, the writer hopes to simply find and learn the life of
a person or a group of people and how they strife to hold it. Ultimately, this thesis
struggle of African Americans in 1920s until 1960s are the quintessence. In order
to get deeper understanding about the condition of social life in that era when the
African American placed in the lower class where they lost their rights as citizen.
Thus, the writer only focuses in the analysis on Langston Hughes’s “Theme for
English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”to limit the study.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to analyze the poems, the writer limits the discussion into two
problems formulated as follows.
a. How is the life of African Americans during the period between 1920s until
1960s as seen in Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let
America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”?
b. How does Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let America
Be America Again”, and “I, Too” criticize the American social life during in
relation with the segregation era in the period between 1920s until 1960s?
C. Objectives of the Study
The aim of this thesis is to find out how Langston Hughes expresses his
criticism toward segregation in the United States during 1920s until 1960s. In
order to achieve the objective some steps need to be done.
First is finding out how Langston Hughes described the social life in the
period between 1920s until 1960s in his poems. The answer will be useful to
is trying to reveal how Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let
America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” convey his criticism toward
segregation in the social life during the period between 1920s until 1960s.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to squeeze the reader’s ignorance on some terms that commonly
used in this thesis, the writer listed some terms with their clarity.
Segregation
As stated by Thomas F. Pettigrew in The World Book Encyclopaedia that
Segregation is the separation of groups of people by custom or by law. It is often
based on differences of race, wealthy, or culture. Segregation almost always
involves some kind of discrimination by one group against another. (Pettigrew,
1971: 228a)
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica explains that segregation is the
practice of restricting people to certain limited areas of residences or to separate
institutions on the basis of race or alleged race. A means of maintaining the
economic advantages and superior social status of the politically dominant group.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In this chapter, the review of related studies, review of related theories,
and theoretical framework presented. The review of related studies presented in
order to give information on the work analyzed. The review of related theories
presented in order to give the theories that the writer used in the analysis. The
theoretical framework provides the use of the theories presented before.
A. Review of Related Studies
In this undergraduate thesis, some related studies previously done by other
writers on the same author. Ben Richardson in his book Great American Negroes
collects the great African American participant in order to contribute and rise up
the quality life of African American from each profession such as singers, writers,
athletes, artists, scientists, boxers, scholars, politicians, and militaries. Each
profession has their own abilities to enrich American prestigious life especially for
the African Americans. Moreover, Richardson puts Langston Hughes among
them in his book as a prolific person who encourages African American Literature
as well. For example, Richardson chooses several poems from Hughes’s works,
such as The Negro Speaks of Rivers. Based on Great American Negroes,
Richardson writes about Hughes’s historical background from Hughes’s
prose. Richardson’s Great American Negroes is chosen by the writer because
Richardson wrote the profile include Hughes’s profile neutrally.
James Presley in his article Modern American Poetry explains that
throughout Hughes's life--and his literary expression--, the American Dream has
appeared as a ragged, uneven, splotched, and often unattainable goal that often
became a nightmare, but there is always hope of the fulfilled dream even in the
darkest moments. During World War II Hughes, commenting on the American
Negroes' role in the war, recognized this. ". . . we know," he said in a 1943 speech
reprinted in The Langston Hughes Reader (1958). The American Dream is
bruised and often made a travesty for Negroes and other underdogs, Hughes keeps
saying, but the American Dream does exist. In addition, the Dream must be
fulfilled. In one of his verses, he put it more plainly. He might have been
speaking to his harshest political critics or to the white youths who beat him up on
that long-ago summer day in Chicago. This is from "The American Dream of
Langston Hughes." Southwest Review (1963) linked at (http: //www.
english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/america.htm):
Listen, America-- I live here, too. I want freedom Just as you.
Pamela Harrelson in her A Student Project explains that Langston Hughes
his works on becoming a writer and poet from the early years of his life. Despite
the racial opposition and laws of segregation he faced in his life, these constantly
suppressing forces did not stop Hughes. Hughes had published quite a large
unaware of how much of his works were influential and important to so many. It
was at this time in Langston Hughes’ life that his works received numerous
awards and recognition. Langston Hughes’ work is known for its, “colourful
verses on a wide variety of topics”. His works are heavily infused with the typical
aspects of African American life and come alive on the page by his
implementation of musical and blues rhythms. Hughes refused to create fantasy
stories about life. He wrote what he knew about and felt the way he had the most
impact on his readers.
After many tributes and praise given to Hughes after his death in 1967,
various critics began to ask questions regarding Hughes and his literary career.
He took a realist’s perspective towards expressing himself, like many of the other
African American writers in his time and his talents were recognized and
supported by the most renowned authors of the Harlem Renaissance period. In
addition, Langston Hughes has received various awards and recognitions for his
contributions to African American and Contemporary Literature.
