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The Works of James Langston Hughes On The Works of James Langston Hughes: Their Impact, Purpose, and Design �The Negro Speaks of Rivers� (1921, 1926) �Mother to Son� (1922, 1926) �The Weary Blues� (1926) �I, Too� (1932) �Vagabonds� (1947) �Madam and Her Madam� (1949) �Democracy� (1949) A Critical Analysis by Alvin Shaul November 11, 2004 On The Works of James Langston Hughes: Their Impact, Purpose, and Design The works of James Langston Hughes belong among the richest and most significant pieces ever written by American authors. Hughes' African American ethnicity only magnified his potential and success. His poetic works analyzed herein speak largely of the lifestyles in which the African American people lived during the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. Hughes, born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902, was intended by his father to attend Columbia University studying engineering. After dropping the program in 1921 with a B+ average, Hughes did not again attend college until he received his B.A. in 1929 from Lincoln University. Between these times many of his great works were written and published. These include �The Negro Speaks of Rivers� (1921), an essay entitled �The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain�, and �The Weary Blues� (1926) (Jackson 1-2). These works and others analyzed herein have had a major impact on American society both in the past and today. Perhaps the most apparent element of Hughes� work is his use of particular diction to create vivid imagery. For example, in �The Negro Speaks of Rivers�, Hughes attempts to balance his own soul, or perhaps the soul of the black peoples, with some of the longest and deepest rivers in the world. In lines two and three specifically he contrasts the ancient rivers of the world with �the flow of human blood in human veins.� The picture created here is one of equality among all humankind. For indeed, who can picture the flow of blood through a vein and distinguish it one race from another? Hughes wishes to paint a picture of a time when discrimination and segregation did not exist. The mood created in �The Weary Blues� contributes significantly to the imagery that is created. Indeed, the words themselves seem to be weary. One cannot help but to read them in a weary voice or with a weary state of mind. The repetition of �He did a lazy sway� and the personification of the phrase �that old piano moan� seem to create for the reader the picturesque reality that was Harlem in the 1920s. His diction makes it easy to realize that the music is more about feeling than it is about structure or perfection. As a jazz musician, it is amazing to be able to imagine being in Harlem and watching �a Negro play� and truly know what it means when �the singer stopped playing and went to bed while the Weary Blues echoes through� my head. Hughes creates the avenue for a reader to experience this. Hughes� short poem entitled �Vagabonds� creates an image of a wanderer who no longer seeks fulfillment of any kind. It is not clear as to whether he attempting to create a metaphor of the black race or simply referring to the vagabonds he has encountered in the city. This poem attacks both the emotional and physical necessities of life and passes them off as inconsequential. What a mundane portrait of man! Also used to convey meaning throughout Hughes� work is his use of symbolism. His use of symbolism is twofold much of the time. He will use individual symbols to convey meaning within a work, or the work as a whole will serve to symbolize how society functioned at that time. One poem that focused more on the function of society is �Democracy�. Hughes had this poem published in 1949 in an effort to reflect the increasingly strong insistence by African Americans to be treated equally, not as a white man is treated, but as an American is treated. He symbolizes the fact that society simply wanted to �let nature take its course� and if blacks were eventually treated equal, then so be it. Black people, however, surged forward during this time seeking their equal rights to freedom as Hughes says �I have as much right as the other fellow has to stand on my two feet and own the land� (5-9). So Hughes not only projects the society�s trend, but also emphasizes the fact that African Americans were no longer willing to just sit back and wait for the freedom they had been granted nearly a century before. Other poems including �The Negro Speaks of Rivers� and �I, Too� emphasize this truth and speak of the beauty of the African American people. An extension to this idea can be seen in Hughes� poem �Mother to Son�. The metaphorical uses of tacks, splinters, �boards torn up� and �places with no carpet on the floor� are symbolic of what the mother has gone through in her own search for freedom and equality. Life will not be as a crystal stair is. There will be barriers to push through and boulders to roll away, but a strong fight will lead to an accomplished life. Her son now has this fight, and it is one which is much closer to breaking through into a new reality for African Americans. �Madam and Her Madam� is about a black woman who is working as a servant or a maid for a white woman. The poem is meant to emphasize the differences in perception between the servant and her �employer�. It is symbolic in showing the traces of slavery that were still present in the mid-20th century. Although she is not recognized as such, the maid, Alberta, is treated much more as a slave than a house worker. She is probably paid very little and treated with very little respect. This can be inferred from the last two stanzas which read: She opened her mouth She Cried, Oh no! You know, Alberta, I love you so! I said, Madam, That may be true� But I�ll be dogged If I love you. This sentiment was a harsh reality then, and God bless America, it exists only in minute quantities today. The impact of Hughes� work has been quite significant. With three autobiographies, at least nine books of poetry, and at least four anthologies to his name, Hughes became one of the most popular authors of his time well before his death. He had at least five works published posthumously as well. Never before had anyone stepped up from among the ranks of the black people and presented such strong and unashamed words. Hughes helped to reshape the mindset that whites had toward African Americans, while also giving his own people a new hope for tomorrow. Today, �his residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission. His block of East 127th Street was renamed �Langston Hughes Place.�(Jackson 3)� James Langston Hughes died of cancer on May 22, 1967. His legacy will forever be remembered as one full of integrity, boldness, and love for his people. Blessed as we are, we have his works still in print today and they are sure to be in print a hundred years from now, for Hughes shaped America and American literature like no one else ever could. He loved to write, he loved people, and he loved America. Works Cited Alexander, Scott & Andrew P. Jackson. The Red Hot Jazz Archive. 9 Nov. 2004 <http://www.redhotjazz.com/hughes.html>. Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 6th ed. Vol. D New York & London, Norton, 2003. |