Analysis Of Langston Hughes The Weary Blues: Double Consciousness

Double Consciousness, Double Cognizance As depicted by Langston Hughes in “The Weary Blues,” double consciousness in African-American culture poses a difficult question: is it necessary to assimilate to the Euro-American culture in order to blend into the melting pot of America, or is the celebration of African-American culture necessary to retain and preserve the African heritage as it exists in a predominantly ‘Euro-America?’ While Hughes’ poetry and short stories often include themes of double consciousness, this same theme was an occasional dilemma in his own life. Through these experiences, Hughes was able to explore and write about double consciousness from a first-hand point of view, creating the stories, the essays, the speeches,
A collection of poems that, as Hughes describes first-handedly as, “a better book than my first, because it was more impersonal, more about other people than myself” (Hughes 394). He considered the collection to be an honest glimpse into the world of African-American issues, and white America applauded the book. However, his black critics denounced it as garbage, and proclaimed Hughes to be a “SEWER DWELLER” (Rampersad 140) and the “poet lowrate of Harlem” (Hughes 396). Hughes’ relationship with Charlotte Mason, or Godmother as she liked to be called, is spotted with a few examples of double consciousness. Meeting Mason through Alain Locke, Hughes was immediately taken under her wing in her effort to “elevate African culture to its rightful place of honor” (Rampersad 147), and enlisted to create literary works of art. Seduced by the opportunity to work on his poetry and various writings without the uncertainty of poverty, Hughes went to work for Godmother in exchange for financial security, authoring an entire book based on Mason’s