Thoughts on Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes, a Quill Award winner for poetry, was an African American poet. His first poetry book came out in 1926. As he grew up in a time where segregation was still relevant, this is often something he would write about. He used his poetry to discuss problems in the world at this time. While others would protest, he would come out with poems to have his voice heard. Hughes’s poetry is still relatable today. One way these poems still talk to us is with the struggle for money.
One of his poems called, “You and your whole race” talks about the struggles in his town. He states, “That such supine poverty exists there” also “And be ashamed.” He mentions white people being ashamed that the white race seems to have things put together and being free in this big country while his race is sitting in poverty yet live in the same area as these white people. His final line in this poem, “I dare you to come one step nearer, evil world,/ with your hands of greed seeking to touch my throat, I dare you to come one step nearer me:/ When you can say that/ you will be free!” This poem is all about poverty and we have whole communities we can see people experiencing this problem, often called “the ghetto”. So many of us can relate to not having money to afford nice houses or struggle with money for bills. We struggle to live nicely even while people just down the road may not be experiencing this struggle. In Hughes's last line of this poem, he talks about once you can you’re your problems a weight can be lifted from your shoulders.
Secondly, in “50–50,” Hughes talks about a woman who is all alone and wanting someone. She wanted someone to share what she had and a man to share what he has with her. Though at the end of this poem it says, “He said, Share your bed —/ And your money, too.” This man wants her money, and since she has some, this man wants to be with her. Hughes demonstrates the thought of money being the reason to be with someone. While most of us would never there are people in this world with that mindset. While other poems talk about the struggle about not having money this is the opposite. Hughes shows how people can use one another all because they do have money. This occurs today and is sad because one can fake how they feel just so they can feed off of someone else's money. Money can make people do ridiculous things and this does a nice job showing how money can push people to do things they usually would not do.
Thirdly, another poem called “Brass Spittoons” has money involved much more than the last poems. This poem talks about a man who works at a hotel. He cleans spittoons and does not get a lot of money yet is still trying to find a way to pay for everything such as, “buy shoes for the baby./ House rent to pay.” The poem walks you through his week and everything he needs to get done even while not getting much money. “All mixed with dimes and/ Dollars and clean spittoons/ And house rent to pay.” We can still see situations just like this happening today. Many people do not get paid enough to live a life with a family with the pay they receive. Many are overworked and underpaid and that has not changed over the years. This is what the poem is all about how much of a struggle we experience with having money to support ourselves and our family.
Lastly the poem, “Madam’s Past History,” is a nice poem that reads smoothly and right off the tongue thanks to Hughes’s choice of words, which talks about a woman going out of business during the Great Depression. Since Hughes grew up while this was taking place, money was a big problem during this era. Many people did not have much money and people struggled with buying necessities “The depression put the prices lower” or could manage to get a good-paying job. She got another job after her original but was told, “We can’t use you Wealthy that way” all because she had insurance. We can see money being talked about numerous times throughout reading Hughes’s poetry. Whether it is being poor, being paid too little, or being used for money.
The thing about Hughes’s poems is they are still very relevant. There are still problems with poverty or people being with someone for money. These were written so long ago yet can still be related to this era. Hughes’s poems are easy to interpret if you have a hard time reading poems. Even if you do not like poetry Hughes is very straightforward and brings these problems in the world into highlight with his poems. These are only a couple of Hughes’s poems. All of his poems have messages that can still be felt today. This shows that we have not moved far in fixing problems the world use to face since they are still here today.
