Poor Little Black Fellow

Poor Little Black
Fellow
As analyzed through Hughes’ essay
“The Negro Artist and the Racial
Mountain”

An Overview
 In your upcoming assignment, you will have to choose another Hughes story and use one of the three previous essays as a lens to determine if your chosen story succeeds in the criteria set up in the essay of your choice
 Tonight, we will analyze Poor Little Black Fellow through
Hughes’ essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” and develop and argument as to whether or not Hughes’ short story accomplishes the criteria set up by the essay
 In this presentation, we will focus on the main characters within the story, determine if they fit Hughes’ criteria, and then determine if the overall text is successful
 I have my own argument in mind, but this discussion is not just limited to what I believe is right, so feel free to make your own argument when we bring up key points

The Negro Artist and the Racial
Mountain
Main Ideas
 The standard that “white is right” has been engrained in the negro household— “don’t be black,” an idea that there is no beauty in the negro race; although their skin is black, they strive to be white in their souls
 Hughes shows that Negros don’t want to associate themselves with any “black” art—don’t be too black, and make sure the white people are pleased
 These ideas have created a mountain for the negro artist to overcome  Hughes notes that when the negro artist climbs over the mountain, he has a plethora of “unused material ready for art”



However, to reach these materials, the negro artist must not be ashamed of who he is—he must embrace the beautiful and the ugly with pride and not be afraid of what people may say about what he chooses to write about

Poor Little Black Fellow
Summary
 When Arnie becomes an orphan at a young age, the
Pembertons decide to raise him —it is their Christian duty after all
 Growing up, Arnie wasn’t able to do much —join Boy
Scouts, play with other kids and he wasn ’t