The most important literary devices that Langston Hughes uses in “Cross” are denotation and connotation. The title, “Cross”, is an example of Hughes using these devices. One definition of cross is something that results from crossbreeding, like a hybrid. Cross can also be the object that Jesus carried and was crucified on. The title emphasizes that the speaker is half black and half white and is therefore different from others and feels like a crossbreed. Another interpretation of the title is that the speaker is at a crossroads and feels lost. Cross carries both positive and negative connotation; the image of Christ carrying the cross to save all sinners is a positive connotation of cross while the KKK burning crosses can give cross a negative …show more content…
He says, “My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack”. Instead of writing a fine big home, Hughes wrote, “a fine big house”. This could suggest the speaker’s father’s house was not a very welcoming environment for himself or others. Perhaps it was not very welcoming for slaves. The lines clearly show that white people maintained a higher economic status than black people did. Less obvious is the second meaning of “shack”. As a verb, shack means to move in or live with someone as a lover. During the times of slavery, it was not uncommon for a white, male slave owner to rape his black, female slaves. This is where the main confusion arises as to who the speaker is. The old man is white and the old mother is black meaning rape was in fact a possibility. The speaker could either be Langston Hughes, who was conceived normally, or a mulatto male or female resulting from rape. It is likely that Hughes is the speaker because he was mixed and struggled with these same issues; however, the denotation of “shack” cannot be ignored. As indicated by the title, the speaker is at a crossroads with one road leading to the life of a black person and the other road leading to the life of a white person; however, he is not welcome down either
The metaphoric language is used to compare the blacks and the whites trying to live
A freedmen is taking part in sharecropping as he gives most of the crops he produced to the land’s owner. He hopes for a better life, but he knows he will be forever indebted to the landowner. While some things changed for the better, the acceptance of African Americans was still scarce. During Reconstruction, the life of freedmen did change politically, but not socially or economically.
He highlights his message to his audience by exampling a ship lost a see and whose sailors were dying of thirst. The only way they managed to survive was after they had listened to the advice of the skipper who told them to “cast down their bucket” into the sea and bring up the fresh water. This analogy exemplifies how blacks were also
Life is a short four lettered word which blows in the wind and silences everyone at once when it finally ends. What keeps you holding on is your faith; faith that things will get better and they do indeed. Your faith is what keep holding on which ties into your religion; moreover, the God(s) you believe in. Furthermore, everyone has pressured events in life which changes them for the best or worst; moreover, these events change our course of life and ] affect our future.
He proclaims that "…While we are…living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!" By showing the mundanity of the slave, Douglass shows the audience that the slaves are human and therefore unable to be considered property. He forces his audience to examine their own lives and realize their similarities to the slaves and the hypocrisy of slavery. He doesn't give his audience a chance to disagree with his stance on slavery because he makes such a blunt argument. Douglass asks again, "Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man?
He explains that people of his race are feeling trapped because of their situation and speaking up means they “interfere with life and disrupt white mainstream”(19). The “wall less prison” is described by the experiences that America Americans have had such as “lousy schools, drug use and abuse, being the victims of crimes, lack of employment, economic despair” (19). All of these factors contributed to the issues that the African American community has faced and has also impacted families. Black parents feel they must describe their children as “what they are not, rather than what they are” (19).
Langston Hughes is a poet known for his portrayals of black life in his time. This is evident in his poem, Let America Be America Again. Hughes uses his experience and reality of American Society to contrast the American Dream and what people want to accomplish. With tones of seriousness and hopefulness, Hughes conveys the ideas of freedom and equality. He mostly relies on his perspective, repetition, and imagery.
He speaks about the story of Clyde Ross, a black man who fled horrible conditions in Mississippi to find work in Chicago. Like many Americans Ross dreamed of owning a home. However, the only way for a black person to buy a home in Chicago in the mid-twentieth century was to buy from predatory “contract” sellers who charged unbillable rates with few legal protections for buyers. Clyde said “To keep up with his payments and keep his heat on, I took a second job at the post office and then a third job delivering pizza.” Like many blacks in Chicago at the time he got two jobs just to keep up with the payments of the house, overall being kept away from his
The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that reflected the culture of African Americans in an artistic way during the 1920’s and the 30’s. Many African Americans who participated in this movement showed a different side of the “Negro Life,” and rejected the stereotypes that were forced on themselves. The Harlem Renaissance was full of artists, musicians, and writers who wrote about their thoughts, especially on discrimination towards blacks, such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. The Harlem Renaissance was an influential and exciting movement, and influenced others to fight for what they want and believed in. The Harlem Renaissance was the start of the Civil Rights Movement.
There are many talented poets, but there is something special about Langston Hughes that makes him unique. He has many eye-opening poems. Langston Hughes is definitely one of a kind. The poems Cross and Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, use figurative languages such as imagery and syntax to provide more climax. Imagery.
‘Ballad of Landlord’ lays an emphasis on the conflict with social injustice between people of different social level. Langston Hughes stresses the idea of unfair advantage given to people of higher ranks in society by subtly raising the idea of racial segregation between the blacks and whites. He develops a unique rhythm to represent the different stances between a Negro tenant and a white landlord through uses of dialogue, rhetorical question, and hyperbole. The poem opens up with a repeated structure in the first two stanzas to show the dependence of a tenant on a landlord.
In the poem “I, Too”, the author Langston Hughes illustrates the key aspect of racial discrimination faces against the African Americans to further appeals the people to challenge white supremacy. He conveys the idea that black Americans are as important in the society. Frist, Hughes utilizes the shift of tones to indicate the thrive of African American power. In the first stanza, the speaker shows the sense of nation pride through the use of patriotic tone. The first line of the poem, “I, too, sing America” states the speaker’s state of mind.
During the 1900s, there were many famous authors who wrote about African Americans and Civil Rights. This was what was going on during this time period. Segregation and discrimination towards blacks was increasing. Two famous authors were Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. Langston Hughes wrote the poem “I, Too, Sing America.”
Langston Hughes was an American poem born in the early nineteen hundreds, who became known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published many poems that brought light to the life of people of color in the twentieth century. There are three poems that the speakers are used to portray three major themes of each poem. Racism, the American Dream, and Hopes are all the major themes that Hughes uses to highlight the average life of a person of color. Theme for English B,” “Harlem,” and “Let America Be America Again” were three of Hughes’s poems that was selected to underline the themes.
In the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Langton Hughes uses rhetorical devices such as allusion and imagery to develop the theme of the poem. Starting in stanzas four to six, Langston uses four very famous rivers to trace back on where it all began. Throughout these stanzas he develops allusion because he traces back on to history and state that everyone are historically equal. “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.