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Claude Mckay And Langston Hughes Analysis

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Poets Claude Mckay and Langston Hughes are both well known for their literary contributions to the Harlem Renaissance. Roughly spanning from the 1910s to the 1930s, about two decades, the Harlem Renaissance is pinned as the intellectual, social, and artistic explosion of African American culture. At the same time, African Americans were treated as second-class citizens and dealt with a common consensus of disdain from the white folk. Authors and poets during this time were determined to write on the sufferings and strengths within the black culture. Through literary works such as "America" by Claude McKay and "Freedom" by Langston Hughes, the struggles encompassing the black experience are realistically portrayed through reoccurring themes …show more content…

Hughes uses a metaphor in the following line: "Freedom is a strong seed planted in a great need" (842). This line refers to the potential of this seed to grow and it is in high demand.

It can be argued that "Freedom" isn 't specifically speaking towards the obstacles of African Americans because of its general message of attaining freedom can be applied to many minority groups; Considering the issues plaguing and directly targeting the black community, there is no question as to if it applies, though. Just as Hughes says in "I, Too," he states, America is his country, too; He is just as American as those that benefit from his oppression, and one day they will realize that the amount of pigment in his skin does not correlate to his humanity.

McKay 's and Hughes 's writing served as a socially motivated voice for justice. Though these poets told their poems through a first-person narrative, they spoke about issues facing black people as a whole. McKay and Hughes paved the way for the discussion of immoral and inhumane ongoing treatment of black Americans in the early 1900s. Both dedicated to themes centered on black Americans and urban life, their works were seemingly political because of the topic of racial issues which were accompanied by very hopeful and activist

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