Hughes’s story ‘‘Thank You, Ma’m’’ seems straightforward enough on a casual reading and, indeed, its moral message of self-help aimed at the black community could hardly be more blunt. Hughes gives a vivid description of his home in Harlem with its types and characters, lamenting it as a neighborhood in decline. Yet Hughes is a…
Tag: Langston Hughes
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…
I, Too by Langston Hughes – Analysis
Poetry offers readers a multifaceted opportunity to experience the world in a different way. Poetry can create beauty. It can also be witty and entertaining, sometimes even comedic. But perhaps poetry’s most important functions are to educate readers about injustice and to rouse readers to actions that can change the world. On occasion, poetry illuminates…
I, Too by Langston Hughes – Historical Context
The ‘‘New Negro’’ and the Harlem Renaissance In March 1925, Howard University professor, Alain Locke coined the term ‘‘The New Negro’’ for a special issue of Survey Graphic that emphasized and celebrated the diversity of black life in the United States. Of particular interest to Locke were the many examples of black art, literature, and…
I, Too by Langston Hughes – Literary Devices – Metaphor
Free Verse Free verse is verse with no discernable structure, rhyme scheme, or meter. Free verse allows the poet to fit the poetic line to the content of the poem. The poet is not restricted by the need to shape the poem to a particular meter but can instead create a varied or irregular rhythm…
I, Too by Langston Hughes – Themes
American Identity Hughes’s poem ‘‘I, Too’’ explores the duality of identity that defined black life in the United States in the 1920s. Black Americans claimed citizenship in a country that denied black citizens the same rights that were provided to white citizens. The poet claims that he is an American and entitled to the same…
I, Too by Langston Hughes – Summary
Stanza 1 The first stanza of ‘‘I, Too’’ consists of only one line, in which the speaker asserts that he is also celebrating being an American. The title, with its use of the word too suggests that the speaker is replying to another literary work. The emphasis in the line is on this word, since…
Negro by Langston Hughes: Poem Analysis
Negro by Langston Hughes is neither technically complex not metaphorically rich. Yet it strikes a powerful chord in the hearts of the reader, mainly on the back of its emotional appeal. The poem is an illustration of how simple words and easy historical references can be synthesized into powerful art. This essay will argue how…