One of the most prestigious awards Hughes received was the NAACP’s
Springarn Medal. He also won first prize for his poetry in an Opportunity
magazine contest. Hughes’ book Simple Speaks His Mind was his first best seller
and his play Mulatto was the longest running Broadway play by an African
American author. (http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/Hughes.html#
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory on Interpreting Poetry
Elizabeth Drew explains in her book Poetry, A Modern Guide to Its
Understanding and Enjoyment that Poetry is the earliest and remains the most
concentrated and intense form of communication among the arts of language.
(Drew, 1959:15)
Elizabeth Drew also explains in her book Poetry, A Modern Guide to Its
Understanding and Enjoyment about the significance influence of language
toward the poet,
The fountain jets from the body, and whatever magical, mystical qualities inhere in poetry, they can never be separated from the sense. Language is itself a sense medium and it creates a new physical body for the poet’s own consciousness; but in addition to that, the sense world and the inner world of thought and emotion are inseparable to the poet. Each melts into the other in his words. Two more of Coleridge’s “opposites” which the imagination combines, are the general and the concrete, the idea and the image, and these reconciliations are everywhere in poetry. (Drew, 1959:32)
In Poetry, A Modern Guide to Its Understanding and Enjoyment Elizabeth
Drew also explains,
The poet is first and foremost an individual with a personal vision. His poem is not an event in social history nor a symptom of literary movement; it is an assertion of the poet’s singular identity. However, at the same time no writer lives and writes in isolation. He is a personality alive in a particular period of time, in a particular place, in a particular social environment. He is an individual and a member of society and society will inevitably play its part in his poetry. (Drew, 1959:148)
It means writer’s works depend on their social environment. The social
Moreover, writer will write something in purpose whether it will valuable for
himself either for his society.
Elizabeth Drew also explains poetry as the part of public and private
segment in general. She classify in those two kinds of segment because the writer
also lives as a person privately while he or she also lives as a part of society.
Poetry may be divided roughly into private and public. On the one hand poetry that springs from the great personal affairs of the human spirit: religion and love, communion with nature or meditative contemplation; on the other, poetry that aims at immediate social entertainment or influence: the ancient epics, poetic drama, narrative poetry, or what we shell be concerned with here, satiric verse. (Drew, 1959:148)
In addition, Michael Riffaterre also discusses about language in poetry as
written in Semiotics of Poetry,
The language of poetry differs from common linguistic usage—this much the most unsophisticated reader senses instinctively. Yet, while it is true that poetry often employs words excluded from common usage and has its own special grammar, even a grammar not valid beyond the narrow compass of given poem, it may also happen that poetry uses the same words and the same grammar as everyday language. (Riffaterre, 1984:1)
Discussing about poetry it will be remind us toward imagery as Laurence
Perrine writes in Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense about imagery and here is
the explanation,
Imagery may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience. Poetry appeals directly to our sense, of course, through its music and rhythm, which we actually hear when it is read a loud. But indirectly it appeals to our sense through imagery, the representation to the imagination of sense experience. The word image perhaps most often suggests a mental picture, something seen in the mind’s eye – and visual
It means imagery deal with human senses designed in literary mode that
simplify people to appreciate poetry. Meanwhile, Rene Wellek and Austin
Warren explain the word of ‘image’ in Theory of Literature that in psychology,
the word ‘image’ means a mental reproduction, a memory, of a past sensational or
perceptual experience, not necessarily visual. (Wellek and Warren, 1949:186 –
187)
They are also continue their explanation about imagery as a tools for the
reader in order to simplify the understanding of poetry in Theory of Literature,
The classification of psychologist and aestheticians are numerous. There is the distinction. Useful for the reader of poetry, between ‘tied’ and ‘free’ imagery: the former, auditory and muscular imagery, necessarily aroused even though one reads to oneself and approximately the same for all adequate readers; the latter, visual and else, varying much from person to person or type to type. (Wellek and Warren, 1949:187)
I have sufficient explanation of poetry and imagery based on some writers
who expert in literature. It is the part of allusion explanation based on Laurence
Perrine in his book Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense. Allusion is a
reference to something in history or previous literature – is, like a richly
connotative word or a symbol, a means of suggesting far more than it says
(Perrine, 1974:675). In a simple understanding is the word that represents as
another story, history of someone, some places, some times written in a single
word or more.
