This is my essay for Survey of American Literature final task. It's an analysis about 2 poems by Langston Hughes, "I, Too" and "Theme for English B". I know this writing lacks in many ways for my vocabulary is very limited and I'm sometimes lost in tenses, but at least I tried. So, this is my writing. Happy reading.
Pursuing
Equality through Being One True Self
Langston Hughes’ “I, Too” and “Theme for English B”
are two poems published on 1940s (I, Too was published on 1945 and Theme for
English B was published on 1949) when the civil rights movement was happening
in America. Civil rights movement is a social movement against racial
segregation and discrimination towards African Americans.[1] The
African Americans struggled to gain the equality in American society. Many African
Americans were discriminated from society for their colored skin, they were
treated unequally in education, economic, and even before law. They were not
able to even give their votes whereas giving a vote means you’re contributing
to your country’s development. There was a rule on 1945, stating that only
white men could vote in the Democratic primary.[2]
For the segregation and discrimination were getting more serious and
unbearable, some people started to voice their protest and make a movement.
Hughes is one of many African Americans who contributed to civil rights
movement. He wrote several books, plays, short stories, essays, and poems as
forms of his critics against racism issue.[3] These
two poems I’m going to analyze in this essay also contained racism issue where
African Americans were seen as the inferior to the whites. They were treated
differently in society. In “I, Too”, the writer was sent to the kitchen when
the owner of the house had visitors. It shows the different class between the
white and the African American. At that time, people only ate at dining table, those
who ate in the kitchen were considered lower. This means that the whites didn’t
consider the African Americans as equal with them. Meanwhile, in “Theme for
English B”, the narrator is a student who was assigned to write a page for
English B by his white teacher. It was said that he was the only African
American in the class he attended. He wrote a “confession” about how it felt to
be the only colored student in class, how he wanted them to see him as a
“normal” person, a part of them. However, both narrators of the poems conveyed
the same message. They wanted the whites to see them as a part of the society
(by society I mean the whites). They didn’t see themselves as the inferiors.
They looked on themselves as equal to the white and I found the narrative of
the poems quite interesting. Therefore I decided to bring up this topic as the
main topic of my essay, that the narrators tried to gain the equality through
showing their true selves to the society
Before I started my explanation on the main topic,
I’d like to point out the racism matter first. As you know that America had
claimed their independence from Britain since the 4th of July 1776.
They claimed to be free and started the Democracy. However, was the
independence really given to all American citizens including the slaves?
Douglass stated in his writing, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” that
the Fourth of July was just a deceptive cover of what the
nation have done to the slaves for so long.
“To him, your celebration is a sham;
your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling
vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of
tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow
mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your
religious parade, and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception,
impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a
nation of savages.”
The
quotation above is an evidence of how the “Independence” in the fourth of July
was just given to the whites. The fourth of July was never meant for the slaves
because the injustice was still going on for the next 400 years until the
abolition was finally granted on 1863 after Lincoln declared the Emancipation
Proclamation.[4]
Did it end there, then? Ironically, it didn’t. The discrimination and slavery
were still there for the African Americans, even after 100 years of
Emancipation Proclamation. The struggle to pursue the equality they have
dreamed about for so long was never enough and it seemed like no matter what
actions they took at that time, they couldn’t change the way American society
see them. The equality for the African Americans was nowhere to be found.
However,
they never stopped struggling. Some African Americans like Hughes chose writing
as a way to voice their demand of equality. Hughes’ narrative in “I, Too” and
“Theme for English B” shows us his determination in pursuing equality.
“Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the
kitchen,"”
The narrator showed us
that he too, even though he was an African American, had rights to mingle with the
visitors. He too deserved to eat together with them at the table. He showed us
his determination to be equal with other people through those lines above. His
future will to eat together at the table with the whites was his vision of
equality between the whites and African Americans. He wanted the society to see
him as a part of them because despite him being colored, he was truly a part of
them. Besides, we are the only ones who have the authority to decide everything
on our life. Being colored doesn’t mean you have less authority to control your
own body or will, that’s what he wanted to convey through this poem, and that’s
what the whites needed to understand to stop the slavery at that time.
Unawareness of such fact was the main reason of the continuity of slavery in
American society. We are all human, human are all equal before God.
Guignon in his book, “On
Being Authentic” explains how important it is to be your true self and trust
your own feeling in making every decisions in life and led yourself to the
right path.
“It is to see that what my life
amounts to is something I decide, and that I take over this decision fully only
if I resist the siren call of tradition and convention. The only thing that is
necessary to my being master of my own life, given this vision of things, is freedom
from the illusions, pressures and constraints that push me toward one path
rather than another.” (page 34)
Guignon wanted to remind
us that we all are the masters of our
selves and that means we have the authority to decide what we wanted to be and do according to our own free will (with the
consideration of how the decision will affect others, of course, because it is
a part of your responsibility towards others as a human being[5]).
