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Review Of Langston Hughes 'Poem Let America Be America Again'

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“Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes is a powerful poem that points out all of the struggles minority groups and lower-class people go through. Hughes believes that the American system is corrupted and unfair. He thinks that the businessmen are greedy, taking from the poor and giving to the wealthy. The American idea is something that is not real for many people because of their race, economic situation, and come up. In the opening of the poem, lines one through eighteen express how America is not how everyone had dreamed when first trying to establish it. When coming to America it was expected to be a new beginning, a place where people always dreamed of. “Let it be the pioneer on the plain seeking a home where he himself is …show more content…

It also states that even though the “superior” people bash on the minority’s dreams that they still keep the big dream in perspective. “The steel of freedom does not stain” (71). Seventy-five through eighty-six is saying that America will redeem itself. It has not been what the big dream was, but it will change in the end. The promise and prosperity America held for its people is tarnished by racism. The “people” (82) refers to all the non-white races in America that struggled against the discrimination inflicted on them. These races must “redeem” (82) the “great green states” (85) because the greenness, or the purity and prosperity, has been corrupted by the racism of the white Americans. By redeeming the initial prosperity of the land for all who inhabit it, America would be the ideal “America” (86) again. “Let America Be America Again”, is a poem that displays the hardships of the minorities in America. Hughes emphasizes on America not being what it was originally created for. The people of America who dreamed of having a free life is constantly treated like slaves. When Hughes wrote this poem he really tried to show everybody that America can be better and we can make it how it is supposed to

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1227 Words | 5 Pages

“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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1587 Words | 7 Pages

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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671 Words | 3 Pages

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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572 Words | 3 Pages

He goes on to talk about certain jobs people do in America. The images he puts in the reader’s mind all have a negative connotation: “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the negro bearing slavery scars…”. He goes on to show everything bad with America, and how it is not free at all. Hughes is adamant about the poor nature in which Americans are treated to. He uses imagery of what people actually do in America to show how harsh it truly is.

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598 Words | 3 Pages

In “Let America be America again,” Hughes argues that “America was never America to him.” This quote means that America was supposed to be a great and amazing place but it never lived up to what it was supposed to be. He also exclaims how America was supposed to be a great dream but it was not a dream at all to him. He also argues about how it is not just the immigrants that are being discriminated against, but also anyone that is not rich.

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785 Words | 4 Pages

In “I hear America singing” by Langston Hughes we see the American dream depicted as the American Dream for Blacks in a time of segregation and

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1057 Words | 5 Pages

This is derived from the fact that the African Americans, Native Americans, and other nationalities suffered from slavery and were brought from their native land to this foreign terrain. They were treated as property; traded and sold based on their nationalities and were not considered as equal human beings. In the third line of the poem where Hughes says, “Let it be the pioneer on the plain”, he is touching on the fact that certain people were not considered

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922 Words | 4 Pages

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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399 Words | 2 Pages

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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835 Words | 4 Pages

In the poem "Let America Be America Again," Langston Hughes paints a vivid word picture of a depressed America in the 1930's. In this poetic expression, a speaker is allowed to say what he wants for America to be America, what is that we don't have that high gas prices. I think that I would change, that people who aren't working should not get any money from the state, freedom is a privilege instead of the state giving it for free. My brother is epileptic and he works so how come everybody in the world wants something for free. I learned over two years that everything is the same in Germany as in America sure we speak different we have different opinions about something, but we are still the person who we want to be is our decision about how we want to live our lives.

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1040 Words | 5 Pages

He notes, "America never was America to me / And yet I swear this oath— / America will be!" The promise that America would be a nation of freedom and opportunity has proven to be a hollow one for many descendants of African Americans who were held in slavery. Our society has been deeply impacted by the legacies of slavery and institutionalized racism, and seeking reparations is an essential first step in ending these persistent injustices. As Hughes expresses, "O, let America be America again— / The land that never has been yet— /

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1179 Words | 5 Pages

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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959 Words | 4 Pages

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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1089 Words | 5 Pages

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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858 Words | 4 Pages

In the poem “I, Too”, the author Langston Hughes illustrates the key aspect of racial discrimination faces against the African Americans to further appeals the people to challenge white supremacy. He conveys the idea that black Americans are as important in the society. Frist, Hughes utilizes the shift of tones to indicate the thrive of African American power. In the first stanza, the speaker shows the sense of nation pride through the use of patriotic tone. The first line of the poem, “I, too, sing America” states the speaker’s state of mind.

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