Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again” speaks open and honestly about oppression during a time when it was still taboo to speak about these topics. Integration was new and novel while both sides were still marinating in its nuances. Hughes speaks of many groups who were and still are oppressed in one way or another. African Americans, Native Americans, poor whites, immigrants, farmers and workers are all given equal grounds to stand up in this poem and demand equality. Although he does single out the African American’s journey as of more significance and importance throughout by way of multiple references, Hughes does a thorough job of making it clear that they are not the only victims of racism and oppression. In his lines, “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”, it is clear that he is purposefully including many marginalized groups of the society in 1938 that most likely were forgotten by the writers at the time.

Reflective of the Depression that so defined this era, Hughes’ line, “Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today?” sums up what is obvious homage to the degradation of the financial landscape at the time. In a similar line, “The millions who have nothing for our pay”, reflects the desperate times that were facing Americans during the Depression. In yet another line, Hughes not only references the materialistic views of the upper classes, but does so in a way that is still highly relevant in our time, “Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!....... Of owning everything for one’s own greed!”. How true and insightful is this line even today as we see the capitalistic market more ominous than ever.

So, for Ancillary 3...

we can do it on any piece of literature we'd like?

Discussion Questions, Week 10/26

This time around, I'm going to let YOU pick the questions. You may post about anything you like that you feel is of import in the texts about which you choose to write. This is, of course, your last "required" blog (remember that you do have "blogs" of a sort that correspond to the research project, but this is the last of the blogs as you've known them).

I'm quite interested to see what you'll come up with!

Assignments this week.

Can someone please list all the assignments that need to be done this week. There are still no discussion questions, the midterm is not available, and the groups for the workshops are not listed.

I have three other classes, so it is rather annoying that this class is behind with what needs to be done all the time.

Thanks.

Discussion Questions from last week?

Do we have them? Did I miss them? or are we not doing them and no one told me?

Week 7

Everyday Use:
1. Consider the relationship between the story’s content and title. Ultimately, is “everyday use” a good thing? The narrator uses this term in the story itself, referencing the possibility that Maggie will receive the quilts. One sister has a very negative association with the idea that such items will be used “everyday”, and in a casual manner; the other appears to believe that such items should be used in order to demonstrate value – unused items have no value in Maggie and her mother’s household. Which definition of “everyday use” does the story, as a whole, appear to uphold?
The story in this case appears to uphold the definition of everyday use as something more practical. I think the mothers strong arguments, not only to defend Maggie but the fact that a promise had already been made to hand down a family heirloom stands as more important than how the quilt will actually be used. Dee wants it for nostalgic purposes, to have a constant and shown reminder of her heritage. Personally, we have a quilt that is a family heirloom and this story was so interesting to me because if that quilt were in my possession, I would do like Dee and hang it to be viewed, not used. How could something like that be replaced? I’m a huge fan of practicality but not for an item such as that.
1. “Is this story optimistic or pessimistic about true love? Is the old couple a positive or a negative example of true love? What about Nick and Laura? What about Ed? Could you argue that he was in love?” (Making Literature Matter 685)
Pessimistic! The couples are so drastically different! The question can’t helped but to be asked is love purely chemical, a physical reaction to another person or is it fate, something that is romantic and in the hands of destiny as though only two people were meant to be? That is left in the opinion of the reader! Laura is a hopeless romantic, flirting with Nick the whole time the story is taking place. Ed, might have been in love but it was such a distorted kind that nobody in the story could possibly relate to. Ed, took his own life for the sake of love and that could be considered the ultimate sacrifice….how isn’t that similar to love, say in comparison with Romeo and Juliet?