Ryan Watson
Dr. McKelvey
ENGL-2260-02
7 April 2020
Comparative Essay
In his poems “The Negro Speaks” and “I Too,” Langston Hughes gives a picture of the lives of African Americans before they were given full American citizenship. The blacks suffered in the hands of the whites, whereby they were made slaves and discriminated against the whites. For instance, they were not allowed to eat at the same table with the whites. However, although the poems address these matters, they differ on how they demonstrate the author’s dream for tomorrow and how the author claims his American identity. In “I Too,” the author has a vision of gaining full American citizenship and also claims to be an American that will tomorrow have the same rights as those mistreating him. On the other hand, in “The Negro Speaks,” he does not show any hope for a better tomorrow and only focuses on sharing his memories in Africa. Hughes brings the themes of blackness and discrimination in the two poems and also differentiates them by demonstrating hope of becoming an American citizen in the poem “I Too” and talking more about his African identity in “The Negro Speaks;” They also touch the audience differently.
Blackness and cultural identity are some of the themes that Hughes addresses in the two poems. In the “The Negro Speaks” poem, Hughes talks of him being a black person. He says that he came from African, where he already had a home. He says, “I built my hut near the Congo, and it lulled me to sleep” (Hughes). In this statement, he tries to show that he is a black person that originally came from around Congo. Further, he puts a picture that even if he was living in a poorly-structured house, he was comfortable and better there than in America. Similarly, in the poem “I Too,” Hughes talks of being a black person. In the second sentence, he says, “I am the darker brother” (Hughes). Before he gives his explanation about singing America, he tries to make the audience that he is a black person, despite being American, as he claims in the end.
Hughes also talks about the discrimination of the black people in the two poems. In “I Too,” Hughes describes how he was discriminated against by the whites. He says that he is asked to eat in the kitchen while they sit at the table (Levine et al., 1038). Although he laughs about the situation of getting discriminated to the point of sent away when the whites are eating on the table, he misses eating on the table too. For instance, he clearly explains that “tomorrow,” he will have his meals on the table, and not even the “company” will challenge ask him to eat in the kitchen (Hughes). Therefore, it is evident that he was not happy with the way the blacks were treated because of their skin colour. Similarly, Hughes gives a connection between his life in Africa and the US to show the difficult life they had to go through in the hands of whites. He brings the topic of how the blacks were discriminated against and made slaves by the Americans before they got equal rights as Americans (Levine et al., 1037). This information is evident through his statement that, “I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset” (Hughes). In this statement, Hughes tries to remind his audiences that Abraham Lincoln attempted to end the slavery of black people. Slavery was a form of discrimination because only black people were made slaves. The poem also shows that Hughes was not happy with the treatment he got from the Americans and would have preferred his home origin, where he was comfortable with his simple life. Therefore, Hughes manages to bring the ideas of discrimination in the two poems directly and indirectly.
On the other hand, “I Too” demonstrates the author’s hope for a better tomorrow while “The Negro Speaks” shows the author’s hopelessness. In “I Too,” Hughes talks of him having the same rights as the whites in the future. This information is evident through his explanation that tomorrow he will eat while sitting at the table. He believes that no one will deny him that right; the fact that he is eating in the kitchen today is giving him a chance to eat well and become stronger. It means that Hughes is hopeful that his current situation will not be the same forever. He also claims that when he will be sitting at the table, the company will see how beautiful he is, and they will be ashamed of him (Hughes). Therefore, the poem strongly talks about his hopefulness of getting the same rights as the whites. On the other hand, “The Negro Speaks” does not show that Hughes is hopeful of tomorrow. The poem talks about the author’s experiences by relating life experiences with the rivers. The only hope that is addressed is about Abraham Lincoln’s efforts in helping the blacks and has not been implemented. Hughes also shows that his past life in Africa was more hopeful than life in America. He lived in a hut, but that did not stop him from being happy, he was calm in the house. With this, he tries to show that he had a better life in the past than today and barely talks about a hopeful tomorrow like he does in the poem “I Too.” Thus, the two poems do not show an equal level of the hopefulness of the author.
The poem “I Too” also discuses Hughes being America while “The Negro Speaks” mainly discusses him being African. In “I Too,” the author begins the poem by saying that he also sings America. He tries to describe himself as an American who not yet to be accepted as an American by other Americans, the whites. However, for him, he is the dark brother of the whites Americans; that is why he demands equal rights as them. In his last sentence, Hughes says, “I, too, am America” (Hughes). In this line, the author tries to show that he has the right to be considered as an America. He belies that the whites will be ashamed the day they will see him as an American with full American rights. On the other hand, “The Negro Speaks” mainly discusses Hughes being African than American. The author uses the rivers to explain the life of African Americans before leaving their homeland and after going to America. However, the author mainly talks about his African memories rather than his American memories. He is so attached to where he came from through his memories such that he cannot forget that he is an African. For instance, he stills remembers that he used to bathe in the Euphrates early in the morning (Hughes). Although he is in America now, his origin remains in Africa. In the whole poem, there is no part that he claims his American identity. Thus, in the poem “I Too,” he claims his American citizenship, and in “The Negro Speaks,” he claims his African identity.
Lastly, the two poems have different moving words. In the poem “I Too,” appeals to the audience by a message of sadness and hope or what he is currently experiencing. It is heartbreaking to see the author is sent away with his food, so he can leave others eating on the table (Levine et al., 1038). However, his touching words also give hope to the audience when he says that in the future, he will be considered an American and be allowed to eat on the table. On the other hand, in the poem “The Negro Speaks,” the discouraging words are that the author cannot return to his previous beautiful life (Levine et al., 1037). He misses it by the way he maintains the memory of the place. However, it appeals to the audience that he cannot go back to his homeland, which will remain a memory to him. Therefore, the two poems have different moving stories.
In conclusion, the two poems agree on the matters of African American blackness and cultural identity as well as well discrimination but differ on how they demonstrate hopefulness and American and African identity. In the two poems, the author talks about being a black person and the price they had to pay for their skin colour. They were discriminated against by the whites. For instance, in the poem “I Too,” he says that he is black and shares his experience of eating in the kitchen while the whites are eating on the table. In the other poem, he also brings up the experience of African Americans in slavery. The black people were the only people used as slaves in America. He brings this topic but highlighting Abraham Lincoln’s effort to deliver the blacks from slavery. On the other hand, the poem “I Too” demonstrates the author’s hope of freedom to acquire full American identity. “The Negro Speaks” does not show the author’s plans of acquiring the American identity. Lastly, in “I Too,” the author claims to fight for his American identity. However, in “The Negro Speaks,” he shares his memories as an African and says less being an American. Finally, the two different stories are touching to readers, although with different words.
Work Cited
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
Hughes, Langston. “I Too.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47558/i-too. 10 April 2020.
Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” https://poets.org/poem/negro-speaks-rivers. 10 April 2020.