“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
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Langston Hughes was considered one of the principal and prominent voices of Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s and 1930s. His poetry encompasses heterogeneity of subject matters and motifs concerning working African-Americans who were excluded and deprived of power. His choice of theme was accentuated and manifested through the convergence of African-American vernacular and blues forms. My attempt is to analyze the implications of the most significant poems by first introducing the author‚ examining
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The poem “Mother to Son‚” by Langston Hughes‚ is about a mother advising her son about life. She tells him that life is not easy and that he should not give up even when life is hard. Throughout the poem she uses an extended metaphor to compare life as a decayed stair. The mother expressed the hardship of life by saying‚ “And splinters‚ And boards torn up‚ And places with no carpet on the floor” (4-6). She describes the stair as an old and decayed stair that seems impossible to climb. Life is hard
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During the early 1930s many black writers begin to produce works that helped to shape and define the Civil Rights movement. Among them was Langston Hughes whose poems and writing contributed directly to the rhetoric of the day and inspired many African-Americans‚ both in and out of the Civil Rights movement. Much of this grew out of what was called the Harlem Renaissance‚ which emerged during turbulent times for the world‚ the United States‚ and black Americans. World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution
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“50-50” by Langston Hughes In the poem “50-50” by Langston Hughes‚ the theme is about a lonely woman seeking love. She might be a young woman who left her family in the South and moved North during the Great Migration for better opportunities‚ and that might be the reason why she feels she is all alone in this world. Or‚ she might be a widow or someone who has lost a partner‚ or boyfriend. She feels she is all alone because she has no man in her life. The monologue has a dual persona
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The exposition of this poem written by Langston Hughes is about life and death. Langston talks about committing suicide and how he attempted to kill himself many times. The narrator faces many challenges in his life such as a failed relationship .As I continued reading the poem the author renews his intentions on living‚ and finds out he is here on this earth for a reason. The speaker used the cold water as an excuse. He says he may sink if the water was not cold therefore‚ he might sink and die
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The “Trumpet Player” by Langston Hughes addresses the issues of slavery and discrimination that was going on in the United States. The poem means that no matter what your life is like‚ the memories of your past will always be with you‚ but if you can find something that comforts you and eases the pain‚ you can turn your pain and suffering into art. The lines “The Negro/with the trumpet at his lips‚” which are repeated in stanzas two and five‚ tell the reader that the poem is about an African American
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While Langston Hughes questions his identity in his 1951 poem‚ “Theme for English B”‚ the piece closely relates to Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” considering that both works relay the authors underlying values of equality. King uses his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to promote the efficacy of integration and address the tensions present between races in the United States. After the courts failed to appease King by restricting his ability to hold protests in Birmingham
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the wind on his face‚ the next thing he knows is that he laying on the ground. He tried to steal a woman’s purse‚ but she smacked him on the head with her purse and he fell on the ground. Jimmy‚ like Roger‚ the main character in Yes Ma’am by Langston Hughes‚ he tries to steal a woman’s purse but pays the price. The author creates the theme that when making a mistake‚ you might just get a warning‚ but if you do it again you will have to face the consequences. The Author creates the theme by
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B” the writer‚ Langston Hughes‚ is known as an African American poet and author who joined other black artists to break literary barriers during the civil rights movement. The poem was written thirty years or so after the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance‚ but still symbolizes why the Renaissance had originated in the first place. I believe this poem reflected on Hughes’ life in general‚ but more importantly on the fight against the ignorance that created discrimination. Hughes was an individual
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