Identity in the Works of Langston Hughes - Research Paper Example

?Identity in the Works of Langston Hughes Poems are considered as a medium for looking at things in a new perspective. It creates a new lens on seeing the normalcy of things. One of the lenses that poems allow people to see vividly is the society during the Harlem Renaissance. During this time, almost all of the artists in the different fields had the heart to spread the heritage and identity of the African Americans. One of the poets who did this lucidly was an African-American Poet named James Mercer Langston Hughes. For this reason, the paper will examine the perspective of Langston Hughes identity as an African-American male poet during the culture of his time. Furthermore, in order to look unto his perspective successfully, the paper will explore his works that clearly depict his cultural roots and identity. James Mercer Langston Hughes was not only a poet, but he was also a playwright, journalist, essayist, novelist, and a cultural leader. He was considered as one of the most renowned African-American poet and was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He was raised by her maternal grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. His mother is a teacher; however, his parents got separated when he was born. As he was raised by his grandmother, she can be considered as Langston Hughes greatest influence. She inculcated into the curious mind of her grandchild the racial courage and pride that were exhibited by her two husbands. Aside from his grandmother, Langston Hughes was also inspired to write in high school by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Carl Sandburg. However, in college, he enrolled at the Columbia University and took up engineering. Nonetheless, he decided to pursue his passion for writing and dropped his engineering course after a year at the university. He had already published some of his poems in The Brownies’ Book and The Crisis, and was able to live in Europe and West Africa for six months when he signed up as a freighter in SS Malone. By the time he was working at the Wardman Park Hotel as a busboy, he was able to show some of his poems to Vachel Lindsay. Lindsay was impressed and helped Langston Hughes to have his small publicity. With this on hand, he was then enrolled at the Lincoln University as an undergraduate (Finkelman 469-470). The peak of Langston Hughes racial and class identification was during his travel towards the borders of Mexico. During 1907 and 1943, he had travelled to Mexico four times which allowed him to stay for almost two years in Toluca and Mexico City. He particularly chose Mexico because this was where his father decided to retire. Langston Hughes father was one of the reasons why he decided to explore and reconnect to his roots, and aspire to acquire the identity that his father had denied. His father had always been scornful of the black American culture, which pushed Langston Hughes more to open the door to his roots. However, his journey towards his self-exploration did not come easy. Building his own identity as a black American was a steep route that the young Langston Hughes took (Mullen). As Langston Hughes history states, he has been torn in accommodating himself with two different cultures. As a kid and towards his adult life, he was relocated from one residence to another and was considerably questioning his true identity during his lifetime. His struggle against the racist system of America during his time is very much evident in his poems. As an African American, he saw Africa as a refugee’s haven where the African Americans would be able to experience equality and freedom. This is depicted in his poem Dream Variations. His longing for his roots was a clear manifestation of his dismissal of the oppressive actions and values of the Americans towards the African Americans. He created a pleasing haven for African Americans in his poems by describing Africa as a fruitful land in contradictory to America where Africans are abused and controlled. His poem the Negro speaks of Africans as being transported and enslaved. From then on, he clearly acquainted his identity as being a black from Africa (Gohar 89-90). Furthermore, Langston Hughes clearly stated on his poems the roots of the African Americans, which is Africa. His poem The Negro Speaks of the River is a manifestation of Langston Hughes’ knowledge on the relationship of individuals and places. He represented the identity of the African Americans and created a geographical connection with other people in the other places in the world. His poem creates the identity of African Americans beyond the borders of Africa and America. He manifested and represented them in a more global perspective that allows an individual to identify himself or herself with the other races. Moreover, the African history is also told in his poem. Langston Hughes also described the historical enslavement and colonialism of the Americans towards the Africans. During the writing of this poem, Langston Hughes was travelling which also showed his inclination in presenting in his poem geographical