Cora Unashamed By Langston Hughes: Poem Analysis
“Cora Unashamed is a short story by Langston Hughes. It is about Cora Jenkins, a black woman living in Melton with her parents. Cora works as a maid for a rich white family, the Studevants. Cora has a special bond with the family’s youngest daughter, Jessie. Jessie gets pregnant and her mother, Mrs. Art Studevant, forces her to get an abortion. Jessie then dies sick. The story is mainly about hypocrisy and discrimination, two elements of Hughes’ life which are also found in many of his poems. First, we see the white society’s hypocrisy and the riches’ petty-bourgeois mentality in the character of Mrs. Art Studevant. Mrs. Studevant does everything to maintain her social position and preserve the family’s good name. She is ashamed of Jessie,