In another page, Laurence Perrine explains in his book, Literature,
ideas of another work or occasion. Because they are capable of saying so much in
so little, they are extremely useful to the poet. (Perrine, 1974:676)
While allusion is already explained from the paragraphs above then I will
move on to the other important element in this thesis. Metaphor as written in
Literary Theory from Plato to Bartes, An Introductory History book written by
Richard Harland explains,
Metaphor works by identifying two entities normally considered as separate, so that a word or phrase for the one is used in place of a word or phrase for the other. Metaphoric identification depends upon a relation of similarity, though not necessarily a similarity that was ever apprehended before. In the traditional conception, a metaphor was a simile with the ‘like’ or ‘as if’ deleted: ‘my heart is like a wheel’ Æ ‘my heart is a wheel’, ‘their love was as if blossoming’ Æ ‘their love was blossoming’. Such one-living metaphors have made it possible to think what could not have been thought otherwise. (Harland, 1999:256)
2. Review of Segregation in the United States in the 1920s until the 1960s
Thomas A. Mappes and Jane S. Zembaty describe the life of the African
American in America during 1920s until 1960s in Social Ethics, Morality and
Social Policy,
The life of the negroes in America, for example, sense very strongly their lower status, the prejudice and discrimination practiced against them, and, especially, the inconsistency between their social position and democratic equalitarian values. (Mappes and Zembaty, 1997: 395)
From the other writer, Donald A. Ritchie describes about African
American social class and their struggling format as in Heritage of Freedom
History of the United States,
trains but also against separates facilities in restrooms, restaurants, hotels, libraries, and hospitals. In the 1960’s the civil rights movement also spread to the North. There, although segregation was not as easily seen, it was just real. (Ritchie, 1985: 727)
After the explication of their social class and struggling format then I will
give an example of discrimination that happened toward an African American
written by Donald A. Ritchie in Heritage of Freedom History of the United States,
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955 Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was tired when she left work in a Montgomery, Alabama, department store in December 1955. She boarded a bus and took the last empty seat, a seat in the front of the bus that was reserved for white riders. When a white passenger got on the bus, the driver ordered Parks to give him her seat. She refused to get up. The driver called the police and had her arrested. Rosa Parks’ arrest stirred up anger in Montgomery’s black community. Many of its leaders met at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to discuss how best to support her. They decide to call for a boycott of or refusal to use, the city’s buses. (Ritchie, 1985: 727)
Based on Juan Comas opinion in The Race Question in Modern Science,
the discrimination influenced by the differences of skin colour and it compose
some prejudice in the American society toward African Americans as seen in this
quotation,
The civilization attaches special importance to the colour of the skin and relatively dark pigmentation is a mark of difference condemning numerous human groups to contempt and a debased social status. To maintain that a man is an inferior human being because he is black is as ridiculous as contending that a white horse will necessarily be faster than a black horse. Nevertheless, however little basis there may be for colour prejudice, the importance of the resultant attitudes and behaviour in many countries is indisputable. (Comas, 1956: 24)
Moreover, John P. Mc Kay explains in A History of World Societies that
although the 15th Amendment forbade states to deny anyone the vote “on account
of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude, “whites used violence, terror,
and to enforce rigid racial segregation. Lacking strong northern support, blacks
did not gain legal equality of suffrage in many parts of the old Confederacy until
the 1960s (Mc Kay, 1984: 1197). It strongly describes the weak position of
African Americans as a part of American in a political part.
While Cary D. Wintz in Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance
discusses about race and political position in American social life of African
Americans based on the territory,
Two of the most significant elements in the black experience around the turn of the century were the steady deterioration of the race's social and political position in America, and especially in the South, and the steadily growing exodus of blacks from their homes in the rural South to the industrial cities of the South and North. The effect of these developments on black history must not be underestimated. Besides the obvious changes evidenced by the growth of black ghettos in northern cities and the resurgence of black militancy in the face of an apparently unremitting chain of racism, violence, and injustice, there was also a more subtle shift of attitude among blacks. By the 1920s, few black intellectuals still believed that the future of their race lay in the South. As they turned their attention northward and focused their hope on the emerging black communities in northern cities, however, they also were turning their backs on their southern heritage. (Wintz, 1988: 6)
From the different perspective, Harry Golden explains in Mr. Kennedy and
the Negroes, “In 1963 there was still no intern program in Good Samaritan (the
Negro Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina). Negroes who enter medical
practice in the South have two choices: they can attend the inferior segregated
schools and start practice in a week, segregated hospital, or they can take
advantage of the policy of subsidized out-of-state study, go to a good medical
school in the North, and never return to the inferior hospital of the South. In the
past few years, it is true, the University of North Carolina Medical School has
them. And it is not likely that integrated hospital will be a reality in the near
future.” (Golden, 1964: 31)
Harry Golden further explains in Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes about the
struggle of African Americans, “The Negroes who fight for the right to enter
public school are fighting for more than an education. They are fighting for life or
death. Public schools are the first step, adequate hospital care the second.”
