Analysis Of 'Theme For English B' By Langston Hughes

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The Harlem Renaissance was an African-American cultural movement that focused on literature, music, theater, art, and politics. Langston Hughes among other poets were the most creative writer of this period. Unlike other notable black poets of the time period Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. Nonetheless, his writing not only promoted African-American culture, and it gave recognition to the suffering, injustice, and repression among the African-American communities. He also exhibited his views on social justice and the politics of the period which made him one of the most influential poets of The Harlem Renaissance era. “Theme for English B” and “I, Too” are two of Langston …show more content…
When in reality the students actually did feel the same as Hughes. As stated by Daniel Morris, “Hughes’ uses of irony and subversive humor in “Theme for English B” is for the student or persona to challenge the teacher’s assumptions” (Morris, web). In “Theme for English B” the persona is told to write a page by his professor and this is not just any page since he instructs the author to “let the page come out of you” (Hughes, line 4). The author starts to wonder if this was a trick question or really just that simple to actually write the way he felt. The author did just that with explaining how he was the only “colored” twenty-two-year-old student in his class and writes that at his young age it is hard to know what is true. So he then describes Harlem, New York threw his point of view. From the sound of Harlem to the way it can make you feel and how to understand life. Then the author goes on to describe the different things that bring him enjoyment and goes to state that even though he is “colored” that does not mean he does not enjoy the same things that people of other races may enjoy doing. Along with his descriptions on life, the author then explains that even though he nor his professor want to be a part of one another sometimes, it is a part of life and they have to be apart if one …show more content…
His work led to the creation of a sense of unity among the African- Americans and this was important in the flourishing of the artistic contributions during the Harlem Renaissance. His works in “Theme for English B” and “I too” were dedicated to exposing the inequalities that the African Americans were being exposed to. Stereotyping was also an idea that had been carved with the racial differences in America. The persona in Langston’s poem “Theme for English B” is described as a colored twenty- two years old male clearly shadowed by the stereotyping that typically went on during this period. Fortunately, the poetry of this period had quite the audience and its message was not only read by the African- American’s but Caucasian’s as well. This rebirth was translated into poetry and Langston’s “I Too” poem was able to find the focus of it message around the activities of the African Americans who were living in Harlem. His poem is mainly built around the idea of propagating for civil rights and equal treatment between the blacks and white people. His approach to the situation where inequality was the norm can be seen in his stories where he shows us the actual life of someone with a racial/ethnic challenge apart from the suffering. Literary, artistic, and intellectual were the features that were illustrated in the sophistication of the culture impacted by The Harlem
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