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The poem tells the story of a young black girl exploring and experiencing what it is to become a black woman in her changing social circle. “it’s dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue and suffering their burn in silence. It’s popping a bleached white mophead over the kinks of your hair and primping in front of the mirrors that deny your reflection.” (Smith,9) The food coloring in her eyes, and the bleaching of her hair can only symbolize her need to grow into the more “accepted” form of society, the white skinned, blue eyed, blonde haired men…
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Brown’s poetry is beautiful and impactful. In The New Testament, Brown wants to make a change of the social injustice in the world. He wanted to make these poems more powerful than any of his other poems that he wrote. Again the book is more for people who do not completely fit in, or are made to feel less human. The events and images of the poems manage to surprise the reader every time they read them. In the poem, “The Interrogation,” “II. Cross-Examination” and “IV. Redirect,” Brown defends his heritage with the line “What you call color I call/ A way.” The interrogator responds back to him with “Forgive us. We don’t mean to laugh/ It’s just that black is,/ After all, the absence of color.” These lines between the interrogator and Brown are chilling and are highly memorable. This just shows the reality of the racial relations we have in America today.…
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In chapter one of The Souls of Black Folk, written by W.E.B. Du Bois, the point is the Negro is born with a veil that separates him from the world of White people. This world only allows the Negro to believe that he is less than or unequal to White people because he can only see himself through the revelation of the White world, which believes they are better than him. The veil shuts the Negro out from the White world.…
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While this line could simply be about the beauty of the plain midnight sky or it could be about the beauty of Black people. The tone of this poem seems to be one of resentment and fury. Although the speaker doesn't use harsh words, it seems like he is fed up with a situation and is telling the audience to realize that something is wrong as well. Through my reading of this poem, I conclude that its intended audience was Black people who accepted things the way they were. I'm not really sure as to what the situation of this poem is, but I think the author's feelings toward it could be that he wants the audience to see things for the way that they were, reject them, and stand up for themselves.…
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In the poems, “Let America Be America Again” and “Negro” by Langston Hughes, the voice of the narrator appear to be bold and pitiful. The tones of both poems are anger and bitterness from the minority groups in America towards the majority group. The themes of each poem vary in ways but they are also similar pertaining to the way that African Americans do not have equal opportunities in America just like the other minority groups living in America. In “Let America Be America Again”, Langston Hughes illustrates that America is not the land of the free like it is advertised. In “Negro”, Hughes also castigate America but from the point of the view of an African American.…
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The line “We wear the mask” is an alliteration that is repeated three times within Dunbar’s piece. The repetition of similar sounds throughout the poem reminds the reader that the mask is never taken off. Through each struggle and every heartache – the mask remains in tact as it covers the face. Additionally, the following rhetorical question should also be classifies as a hyperbole. Dunbar states “Why should the world be over-wise, / In counting all our tears and sighs?” The world cannot literally count all of their tears and sighs and it is impossible for the world to truly be “over-wise.” In the first line, “over-wise” is referring to the world imposing on others beliefs. In many ways this line proves that society initially feels powerful – therefore, they see the need to change others. Meanwhile, blacks need a mask to make themselves seem and feel powerful. These literary devices are used to remind the reader that things may not be as they seem. Dunbar discretely places these devices to catch our attention and pull us towards what he believes is true. Similar to society – Dunbar tries to make his readers realize society manipulates and structures individuals to abide by societal…
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In the first stanza, he starts off with the title of the poem stating, “we wear the mask that grins and lies” (1). In the first line he uses a metaphor to explain the “mask” that is put on to show grins. Of course there is no actual mask, but the mask can be a representation of a fake personality that is happy or blissful. It could be said that the reason for this “mask” is to prevent their tormentors from starting any controversy. Dunbar also uses another metaphor, “This debt we pay to human guile…” (3). Obviously he does not mean that there is a debt to human guile that he is paying with money, but rather since blacks have always been seen as deceptive since slave times, they must forever live in it. Since slave times blacks have not been respected. Even after blacks received the right to vote and own land, the federal system still made it hard for blacks to make a breakthrough. The use of metaphor is used to describe the overwhelming struggles blacks had to go through in a white man’s world. Through the use of metaphors, Dunbar implies the feelings the blacks once had to fake in order to not get into any trouble.…
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Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem is a clear display of pride; “Let the fullness of Thy pity o’er the hot wrought spirits sway of the gallant colored soldiers who fell fighting on that day!” (Dunbar, 45, 46, 47, 48). Moreover, he repeats the line ‘of the gallant colored soldiers’ a few times in the poem. Dunbar is a famous poet known for activism of equality and equal rights for African American’s (poets.org). His captivating poem; ‘The Colored Soldiers’ is a strong example of his representation of African American…
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The poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is clearly stating that he wants to be free. This poem was published in 1895, and at this time conditions were horrible for African Americans. Dunbar felt trapped like the bird in the cage. There were not many educated African American men at this time, but Dunbar was an outstanding writer. This man wants to be free, and this theme is described through the explication of form, prosody, and symbolism.…
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* What specific denotation has the word “dream”? Since the poem does not reveal the contents of the dreams, the poem is general in its implication. What happens to your understanding of it on learning that its author was a black American?…
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Final Paper Despite living in a country that is known for equality, justice and freedom, what many do not know is the amount of unequal and prejudice treatments many people are subjected to every day. Gender and race play a big role is the equality system in America despite popular belief. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ruled that discrimination against any race, religion, sex or ethnicity would be illegal and punishable by law. Unfortunately, there have been many cases of racism and some have even gotten away with it.…
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Langston Hughes wrote this poem during the Harlem Renaissance of the late 1910s, so a reader might immediately assume that the main topic involves race or racial prejudice. The second stanza almost takes this direction when the narrator mentions that he is “the only colored student in his class”, the third stanza changes directions, though, when the narrator, addressing his white instructor, says, “I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races”. This suggests that he is not, because he is black, different than others, but rather, the same. This line seems pretty simple at first, but when you think about it, it's got a few layers to it.…
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When I read this I see the little boy it's about and what happened to him. The poem was written about a 14 year old boy that was lynched in 1955 for allegedly making sexual advances towards a white girl. America for all of its advances still had a strong sense of racism during this time. It was during the 60's that a major advancement was made in prejudice towards the blacks in America. What the poem says to me though is that it's not forgotten. That little boy may be dead but what he represents isn't going to just disappear into the ground with…
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Through the many works of Paul Laurence Dunbar great milestones have been paved for other African American Writers. His work has definitely influenced how writers write in today’s society. Paul Laurence Dunbar works can be related to issues which goes go in everyday life experiences. Many factors that Dunbar was faced with in the past has become somewhat more subtle in today’s society. African American Writers should realize the honor and privileges great writers of the past have bestowed upon…
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Based from the structure of the song one could already see that it is actually a poem. The song is divided into five unique stanzas with four lines each (5 quatrains). Moreover, it has a rhyme scheme of aabb cddc ffcc gghh ijhg.…
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