Langston Hughes: The Function Of Biographical Approach

 The function of biographical approach Literary works can be viewed as a reflection of the social background and personal experience at a particular time. Authors present their practice and express opinions in an artistic manner. According to Professor Kelley (177), biographical approach is a method employed to understand a literary work by studying the details of the author’s life, including education, work, relationship, and death. It implies that the world, the author, the work are closely related. As a result of this, understanding biography plays an important role in grasping deeper or mundane meaning of the context. Therefore, we can get a better understanding of interpreting the topic and emotion of such work. Furthermore, part of

This poem was originally published in 1925, at Langston’s growing stage. He began to raise awareness for the racial injustice problem and begin to defend his own right. The poem’s general idea is that the narrator likes to pursue his bright dream. Nevertheless, a huge wall was in between the narrator and his dream. The speaker was standing in the shadow of the wall and fought hard to break it. the poem seems to be brief and concise, however, if the reader combines the text with Langston Hughes’ biography, they will discover that it contains several symbolic meanings and expressive themes. On one side, the objects in the poem use metaphor and symbol. The speaker represented all African Americans who had to relinquish their dreams due to the racial injustice in early 20th century American society. A wall of inequality forms a barrier on the road to the fulfillment of dreams. Therefore, beneath the wall’s shadow, is an ingenious description of the Negro’s situation, rendering the black people invisible under the shadows. Langston expresses his decision to defend the black people against the racists, and bringing hope and inspiration for the whole race as

The Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad’s work Heart of Darkness described a story of a journalist who was been worshipped by a tribe of savages in Africa. Interestingly, the story’s main narrator, Charles Marlow is based on Conrad himself. To the readers, it is confusing that if the book is telling Conrad’s own story and, to what extent, his personal history takes part in this composition. If we cannot examine the point of difference between author and narrator, we don’t catch the essence and the meaning of this work. Then, it becomes just a biography that tells us the story of