(Golden, 1964: 32)
In the other pages Harry Golden also explain about African Americans in
Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes,
It was for Thirty Years Southern legislators and legislatures waged legal war against the Negro. They disfranchised the Negroes, denied them in schools, hospitals, and access to tax-supported facilities and public accommodations. They refused to prosecute the men who lynched Negroes and refused to condemn the men who regularly defiled Negro women. The politicians of the South constantly boasted of their paternal love, knowing all the time that their strategy would help maintain the
status quo. Nor were conditions much better in the North. Northerners penned the Negro into ghettos and kept him uneducated, unskilled, and consequently unemployed. It was a war of subjugation and the Negro was biding his time, the Negro was humiliated and degraded, ruthlessly proscribed, pushed to the absolute conditions of survival. (Golden, 1964: 38-39)
Furthermore, Harry Golden explains more about the unfair conditions that
the African American had in America in his book Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes,
Share about the rights of African American in politics and education also
discussed by Harry Golden in Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes,
The Negro colleges are not only reputable, but also often superior institutions. In the last decade, Howard University has begun a reverse integration, admitting whites, and whites now compose 25 per cent of the student body in the Negro college at Institute, West Virginia. The courtroom career of the civil right controversy got its first impetus in the 1930s when Negro law schools began graduating students who had thoroughly studied the constitutional guarantees. (Golden, 1964: 44)
Harry Golden includes the description of African Americans method to
raise and train African American lawyers in order to guide and guard their right in
front of law and justice sides,
These Negro lawyers were the vanguard who pioneered the legal study and interpretation of civil rights. In those years, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People kept track of every Negro law student in the country, laying the groundwork for what would result in the most remarkable legal process in the history of a free people. Thus, the Negro did not make his move earlier because he had to wait to train a body of professionals dedicated to alleviating the plight of all Negroes. (Golden, 1964: 44)
He also emphasizes that The Roosevelt thus made it easier for President
Harry Truman to begin to end racial segregation in the armed forces in 1948. In
addition, in turn, President Truman made it easier for the late John F. Kennedy to
become the first President in the century to make public declaration (in a speech
televised nationally on June 11, 1963) that the Negro’s struggle for first-class
citizenship was a moral issue that involved every American. (Golden, 1964: 54)
In Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes, Harry Golden also explains about
African Americans participation in the World War,
upon were not at all natural. The French and the English cheered the Negro soldier was part of the morale and camaraderie of the whole army. It could not help but make a difference. In addition, there were thousands of other Negro soldiers who left the South for the first time and were stationed in the ports of embarkation, in the training ‘centers’, and in the hospitals of America. (Golden, 1964: 47)
From that quotation, Harry Golden share about the condition in the era.
He describes the differences treatment of African Americans in America
compared the Africans who served in France and England.
Harry Golden also explains the cruel injustice incidence after World War I
even African American Troops already sacrifices for his country land, America,
There was an incidence of ‘lynchers’ burning and hanging Negroes after World War I, the sole reason being that the Negro was wearing and army uniform. This uniform had not only made the Negro the white man’s equal at least for the duration and, more than that, it had put the Negro under the protection of the Federal Government. It was a symbolic protection just as it was a symbolic equality, but the symbolism was a portent that enraged ‘lynchers’. The real change World War I made in the Negro’s condition was to create a demand by Northern war industries for hundreds of thousands of Southern Negroes for factory work. However cruel it was, the North offered better prospects and better opportunities than the South. The North kept him bottled up in ghettos, but it did not bar the way of his son from becoming a dental technician or lathe operator, if he could make it on his own. Negroes received wages comparable with the white man’s. He got jobs heretofore solely the monopoly of whites. (Golden, 1964: 47)
Furthermore, Harry Golden explains the African Americans struggle who
fight for their right to enter public school are fighting for more than an education.
They are fighting for life or death. Public schools are the first step, adequate
hospital care the second. They tried to prove their existences. There were many
unequal things that they accepted. The Negro has suffered a tragic delay, his
hands securely tied behind his back during a half century of industrial and urban
The American community lent its assent to the proposition that the Negro
was undeserving because it believed in the terrible myth that instead slavery is a
natural state. There are today influential men who still believe that somehow
slavery once endured, makes the slave less than a man. (Golden, 1964: 40)
The African Americans revolt in the 1960s, not only because the attitude
of the whole country has changed or because the African American’s lot is
appreciably better. Otherwise, they are get better educated and better informed or
only because they have had example to sustain them or because the courts sustain
his revolts. Nevertheless, because of the major overpowering institution of the
country—business—is waving welcome whether it knows that it is waving or not.
Harry Golden takes a note an important history of African Americans who
worked in carding rooms of Southern textile mills as written in his page,
By September, 1963, Negroes for the first time were working in the carding rooms of Southern textile mills. Significantly, these Negroes were working beside the very white men, the Southern cotton mill workers, who were most rigidly insistent on maintaining racial segregation. (Golden, 1964: 86)
3. The 14th and 15th Amendment, and the Civil Rights Bill of 1875
Based on Lerone Bennet, JR collects in his book Before the Mayflower, A History of the Negro in America 1619 – 1962 the content of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment and the Civil Right Bill of 1875 is written in a full format as seen in these page,
a. The 14th Amendment:
person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. (Bennet, 1962: 224)
In the 14th Amendment above stated that the law maintenance and cover
the human rights and put the equality in the priority. There is no exception to
break the rights for every single citizen whether colour or race. However, in the
implementation is still far from the reality because at that time discrimination and
segregation runs uncontrolled. That is why Langston Hughes fights and struggles
to break the segregation and discrimination using his mind, skill and capability as
a writer and a poet.
b. The 15th Amendment:
The rights of the citizens of the United States to vote shall note be denied or abridged by the United States of by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. (Bennet, 1962: 224)
The 15th Amendment stated about the rights for the citizen to vote. In
addition, it is protect every person in the United States to vote no matter what the
colour or race is. This amendment strongly backs up the idea of the Fourteenth
Amendment also the equality for human rights to have a freedom of life and the
freedom to vote.
