Bop - Langston Hughes Analysis

“Bop” - Langston Hughes Analysis

“A dark man shall see dark days. Bop comes out of them dark days.” (Hughes 191.)

Langston Hughes is considered by many to be one of the best African American poets of the 1940s. Some of his most illustrious works include: Still Here, Crystal Stair, Justice, and Mother To Son. Hughes was also one of the first poets to introduce jazz poetry into his writings. He showcases some of the jazz poetry in “Bop”. In Langston Hughes’s “Bop”, he brilliantly writes about a problem that was rampant in the 1940s and is still seen today – police brutality among racial groups.

This dialogue begins with somewhat clueless Hughes and his friend Simple listening to some Bee-Bop music. Hughes explains to Simple that he does not like Bee-Bop music because it sounds like “nonsense.” Simple tells Hughes that Be-Bop holds significance to colored people because it represents the racial injustices that African Americans face. “ ‘In some parts of this American country as soon as the polices see me they say, ‘Boy, what are you doing in the neighborhood?’” (Hughes 191)

Simple uses alliteration when he says where the “Bop” in Be-Bop comes from. “Every time a cop hits a Negro with his billy club, that old club says, ‘Bop! Bop! … Be-Bop! … Mop! … Bop!” (Hughes 191) Hughes no longer thinks this music is nonsense if what Simple says is true.

Simple opens Hughes eyes that white people do not like Be-Bop because they will not get beaten just for being white. Simple also explains that Be-Bop music is not for everyone. “Bop comes out of the dark days… Folks who ain’t suffered much cannot play Bop, neither appreciate it. They think Bop is nonsense – like you.” (Hughes 191.)

In conclusion, I can state that Langston Hughes chose to write about a controversial topic in his time; a topic that could probably get him killed; a topic that got people of his race killed. In my opinion, Hughes’s 1949 audience listened to what he had to say. As one can see, police brutality still goes on in our generation, but has gradually improved since 1949.

How it Feels To Be Colored Me - Zora Neale Hurst Analysis

How It Feels to Be Colored Me- Zora Neale Hurston Analysis

“We are all alike, on the inside.” - Mark Twain

In How It Feels To Be Colored Me, author Zora Neale Hurst effectively uses anecdotes to share times of her childhood with her 1928 audience. Neale Hurst is an African American author that was praised for her writing by Alice Walker and has published more than fifty pieces of work. Some of her most popular works include: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mules and Men, and Dust Tracks on a Road.

When Zora was a little girl, she grew up in Eatonville, Florida, a town that was predominately black.  Zora knew that she was different from the white people that were driving through her town, but she didn’t exactly know what made her so different. To everyone in the small town of Eatonville, she was “everyone’s Zora” because of her welcoming personality.

It was not until she relocated to Jacksonville, when she realized she was not “everyone’s Zora,” but now was better known as She knew that she is unlike her peers because she was colored. But, within the first paragraph of her essay she blows an African American stereotype out of the water by using sarcasm. “… I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief.” This is a stereotype that many African Americans say, because many are unaware of their roots and heritage due to slavery.

In conclusion, I can infer that Hurst’s purpose for this essay is simple. She wants to project the fact that we are all the same. The only time we realize that we as human beings notice our race is when we are alone. Zora explains this more by saying “I do not always feel colored… I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” In my opinion, Zora reaches her purpose. This essay spoke to me greatly because it ensures me that other people know that we are all the same underneath our skin.

“I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red, and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things priceless and worthless.”

Corn-pone Opinions - Mark Twain Analysis

Corn-pone Opinions - Mark Twain Analysis

“Fads are the kiss of death. When the fad goes away, you go with it.” - Conway Twitty

Author Mark Twain, who is well known for various writings such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Prince and the Pauper, exhibited anecdotes in Corn-Pone Opinions to share a story that stayed in his memory, even into old age. He begins his tale by telling his audience about a friend that he had at the age of fifteen. His friend was an intelligent black slave that worked near his Missourian home. Twain spoke of how his friend would give sermons outside of his window while he was doing his master’s work. Although his mother did not want him to listen to the man, Twain explains that he believed that the man was “one of the greatest orators in the United States.” One of the man's teachings stuck with him for fifty years; “You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is.”

This essay’s argument revolves around the thought of public opinion. Twain uses allusion when he mentions the hoop skirt. He uses this as an example of public opinion. He explains that at first everyone thinks the hoop skirt is an outrageous and insane idea, but then when one person starts to wear the hoop skirt, others start to adopt the hoop skirt even though they thought it was a crazy idea. Twain also uses hypophora to get his audience to understand that our society is made up of people that follow, rather than lead. “Why? Was the resentment reasoned out? Was the acceptance reasoned out? No.”(Twain 2.)

I strongly believe that Mark Twain achieved his goal. He led his audience in the 1900s to think about the way humans naturally conform and even makes audiences today realize that humans conform to fads and trends easily, even if the trends were thought to be outrageous.