Langston Hughes Let America Be America Again: Poem Analysis
Let America Be America Again
“The day America experiences true freedom through equality and love of one another. Is the day I’ll be a happy man, knowing I've done what this country needs.” Interviewed in 1935, social activist and an African American poet Langston Hughes rallied his people with these words of optimism to unite and strive for opportunity, freedom and equality. It was a brave call because it contested the dominant attitude, values and beliefs to colour and class during in an era of strict racial segregation and severe economic depression. Whilst Hughes’ voice represented hope and leadership, it also critically highlighted whether the American dream was something all could obtain. In this seminar presentation, Langston Hughes’ poem, “Let America Be America Again” is …show more content…
Langston Hughes positions the reader to believe that equality for all Americans should be seen as an achievable goal. At the time the poem was written, however, there was vast inequality amongst class, races and gender. Hughes privileges these cultural attitudes with the words “dog eat dog of mighty crush the weak.” Dog eat dog connotes the idea that everybody is only looking out for themselves, much like a stray or feral dog will do what it takes to keep alive. Thus Hughes effectively portrays the idea that the upper class of aristocrats and bureaucrats as dehumanized predators of the lower classes to sustain their own wealthy and extravagant lifestyles. Similarly the white masses tend to prey on the ostracized coloured minorities. Hughes political ideology upheld the belief that it was the capitalist greed and corruption of Western society that served to perpetuate the continued marginalization of minority
“The day America experiences true freedom through equality and love of one another. Is the day I’ll be a happy man, knowing I've done what this country needs.” Interviewed in 1935, social activist and an African American poet Langston Hughes rallied his people with these words of optimism to unite and strive for opportunity, freedom and equality. It was a brave call because it contested the dominant attitude, values and beliefs to colour and class during in an era of strict racial segregation and severe economic depression. Whilst Hughes’ voice represented hope and leadership, it also critically highlighted whether the American dream was something all could obtain. In this seminar presentation, Langston Hughes’ poem, “Let America Be America Again” is …show more content…
Langston Hughes positions the reader to believe that equality for all Americans should be seen as an achievable goal. At the time the poem was written, however, there was vast inequality amongst class, races and gender. Hughes privileges these cultural attitudes with the words “dog eat dog of mighty crush the weak.” Dog eat dog connotes the idea that everybody is only looking out for themselves, much like a stray or feral dog will do what it takes to keep alive. Thus Hughes effectively portrays the idea that the upper class of aristocrats and bureaucrats as dehumanized predators of the lower classes to sustain their own wealthy and extravagant lifestyles. Similarly the white masses tend to prey on the ostracized coloured minorities. Hughes political ideology upheld the belief that it was the capitalist greed and corruption of Western society that served to perpetuate the continued marginalization of minority