Unfortunately, the fact in the United States contradictory with the
Fifteenth Amendment because there were discrimination to vote at that time the
vote was counted depends on the colour and race. In addition, the equality in
many aspects such as accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of
amusement also will be considered in The Civil Rights Bill of 1875 as seen in the
page below,
c. The Civil Rights Bill of 1875:
All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement; subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable a like to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude. (Bennet, 1962: 224)
Therefore, the fact was clearly that the 14th Amendment, the 15th
Amendment, and the Civil Right Bill were words on paper. The proof of the
pudding would come literally in the eating, the riding, and the balloting. When
the lawyers got through with the words, these things became hedge with prickly
legal arrangements. A meal in a “the white” restaurant, a ticket to a “the white”
opera house, a seat in a “the white” railroad car: these became enormously
complicated legal process involving policemen, layers on layers of lawyers and
judges and the expenditure of thousands of dollars on legal fees. It got so bad that
almost everybody admitted that African American had certain legal rights, but
almost no one could tell them where to go for redress.
4. The Relation between Literature and Society
Wellek and Warren explain in their book Theory of Literature,
Literature works may have a close relation with the society where the works are created. Literary works may be influenced by the society as most questions that appears in literature closely relates to social question. Wellek and Warren explain, “A large majority of the questions raised by literary study are, at least ultimately or by implication, social questions; questions of tradition and convention, norms and genres, symbols and myths” (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 94). Society has strong contribution toward the literary works related with the author life. The author can expresses or draw the rules or norms that the author deals with in his life.
Type of the society where the author lives in can be expressed in his works. As De Bonald states that, “Literature is an expression of society.” (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 95). The reader may get an understanding on what kind of the society of the author from his works.
C. Theoretical Framework
The analysis takes some theories to answer the problems proposed in the problem formulation. There review on history of Society in the 1920s until 1960s and theories on relation between literature and society are significant to discuss. Those two theories will support the writer to understand the poem after close reading and then get the idea of the Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”.
To relate the poems with the society, the writer presents theories on relation between literature and society. These theories are utilized as the basic for the writer to analyze the study on the relation between the works and the society.
needs the review on history of Society in the 1920s until 1960s in order to connect and analyze the society in that era.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter is divided into three subchapters, namely object of the study,
approach of the study, and method of the study. The object of the study gives
information about the work that is analyzed. The approach of the study explains
the method of the analysis. Then the method of the study describes the steps that
are done in order to do the analysis.
A. Object of the Study
The poems “Theme for English B” (1995: 409 – 410), “Let America Be
America Again” (1995: 189 – 191), and “I, Too” (1995: 46) are from The
Collected Poems of Langston Hughes edited by Arnold Rampersad and David
Roessel. Published in the United States by Vintage Book, a division of Randome
House, Inc., in 1995 but still originally published in hardcover by Alfred A.
Knopf, Inc., New York, in 1994.
The first poem, “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes is a powerful
poem. “Theme for English B” is a poem about a young freshman student asked to
write an assignment by his teacher. In doing his assignment, the student‘s idea is
influenced by race discrimination in his society. He touches the racial differences
at that time. The student wants to know if the assignment is as simple as the
professor says. He tries to get across to his teacher, is clear, the African
The second poem, “Let America Be America Again”, is about a speaker
who conveys his opinion about the condition in America such as social, culture,
economy, and politics condition. He understands that America is the land for
dreamer, where anyone can find prosperity, liberty there. Being as a poor white,
he is burdened by slavery scars though he is a young man full of strength and
hope. The speaker in the poem keeps questioning why America is not as free as
the America proposed. His view is America has not been the land of America yet,
where every man is free.
The third poem, “I, Too”, is about a speaker who sings America. The
speaker is an African American. He used to be sent to the kitchen where there is
no equality as other people have. However, the speaker is happy with his
condition. He does not give up. He eats well and grows strong. He also
proclaims that tomorrow things are going to be better for him. This poem also
describes a great feeling of an African American to appreciate his country and be
proud with his nationality as an American whether his skin is coloured. The
simple positive message from this poem is a hope and dream that appear in a
simple moment even just eat in the kitchen but it bring a nice influence and spirit
toward the reader to be brave to express human minds.
