Segregation Large northern cities like New York or Philadelphia had populations of free blacks going back to Colonial times. Such communities were segregated in certain sections of the city, however. Their members were allowed to own their own homes and other property, or rent living quarters, but only in certain areas, and not in neighborhoods…
Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes – Literary Devices
Black Dialect The characters in ‘‘Thank You, Ma’m’’ speak in a form of black dialect. This is not standard English but a type of language derived from the history of the black experience in America. It is still frequently spoken by individuals in the black community who have relatively little contact with other groups in…
Thank You, Ma’am by Langston Hughes – Themes
Negritude Negritude (properly ne´gritude in the original French, but Hughes preferred a more common spelling leaving off the acute accent) was a movement during the 1920s and 1930s among black intellectuals throughout the world: in Africa, the Caribbean, and in the expatriate community of Paris where many blacks from the French colonial empire gathered. Its…
Thank You, Ma’am by Langston Hughes – Characters
Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones Hughes begins ‘‘Thank You, Ma’m’’ with an evocative description of Jones: ‘‘She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but a hammer and nails.’’ This sets the tone for the development of her character. She is powerful and capable. She is overwhelmingly physically superior…
Thank You, Ma’am by Langston Hughes – Summary
‘‘Thank You, Ma’m’’ is told in the voice of an impersonal third-person narrator. Hughes begins the story with a description of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones (although her name is not revealed until later in the text). Hughes emphasizes her large physical size and the enormous size of her purse, as though suggesting she is…
Suzy and Leah – Analysis
It is obvious that Yolen was motivated by the horrific acts of World War II to write the short story ‘‘Suzy and Leah.’’ The story uses a setting that is based on true events. There really was a refugee camp at Oswego, New York, that matches the description of the camp where Leah is housed….
Suzy and Leah – Setting
Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany Germany was defeated in World War I (1914– 1918), and in the ensuing years, the politics of this country swung widely between extreme right wing and extreme left wing philosophies. It was during this time that the German Workers’ Party was formed. In 1919, Adolf Hitler joined this party and…
Suzy and Leah – Literary Devices
Diary Entries Yolen tells her story ‘‘Suzy and Leah’’ through diary entries. Both protagonists, Suzy and Leah, write separately while they are alone. Their thoughts, therefore, are supposed to be very personal and unfiltered, since both girls assume no one will read them. This provides Yolen with a chance to get inside the girls’ heads…
Suzy and Leah – Themes
Fear The character of Leah in Yolen’s ‘‘Suzy and Leah’’ is racked with fear. Though she is safe in the present moment of the story, the residue of her experiences in World War II haunts her. In presenting fear as one of the main themes in this story, Yolen emphasizes the effects war has on…
Suzy and Leah – Characters
Avi Avi is a young boy, a refugee who lives with Leah in the camp. Before being taken to the United States, Avi had lived with his grandmother in Europe. His grandmother hid Avi in a cupboard in her kitchen when Nazi soldiers came to their home. The soldiers did not find him; however, Avi’s…