America is not what people have always made it seem , for in reality it does no live up to its reputation. By comparing what people say America is and what actually happens in the country one would realize that you can not believe everything you hear. Langston Hughes appeals to the minorities and immigrants of America by using imagery and repatition to help them relate to the situation and realize that America is not what it has said to have been; to make them want to make a change and make it what it is said to be, a place of dreams. By appealing to the minorities Langston wants to make them realize what they have an opportunity to have and for them to make the most of that opportunity , receiving that equality that America is supposedly all about. When he says “seeking a home where he himself is free … America was never America to me” is because America is supposed to be about being free, a place where one could come to be free. However, it is not so he says it was never America to him because he never got this freedom that was mentioned about America. …show more content…
It is clear that he wants to “make America America again” and that it was never really the place we thought it was by saying “let America be the dream that dreamers dreamed”. This means that people have dreamed of what America is like and how it is supposed to be but once they have arrived hear they realize that it is not what they dreamed of , but he wants it to be just like they dreamed. He does not want America to just be the dreams of others he wants to make them a reality, for America is not truly America unless it is “land be a land where Liberty..” and “equality is in the air we breathe”. Therefor, he will not cease until everybody realizes that and they get what they have always dreamed
The development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City, as a black cultural time period in the early 20th century is also known as the Harlem Renaissance. This time period, 1910’s to the mid 1930’s, was very successful and considered the Golden Age in African American history, performing arts, music and literature. At one point, like many, a group of people who had no power nor place in society are now changing the world one step at a time. This time period changed America using Langston Hughes, the Great Migration and the “New Negro” organization organized by Marcus Garvey.
He talks about a time here where we used to be, a time in which we can get back if this country actually wanted it. The vision of America is that of some place people dream of living, a place where you are in control over your actions and not your government. This country is on a path leading to its own destruction because we are letting it instead of changing its direction. Like Walt Whitman says in I hear America singing "I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong." (Whitman).
The speech begins by inciting religion. The speech complements America, and thanks God for it. It commends God for both the land and the American people. The speech then goes on to describe the history of America, where the American people spread across the land, bring the flag and distributing their country. The history leads to the question of
He highlights these points, and then promises to uphold these points. He is arguing that he will not fail the people, and he will be an admirable president for the American people. Through these examples he argues that he understands the changing needs and wants of the people, and promises to accommodate to these changes. He states, “and my mind is prepared without hesitation to lay myself under the most solemn obligations to support it to the utmost of my power.” With this statement he concludes his argument, that he will support and lead the people to the best of his
Langston Hughes wrote Let America be America Again explaining that he was never an equal or free in America. He also didn’t just focus on blacks, he also wrote “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek.” (Hughes 8). Hughes explained that nobody in America is treated right unless a wealthy white man.
When an individual supports their values and beliefs, they understand the results of standing behind them. This, however, is not the case for the citizens of the United States. Many Americans say that they are fully behind certain causes, but when they see their beliefs turn to reality, they are often surprised and shocked at the consequences because they initially never understood them. It is understood that we as citizens stand up for a country that honors truth, liberty, freedom and justice. But what if we are persuaded to think how they would like us to?
He wished to clarify the hypocritical nature of the whites and wanted to punish them behalf of the oppressed. Langston Hughes was an author who successfully contributed to social change through literature by his poem Let America be America Again. An example is, “Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you-- Then, it will be true.”
Langston Hughes poem Let America Be America Again explains his dream for the new America. Hughes explains in his poem how American portrayed its self as being a free country with endless possibilities, but the poet exposes that America is not the dream for African Americans or lower-class citizens. In the poem Hughes begins with “let America be America again”; however, he also adds America was never America to me. America portrayed its self as the land of the free; however, many Blacks did not feel free due to slavery and injustice and those who fought for this dream was cast aside. The poet also adds, let it be that great strong land of love.
The poem “ Let America Be America Again" is one of his famous poems that composed by Langston Hughes. America is a country of freedom, equality, and happiness which gives the American citizen a stable life. The society is divided into classes which also survives distinction between rich people and poor people. Moreover, America is a multi-ethnic country, so that it also survives racial discrimination; it happens between white people and black people. Thus, the poem meaning refects racial discrimination, the distinction between rich and poor, slavery, and dark areas of life.
Langston Hughes is an African-American poet whose poems and short stories are based off of his own experiences as a slave during the early to mid-20th century. Langston Hughes’ most notable poems, “Let America Be America Again”, “I, Too, Sing America”, and “A Dream Deferred”, represent not only Langston Hughes’ viewpoint on segregation and discrimination, but also show how his perspective of Civil Rights changed somewhat throughout the years. As Langston Hughes grew older, his poems became more symbolic, less blunt, and shorter to better represent African Americans’ struggle and strength. The first poem, “Let America Be America Again”, was written in 1935 and is the longest and most direct about its delivery.
The poem calls for the return of the great America that he and others have been promised. The poem is told in first person point of view indicating that Hughe’s is the speaker of the poem. Hughes uses the first person point of view to include his personal point of view of what it is like to be an African American. The people Hughes describes in his poem are mainly the poor, the immigrants, the African Americans, and the Native Americans. They are the people who have worked to find the American Dream, but have only found that it was not meant for them.
America is well known as the land of the free and the home opportunity. Although it is said everyone is equal in every way, that has not always been the case. Langston Hughes is a poet who tried to emphasize the idea of equality among all human beings. Hughes underlined the basis of the American Dream with what is and what should be in the societal era he lived in. In hindsight he believed his poems helped others realize the injustices that all minorities had to face during this era.
Barack Obama develops an encouraging tone during the “Keynote Address” as he implies the persistence required for the American Dream issuing, “Through hard work and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America, that shone a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before.” A president of the United States of America had a father who came from Kenya to America, in order to make his life and his son’s better. The dream does not require an immense amount of money or a wealthy living style, but instead, hard work and devotion through all aspects in life. Faithfulness is very important in achieving the American Dream and is a large part of succeeding in the United States of
Langston Hughes was an American poem born in the early nineteen hundreds, who became known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published many poems that brought light to the life of people of color in the twentieth century. There are three poems that the speakers are used to portray three major themes of each poem. Racism, the American Dream, and Hopes are all the major themes that Hughes uses to highlight the average life of a person of color. Theme for English B,” “Harlem,” and “Let America Be America Again” were three of Hughes’s poems that was selected to underline the themes.
Langston Hughes: Harlem Aberration vs. “The American Dream” America was enveloped with the positive, energetic aura of the American Dream during the 1920s. Immigrants from other countries worked tirelessly so they could get a piece of this time of prosperity. The downside to the American Dream was the continued segregation of whites and the other minorities present in America. Langston Hughes, a prominent black figure at this time, voiced his dismay for the dream by realistically conveying the unattainable dream for minorities.