B. Approach of the Study
In relation to the topic of this thesis, the writer applies the
English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too” criticize the
segregation in the American social life during the period between 1920s until
1960s
According to Rohrberger in her book, Reading and Writing about
Literature, “it is important to investigate the social, cultural and historical milieu
in which a literary work is created. Literature embodies idea significant to culture
that produced at.” (Rohrberger, 1971: 9). Rohrberger also states in Reading and
Writing about Literature,
Sociocultural-historical approach enables the readers and the critics to see the socio-cultural and historical facts behind the work. In other words, without knowing socio-cultural and historical evidences, the readers and the critics will find difficulties in comprehending the work because literary works may be based on certain cultures and histories. (Rohrberger, 1971: 9-11)
Furthermore, the works and society according to Rene Wellek and Austin
Warren will explained in Theory of Literature,
There are much the common approaches to relate between the works and society is the study of literature as social documents. The study of the works can deliver the reader to the understanding that the works are the pictures of social reality. A literary works can be assumed as a social document. The works can be made to the yield the outlines of social history. (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 102-103)
The reason why the writer chooses this approach in analyzing the topic is
because the writer studies the sociocultural-historical aspects of the three poems,
C. Method of the Study
In completing its analysis, the writer applied library or desk research. It
means that the data collected from the books, theories about literature, criticisms,
and any other information that enriched the study.
There were two kinds of sources used in this study. The first was the
primary source that was the Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B”, “Let
America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”, as the main source of this study. The
secondary sources support writer’s analysis in this study. They were theories on
the literary works and some sociocultural-approach theories for the analysis.
The study took some steps to answer the problems on the problem
formulation. The first step was to read and reread the three poems as the primary
data of the study until the writer got a full comprehension of them, by focusing the
attention on how the life of African Americans during the period between 1920s
until 1960s is depicted in the three poems.
Secondly, the writer read some second materials such as the history of the
social life and the history of the African America in the era when the three poems
made. Thirdly, the writer answered the problem formulations that lead to the
understanding of the topic based on the theories proposed before. Finally, the
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter presents the analysis of the problems already proposed.
There are two problems need to be analyzed. The first problem is about the life of
African Americans during the period between 1920s until 1960s as seen in
Langston Hughes’s poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America
Again”, and “I, Too”. The second problem, explains how Langston Hughes’s
poems, “Theme for English B”, “Let America Be America Again”, and “I, Too”
criticize the social life during in relation with the segregation era in the period
between 1920s until 1960s.
A. The Description of the America Life of the 1920s – 1960s
1. The Description of the America Life of the 1920s – 1960s in
“Theme for English B”
In “Theme for English B”, Langston Hughes writes down his satire to the
society that is represented as the class. Moreover, Hughes talked about the
African Americans struggle for equality. He tried to be honest to see the reality
and put the reality that he saw in this poem. In the first line, the writer takes the
instructor as the representation of the white’s society, the white’s obligation, the
white’s role that is powerful and the condition that influence to role the life of
African American student having a subject in the class. He has a teacher lecturing
the class. Every line of this poem is the satire toward the life of that era.
The instructor said Go home and write (Hughes, lines 1 – 2)
Those two lines above are the representation of teacher with his or her
order who is a White American. Meanwhile, at that era African Americans got a
little opportunity to be educated as seen in Harry Golden pages,
They disfranchised the Negroes, denied them in schools, hospitals, and access to tax-supported facilities and public accommodations (Golden, 1964: 38-39).
The Whites were in their upper position than African American rule the
society. They neglect the African Americans in many aspects. They think that
African American must have no position in the society. African Americans were
the people who formed to be the lower class than the Whites, and then the Whites
will have strong position to make rules for African American. If the Whites ask
something to do by the African Americans, then they have to do that. Therefore,
African Americans have a little right to reject the order.
The instructor said (Hughes, line 1). It puts the understanding of the
instructor who orders a home assignment is the teacher.
Go home and write a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you— Then, it will be true.
That is right; it will be true as the reality and true come out as the honest
mind to be written. Moreover, those four lines describe about the order toward
the speaker as the student.
Then in the next line, the speaker of the poem speaks up his mind.
I wonder if it’s that simple? (Hughes, lines 6)
In this line, the speaker thinks the difficult thing that he will write at the
first place and then he will continue with a simple thing that he makes. It will let
him easier to write the next line.
The simple thing that he writes was about his age and his race: I am
twenty – two, colored, born in Winston – Salem (Hughes, line 7). This line shows
the existence of the African Americans as a part of the society.