No one should tell us what to do, just like in “I, Too”. The narrator wanted to
point out that the white had no right to cast him out when the visitors came.
His
determination to be equal through his determined narrative in his poem was
actually his way to show the whites that he had power over himself. He had the
authority over his own being and he was free to be where he wanted to be or
what he wanted to be.
“Besides,
They’ll see
how beautiful I am
And be
ashamed—
I, too, am America.”
The last four lines
emphasize that he is also a part of America and someday he would show the world
that he is capable of doing something they thought he isn’t. The perception
which see the African Americans as the inferior and the ones who were not
capable of doing anything but being slaves was actually understandable
considering the history of slavery in which we know that the African Americans
were always in the lower caste in society. However, the narrator dared to say
that he would change the way the society look at him someday. He would show
them his true self so nobody would ever look down on him anymore in the future.
Meanwhile in “Theme for
English B”, the narrator was trying to show his pride as an African American.
He proudly stated that he was the only colored student in his class. Despite
being colored, he seemed to be more intellegent (probably because he got
education). The writer also mentioned several things to show that his daily
activities were just like the white’s daily activities.
“Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink,
and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and
understand life.
I like a
pipe for a Christmas present,
or
records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess
being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.”
He mentioned his daily
activities through these lines, showing that he did things the way the whites
did. However it felt like the narrator was trying to show the readers that
despite being colored, he did things the way the whites did, bringing up their
equality in daily life. He equally liked to listen to good music like the
whites, and he also celebrated Christmas like common Americans. So why did
people treat him differently? It seemed like he wanted to point out that the difference
between him and the whites are just the color of his skin. How did the color of
one’s skin define his caste in society? The narrator even used capital letters
for the word “not” to emphasize his point.
What’s more interesting
here is his intention to mention his “color” in the poem. He implicitly showed
us that he was proud of being African American.
“So will my
page be colored that I write?
Being me, it
will not be white.
But it will
be
a part of you, instructor.”
He didn’t bother to make
his writing look “white”, he even repeatedly say that he was ‘colored’. He was
proud of himself being African American and he wanted his teacher to know that.
His writing was like a reminder that even though he was colored, he was still a
part of the white and vice versa.
Guignon quoted
Starobinski’s words on his book. It is related to expressing yourself to the
world as a way to maintain your true identity, your true self, for doing so
means you are proud of being you.
“To be yourself,
on this view, is to own up to the task of self-making in a way that is truthful
to your own genuine feelings at each moment” (Starobinski)
As I have mentioned above, the
narrator didn’t even bother to make his writing look ‘white’, he wanted his
true color to be seen as clear as possible. He wanted to show his reader that
he didn’t need to be ‘white’ to be a part of them because he was already a part
of them for they lived in the same land and pursued the same dream. For that
reason, they were all equal.
In conclusion, I’d like to point out
that sometimes it is hard to be the minority in one’s society. However, that’s
what makes us different and special. The narrators showed us their struggle to
survive in certain society as minority. They pursued the equality through their
own ways to show the majority that they were also a part of them. They didn’t
pretend to be one of them. They were who they are and they were proud of
themselves. I’d like to quote Polonius words in my conclusion here.
“This above all: to thine own self be
true, and it doth follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false
to any man.” (Polonius on On Being
Authentic, p.25)
I can conclude then, that you have to be true to yourself
so you can be true to others. You have to know who you are first or else you
can’t expect others to see your true color and accept you for who you really are.
Work Cited:
Guignon,
Charles. 2004. “On Being Authentic”. London: Routledge.
Sartre, Jean-Paul.
1948. “Existentialism and Humanism”. London: Mathuen & Co.
Douglass, Frederick.
1852. “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”. Retrieved June 14 2014 from
Hughes,
Langston. 1945. “I, Too”. Retrieved June 14 2014 from
Hughes, Langston. 1949. “Theme for
English B”. Retrieved June 14 2014 from
“African-American Civil
Rights Movements (1954-1968)”. Wikipedia.
Retrieved June 14
2014 from
“Civil Rights
Movement”. New Georgia Ensyclopedia. Retrieved June 14 2014 from
“Emancipation
Proclamation”. The History Chanel. Retrieved June 14 2014 from www.history.com/topics/emancipation-proclamation
[1] African-American Civil Rights
Movements (1954-1968), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement
[2] Civil Rights Movement, http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/civil-rights-movement
[3] Hughes’ Life and Career, http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/life.htm
[4] Emancipation Proclamation is a
declaration by Lincoln to free the slaves. The main reason behind the
proclamation was actually to end the war and to re-unite the Confederate States
and the Union States. (The History Chanel, Emancipation Proclamation, www.history.com/topics/emancipation-proclamation)
[5] The existentialists say at once
that man is anguish, which means he cannot escape the feeling of his total
responsibility towards people in making a decision (Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism, p.443)
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