Free Will In Cora Unashamed By Langston Hughes

863 Words4 Pages

In the short story “Cora Unashamed” by Langston Hughes, he explores the theme of free will by using plot, stereotypes, climax, and protagonist. In this short story, Cora works for the Studevants and she is the only black family in the town. Cora and her family are below everyone else and Cora takes care of her family. As she’s working for the Studevants, she develops a close relationship with the daughter of the Studevants, Jessie, and shows that everyone has free will by Cora’s actions in the story. Hughes uses plot to explore the theme of free will because it shows how Cora isn’t afraid to stand up for her beliefs. Cora is humble and shameless and she doesn’t care about what the white people say about her. After Cora’s baby dies of whooping cough, she develops a close relationship with Jessie and she treats Jessie like her own daughter. When Jessie is too afraid to tell her mom that she is pregnant, Cora tells Mrs. Studevant for her proudly. Mrs. Studevant is mad when Cora tells her, but Cora keeps standing up for Jessie because Cora is unashamed. At Jessie’s funeral, Cora goes up to talk and she starts screaming that they killed Jessie and her baby. Mr. Studevant tells everyone to leave her alone and if she wasn’t brave enough, no one would have known the truth. At the end Cora packs up her stuff and leaves and doesn’t …show more content…

In times when most people would be scared being in her shoes, she is unashamed. Jessie had went to Cora when she was scared to tell her mom something that would make her angry, so Cora told Mrs. Studevant for her proudly. Even if Cora and Jessie didn’t have the relationship like they do, Cora would have still been there for Jessie because that’s the type of person that Cora is. Cora is a black woman, but that doesn’t stop her from standing up for herself and Jessie throughout the whole