I went to school there, thenDurham, then here to this college on the hill above Harlem (Hughes, lines 8 – 9)
“The visit was on Sunday, February 6, 1949, and coverage of it from local newspapers can be found in the microform collection of the Forsyth County Public Library. The Journal and Sentinel had an article about plans for the appearance on Sunday morning, and the Journal had a follow-up report on Monday morning. (Note: At that time, the city had a morning paper, the Journal, and an evening paper, the Sentinel. The Sunday editions were combined.)” (http://myweb.wssu.edu/wallr/ lhughesinw- s.htm)
The line is doubly arresting for those of them who live in Winston-Salem.
However, that is the information about why Durham and Winston-Salem were
likely choices for the background of a character like the speaker in "Theme for
English B." The article also revealed that Hughes visited Winston-Salem in
Otherwise line 8 and 9 view a small sample of education. There was a
limitation for any African American students to have study in schools. He tries to
enlighten his position that he cannot accept of being neglected and ignored in the
class. He wants his position clear and he dreams to be accepted in the class.
Being an African American student, one must accept that he would be treated
differently than the Whites student. His facility, attention, treatment and right
would be different than the Whites have. Even if African American student
studies in the same school with the White student, he must understand that he is
placed in the schools where he is not actually accepted normally as other students.
He would have different position with other student. The class in the poem
“Theme for English B” is the representation of the American Society. This is the
society where the voice of liberation for every person in the society is a phoney
because the fact inside the society, there gap between its citizens.
Furthermore, only a few African Americans had the chances to get
education at that time. There was limitation for seat for any African American
students in schools. Only African Americans who are seen that they are valued to
be deserved to have an education are open to be accepted in school. Moreover,
schools for African American are segregated and put in different position than
school for the Whites. African American schools have different schools and than
the Whites students.
“..they can attend the inferior segregated schools…” (Golden, 1964:31)
Through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas / Eight Avenue, Seventh, and I
the significant place of the St. Nicholas, Eight Avenue, The Harlem Branch Y.
By using allusion it will remind St Nicholas as “The point of Rocks” where
George Washington observed and conducted the Battle of Harlem Heights in
1776. Moreover, “The Harlem Branch Y” is the representation of the community
of YMCA [Young Men’s Christian Association].
Furthermore, the differences are made in order to make gap between the
Whites and the African American. In the era, it was one kind of inequalities,
which happened toward African Americans. In the era, the gap in the society
right between the White and the African American were not only in the education
but also in social right as citizen. Their rights to have a good service in the
hospital separated from the Whites. African American would have lower rights
and position than the Whites. It represents from the example below that the
Whites hospital including its doctor and nurse would not receive any African
American patients.
“…and start practice in a week, segregated hospital...” (Golden, 1964:31)
By this line, the speaker begins to share his mind in his page: “...where I
take the elevator up to my room, sit down and write this page:” (Hughes, lines 14
– 15). This line shows a simple thing to do by the speaker but it also draws a
circumstance that by joining the community in “the Harlem Branch Y” he could
rise their hope up just like the elevator take him to his room. Furthermore, the
room shows as his position.
It is not easy to know what is true for you or me at twenty – two, my age
Moreover, the speaker writes, it is not easy to write something about the true thing
for the teacher. “You” in that line also represents as the person who reads that
page or the White Americans in the society. Because, “you or me” at that line
emphasize the identity of different person and it could be the different race. The
speaker also emphasizes about his age at twenty – two, and it represents the youth,
the African American Youth American descriptions.
“But I guess I’m what I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:”
(Hughes, lines 17 – 18). In these lines, the speaker draws his mind about who he
is, about what he feels, sees, and hears about Harlem.
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you: (Hughes, lines 16 – 18)
The imagery of 18th line can be seen in the word “feel”, “see” and “hear”,
those ability is interpretation of senses experience of the speaker formed literary.
Moreover, the lines explain about his feeling about him and Harlem. In addition,
the African Americans try to voice their position that they want to have the same
position, or at least to be more respected in the society. They want to show that
the African Americans are not the inferior citizen who can be neglected and
segregated in the society.
Black American would no longer accept second-class citizenship (Ritchie, 1985:727)
As Donald A. Ritchie above explains that in the era of 1950s the African
Americans try to convey their position in the society. They do not want to be
hear you, hear me – we two – you, me, talk on this page (I hear New York, too) Me – who?
(Hughes, lines 19 – 20)
These lines above are drawn as if Harlem and the speaker are making
conversation. Furthermore, line 19 and 20 shows the imagery part such as “hear”.
They talk to New York and then New York says “Me” with a capital alphabet of
“M” in the front. It seems that the speaker sees New York or Me with a different
perspective; he sees the big thing between you as Harlem, “me” as African
American and “Me” as New York. “Me” here in that line shows the capital power
in the society. A huge different between “me” and Harlem is opposed to “Me” as
New York. The larger design of this concept is New York that could be the
represented of power, obligation, education, facilities, better life or health.
Meanwhile, the speaker also quotes his own question to himself about his
identity to the teacher. He also tries to give information to his teacher that he
should have the same position in the class. In his questions about his identity in
the class, he draws to his teacher about his personality, his dreams that he wants to
live and to be treated equally as the Whites. He says that,
Me, who?
