ipl-logo

Langston Hughes I Too Analysis

858 Words4 Pages

In the poem “I, Too”, the author Langston Hughes illustrates the key aspect of racial discrimination faces against the African Americans to further appeals the people to challenge white supremacy. He conveys the idea that black Americans are as important in the society. Frist, Hughes utilizes the shift of tones to indicate the thrive of African American power. In the first stanza, the speaker shows the sense of nation pride through the use of patriotic tone. The first line of the poem, “I, too, sing America” states the speaker’s state of mind. He has a strong feeling of belonging to the society, which then implies that he is not different than anyone else. However, the tone immediately shifts to sarcastic in the second stanza when the speakers tells that he is not allowed to eat on the table, but rather sent to the kitchen. He ridicules by expressing “But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong” from line 5 through 8, where the …show more content…

The speaker laughs at the oppression, and do the opposite things that the white people expect him to do, which illustrates his inner growing strength and power despite the fact that he is constantly put down by other. Furthermore, the speaker’s tone becomes aggressive in the third stanza which serves as the caution to warn people that the black power is thriving by saying that “Nobody’ll dare Say to me, ‘Eat in the kitchen,’ then” at lines 11 to 14. The lines indeed are somewhat violent, but clearly deliver the intention of the speakers, and emphasizes the importance of the message. At the last two stanzas, the tone again becomes prideful. The speaker displays his connection to the black heritage by stating that “They’ll see how beautiful I am” (line 16), and the last line of the poem “I, too, sing America” repeats the first line, but this time with more insistent tone. The speaker is stating the fact

Open Document