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African American Poetry Analysis

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AFRICAN AMERICAN WRITING Human beings share a common yet distinctive anatomical structure. The basic anatomy and physiology is uniform among the different individuals of species Homo Sapiens- air in our lungs, blood in our veins, a mind, and a soul. Yet, there is a certain kind of darkness that permeates and haunts the human race, it transcends from the skin of a few to become a blot on the minds of the others. Origin of descent and other ascribed factors have for long been the cause of a certain lop-sided development of us homo sapiens; a certain section were deprived to live a life of dignity. Literature has lingered around, as long as humans have. It has captured the lived experiences, struggles, figments of our imagination by connecting …show more content…

His characters are almost always workers. They are strong and dependent only on each other. Hughes showed how members of the working class endure the hardships of poverty and despair. But he also showed that they have laughter and a strong sense of family and community. These qualities, though present in much of his work, are most prevalent in his first novel Not without Laughter. The character of Aunt Hagar embodied the spirit and beauty of the working class. She was an elderly wash-woman, who was loved by blacks and whites. But she maintained a strong sense of self. She went to an African- American church and embraced its spiritual beliefs. She took pride in herself and her work. She took care of her neighbors, often using the holistic medicine scoffed at by the more “refined” middle class. She never wanted to be wealthy. She simply wanted to take care of herself and her family. These were the qualities that Langston Hughes admired and sought to attribute to the working class. He emphasized their interdependence, their perseverance, their resistance to the middle class, and the pride they took in their identity. More importantly though, he shattered the notion that working class is something to be feared or escaped. Through his work, people can see that the working-class experience is something to be valued, not ignored or pitied. In his poem “I, too, sing America” the poet speaks of how he is ‘’the darker brother”, referring to his skin color. He speaks of the unjust treatment that he has been receiving from his brothers, solely because of that. He wishes for a time when he won’t be at the receiving end of such inequalities and he no longer would be asked to eat separately in a kitchen. The word “too” is repeated in the poem, laying greater emphasis on the fact of his inclusion as an American, which he is currently

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