Well I love to eat, sleep, drink and be in love (Hughes, lines 20 – 21)
This is the interesting side of Langston Hughes. He gives an imagination
to the reader; Hughes created the speaker of the poem as student voicing his
identity to his teacher by explaining that he is a gifted person.
He comes to his teacher that he is a student who is also able to eat as other
and learning in the class. The speaker understands that he is treated unequal as
other students. The teacher is a White teacher; he would treat the African
American student differently with treatment and attention than the White students.
well, I like to eat, sleep, drink and be in love (Hughes, line 21) I like to work, read, learn, and understand life (Hughes, line 22)
In addition, the line 21 and 22 also show the real “me” at that page, the
speaker, he is a person with an ordinary personality. He explains about himself,
about his pleasure, what he likes and his habitual just like the other people no
matter what is the colour of the skin and the race or where he living. It is just
simple thing as it is.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present, or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach. (Hughes, lines 23 – 24)
In the line 23, it is clearly describing the speaker manner just likes the
other people who celebrate the Christmas. He also like a present and the pipe here
symbolize the meaning of enjoyment, relax and to be pleasured as well as the
others or even the Whites who celebrate a Christmas. Line 24 symbolize about
his enjoyment toward music, such as listening Bessie Smith’s records, a popular
and successful female American African blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s.
Otherwise, listen a kind of music like bop the short name of “bebop” the form of
jazz that evolved during the 1940s or Bach. Hughes portrays that the fusion of the
White Americans and the African Americans ways of life is possible.
And then, the speaker in the next line explains his feelings that,
The speaker is tiring with his position. He understands that he is the
African American races are underestimated by the Whites. The Whites rob his
rights as a human and society by being their slaves. It was Hughes way tries to
convey the reader if the speaker wants to share his existence as a human and part
of society having the same rights as other citizen. The African Americans people
in the era do not gave up in their position. They tried to find better position by
struggling in lives. One of the ways that is taken by the African Americans was
by trying to have a better education for them. The education that was able to
increase their level and existence. As explained by Harry Golden, “Negroes who
fight for the right to enter public school are fighting for more than education.”
(Golden, 1964:47). Although there were segregation in school, but African
Americans tried to have higher knowledge in order to show that they were able.
The speaker also argues that being coloured does not make him not like
the same with the other race. There was segregation in the America where society
delivered certain races in a certain level. Such as the segregation during the war,
the African Americans soldiers fought in segregated units; but they fought for the
first time in combat units in the Navy, Marine and Air Corps. A total of
1,154,720 African Americans were inducted or drafted into the armed services.
After World War II and an increasingly strident campaign by African American
leaders, segregation was abolished in the armed forces. (Bennet, 1962:307). He
writes about difference in the society which could be true about the segregation.
“And it will be lightened by the line: So will my page be coloured that I
life of the era by give more questions to the reader. Moreover, this line is
questioning toward the instructor order, but it straight rearranges the rest of this
page.
Being me, it will not be white (Hughes, line 28)
It means that the speaker realizes no matter how hard he tries to be
something in the society he will not be white. Then he writes that it must be
realized by the teacher that he is apart of the instructor life.
Meanwhile, the speaker also thinks that the teacher cannot deny that he
exists as a part of the society that cannot be erased, as seen in the line,
But it will be
a part of you, instructor (Hughes, lines 29 – 30)
The African Americans in order to show their existences there, wants to
contribute their voice in the politics. Politic was important in the society and as a
citizen, the African Americans consider that they also deserve to have voice in the
politic. However, the society in the era put the politic bad for the African
Americans. They do not have a good part in the politic.
Between 1880 &1920, new Jim Crow laws to prevent Blacks from votry and to enforce rigid racial segregation (Mc Kay, 1984:1197)
The African Americans do not have part in the politics. It is the reason
Hughes tried, to reveal this problem by showing the speaker in the poem voicing
his dead question. The speaker emphasizes that the teacher is a White American
by writing down,
You are white---
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you
(Hughes, lines 31 – 35)
Hughes in the lines above gave the reader his satirizing idea toward the
Whites. He understood that it was not easy for African Americans to grave their
same position and right as the White.
“… However little basis there may be for colour prejudice, the importance of the resultant attitudes and behaviour in many countries is indisputable.” (Comas, 1956: 24)
This condition makes the African Americans are as the second-class
citizen. There was not enough freedom for the African Americans in the society
at that time. The speaker keeps on questioning his position in the class that is the
representation of the society. Moreover, he reminds, the teacher about the real
America that comes from many races, culture and society, so that is why they
called American, a big nation as it is. But again, the speaker tries to convince the
teacher how ironically even the history take America as a big nation but still
sometimes mostly the White reject the existence of the other race especially the
African Americans.
However, it is the reality, the fact the speaker as an African American
s