locations. These representations show that he had knowledge on the migration process of the Africans. He recognized his cultural and historical heritage as he crossed the Mississippi river. In the last lines of his poem The Negro Speaks of the River, he revealed his racial pride as he slowly depicted the pride that his fellow Africans must also have. He also embodied his free identity in his poem in depicting the liberalization that Abraham Lincoln had urged for the African people (Jones 76-79; Gohar 93). Langston Hughes used the concept of identity in the course of reconnecting his self to his roots in Africa. He slowly created not only his identity, but the identity of every African in his time along with the other minority groups, which includes homosexuals. During the 1920s to the 1930s, there was a rise in the population of homosexuals in America. This event was considered by the Americans as in line with the rise of the African American population. With this belief, gay men during that time were considered similar to Black Americans who were according to the white males who were heterosexuals, are “unnatural” (See 800). The difference in color and sexual preference was considered by the Americans as a similar disease that the Black Americans and the homosexuals have in common. Their differences allowed them to be not normal in the eyes of the society. However, Langston Hughes had used these differences in order to depict normalcy in his poems. As a male, his poems did not speak of the gender of the speakers of his poems. He fought against the oppression that the gay men were battling during his time because he knew the feeling of being indifferent (See 800-801). During the high time of Langston Hughes, he already considered himself as a black and already embraced his identity. In the course of his works, he remained faithful to his cultural heritage and roots. Nonetheless, his acceptance of his identity and the oppression he had undergone in America did not deter his hopes for unity in the foreign land. He considered himself, along with other races and minority groups, to be hopeful of a time of integration and acceptance between the differences that they have. He also recognized his flare for music during the jazz age in America. He recognized the exploitation of the Americans of the talents of the African Americans. The Slave in the Block and The Blues I’m Playing are two of the few pieces by Langston Hughes that depicts the exploitation of blacks in the said era. He joined the black poets during this time with the blues on their side. The African rhythm was imminent with the identity of Langston Hughes, and with his black poetry, everything became more characterized during the period (Mullen; Sundquist). It is imminent in the works of Langston Hughes that he considered identity as a central point of an individual’s existence. The identity that he depicted, in the light of his works, is of self-realization as an African American living in the light of the oppressive Americans. Also, his self awareness and his inner being are manifested in his works, along with his ideologies and beliefs in life. Also, his manifestation of his identity is also the manifestation of the identity of every individual. He connected his identity to other races, and through geography, he bridged the distance between people. His works allow a concrete and stable understanding of the struggle of a minority, may it be black or homosexual, during the cultural time that both minority are considered as others. He did not stop himself from being part of the minority groups and fight the major oppressors of their time. He may have fought strongly against them, but his hope for unity and equal treatment did not falter. As he fought the ordeal to be accepted in a society that rejected him, his eyes were still open for a peaceful amalgamation amongst their differences. He used his craftsmanship and his poems in order to let other people see his identity, roots, and culture. As African-American poet, he used his ability to procure an identity in a society that considered him as a person unworthy of a status in the society. Works Cited Finkelman, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of African American History 1896 to the Present. New York: Oxford University, 2009. Print. Gohar, Saddik Mohamed. “Reconstructing The African Identity in the Poetry of Hughes and Al-Fayturi.” NAWA Journal of Language and Communication 1 (2007): 87-103. Print. Jones, Sharon Lynette. “Langston Hughes’s Transnational Literary Journeys: History, Heritage, and Identity in ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “Negro.’” LATCH 4 (2001): 74-88. Print. Mullen, Edward, J. “Langston Hughes and the Development of Afro-Hispanic Literature: Diasporan Connections.” The Black Scholar 26.2 (1996): n. pag. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. See, Sam. “‘Spectacles in Color’: The Primitive Drag of Langston Hughes.” PMLA 124.3 (2009): 798-816. Print. Sundquist, Eric. “Who was Langston Hughes?” Commentarymagazine.com. n.p., December 1996. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. Read More