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Let America Be America Again By Langston Hughes

435 Words2 Pages

The theme of the poem, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes is about equality. There are multiple reasons and quotes hinting to why it's about Equality. For example, Hughes states in his poem, “There has never been equality for me, nor freedom in this “homeland of the free”” (15-16). From this quote we can see that he thinks everything isn’t equal. He put quotes around the homeland of the free to make it seem sarcastic. This sets the mood as a depressing type of mood. Later in the poem, the same tone and theme show up again and again. Hughes speaks about people that are poor, people of color, and overall people not having a fair life. Later he strengthens this statement by saying, “I am the man who never got ahead, the poorest …show more content…

From this quote and how it was written you can see how he’s very upset about not having equality in the world. In conclusion, through the poem Hughes clearly articulates through his words that he wants America to be great and be equal again for all people no matter what circumstance.
The Mood of the poem, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes is received as depressing at some points and empowering at others. The reason for this is simple, Hughes makes it start out depressing by saying, “Let it be the dream it used to be.”
What Hughes means by “it”, is America. When he states this he clearly sets the mood by making it seem like America has become less and less the dream it used to be. The saying American dream doesn’t mean as much anymore as it used to. Later he switches the mood entirely half way through the poem. Hughes goes on to say many bold statements to empower and enrich the reader. We can see that here as he states, “Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again” (66-68).
This quote has so much hope and dignity in it. To have confidence again that we can make the dream come true. Through hard work and teamwork this is

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In the poem, “ Let America be America again”, Langston Hughes asserts that America does not live up to what it actually should be. Hughes’ tone seems to be angry and [exasperated]. He implicates the perspective of one particular group, but many people. The poem represents that many people come here with high hopes and big dreams but they are let down. He states that [prosperity] is one of the reasons that there is an economic inconsistency where the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

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“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.” In the poem “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes, the reader here’s from two different speakers, and how they both seperately want America to change. One of the speakers wants America to go back to what it was before, while the other responds in small comments, building up to say the quote you read at the beginning. In the poem “Let America Be America Again” the author has two separate speakers with contradicting thoughts, the author relates to problems that were happening in the real world, and how the author’s rhyme scheme is a vital component to how this poem reads.

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In the beginning of the poem, the mood is patriotic and optimistic; however, the poem soon takes on a more serious tone by reminding the audience that America never lived up to its promises for so many people, and instead let them down. Hughes describes what it would mean to really have the America that people say exists and dream about. Near the end of the poem, the poem’s mood changes again. This time, the poet remains hopeful and optimistic that the original dreams for Americans are still possible. He claims, however, that it will require taking the country back from those who continue to take advantage of others and prevent them from truly achieving the freedom the country had promised them and which they

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The speaker in the poem says, “Tangled in that ancient endless chain/of profit, power, gain of grab the land!” (lines 26-27). Hughes used a metaphor in these lines to describe how living in America was like an endless cycle and that he felt trapped and he wanted to feel equal to everyone else. The speaker uses this repetitive phrase, “Let America be America again,” (line 1). They use it again later on in the poem,

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In the first stanza, Hughes already uses imagery to introduce us readers to his expectations of America in comparison to the sad reality of it. In line two, Hughes says, “Let it be the dream it used to be”. When he uses “used to be”, it can make a reader wonder what the dream is now and how different it really is from what it was. Although this is powerful, there is a slight hint of passion along with disappointment when he says “America never was America to me”. It associates him with those who feel as if they got the short end of the stick in being an “American citizen”.

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Langston Hughes shows that he is aware the American dream is there and knows that it was intended to be equal but it simply was not due to racist and close minded people. Some people gave up on the American dream and knew that it was too far out of reach but Langston Hughes reiterated that in his poem that the American dream is still there and well alive for the taking for anyone who is willing to work for it. Langston Hughes was also quick to point out the difficult path it was for a person of African descent to gain it but that didn 't stop him from reiterating the fact that it is there and there to be taken. To me, I see Langston Hughes as a man that sees a problem and simply wants to make it known an address is in so that everybody sees what he sees. I also see a Visionary and him, how he sees that America can one day be what it was meant and

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He talks about how it was supposed to have complete equality but, there was no freedom or equality, it was not the dream it was dreamt to be. That is how Hughes explains that America is not free and

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America is well known as the land of the free and the home opportunity. Although it is said everyone is equal in every way, that has not always been the case. Langston Hughes is a poet who tried to emphasize the idea of equality among all human beings. Hughes underlined the basis of the American Dream with what is and what should be in the societal era he lived in. In hindsight he believed his poems helped others realize the injustices that all minorities had to face during this era.

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The tone of Langston Hughes’ poem “I, Too, Sing America” is determined and talks about how “tomorrow” he will do what he pleases instead of doing what his master

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This quote explains that the author is showing the reader that these people are not true Americans, because they treat this man differently because of his race. Another example in the poem is, "They'll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed, I too sing America." (Hughes 16-18) The author is showing the reader that no matter what color or religion someone may be, they still are considered to be an

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At this time, the dream was equality and being accepted as citizens of the United States. Hughes felt that this goal of liberty and quality for African Americans was very hard to reach or match. A poem that resembles this thought well is titled “Youth”, where Hughes writes, “We have tomorrow… Bright before us… Like a flame” (Hughes 39). This poem has a lot of analysis towards the American Dream.

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He wished to clarify the hypocritical nature of the whites and wanted to punish them behalf of the oppressed. Langston Hughes was an author who successfully contributed to social change through literature by his poem Let America be America Again. An example is, “Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you-- Then, it will be true.”

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Background Langston Hughes wrote “Let America Be America Again” in 1935 and published it in 1936. The poem discusses many topics, but the common theme is inequality. He mentions several groups of people that have been mistreated and discriminated against including Native Americans, African Americans, and poor people. The poem serves as a plea for better and equal opportunities for everyone.

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25 years later, in response to Walt Whitman's poem, Langston Hughes wrote I, Too, Sing America. Hughes speaks of how just because he is black he isn't treated like others. He is unable to eat at the table when there are guests, and he sees it as funny because today they may see him as a lesser person but tomorrow, he will be eating at the table and be seen as an equal. These two examples while having very similar views on what happiness is they couldn’t be further from each other. While Walt Whitman felt that Americans found happiness through hard work and labor, and Langston Hughes says that happiness for him is to be accepted and seen as an equal.

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The second speaker also reshapes the first two lines of the entire poem into a plea to the majority. Beforehand, the first speaker uses those lines as a call for the old American spirit to be revived: “Let America be America again / Let it be the dream it used to be” (1-2). Both speakers change the meaning of the lines to express their thoughts on America. As a result, the poem expresses the desire for everyone to be treated equally in the land of freedom. The readers can relate to the speaker because they wish that everyone has equal rights in the country that proclaims itself to be the symbol of freedom.

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