Search for Identity in the Poetry of Langston Hughes Essay -- American

Search for Identity in the Poetry of Langston HughesIn exploring the problem of identity in Black literature we find no simple or definite explanation. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that it is rooted in the reality of the discriminatory social system in America with its historic origins in the institution of slavery. genius can discern that this slavery system imposes a double burden on the Negro through severe social and economic inequalities and through the healthy psychological consequences suffered by the Negro who is forced to play an inferior role, 1 the latter relates to the low self-estimate, feeling of helplessness and basic identity conflict. Thus, in several(prenominal) form or the other, every Negro American is confronted with the question of where he is in the prevailing white society. The problem of Negro identity has various dimensions manage the color, community and class.The inescapable reality of the Negro existence in America is color which is inherent in the concept of self, manifest in race-consciousness.2 This is significant because a Negro establishes his identity with other individuals, known or unknown, on the basis of a similarity of color and features, thus making his racial group rank and file the nexus of his self identity.3 In 1915, the Association for the study of Negro life and history made special endeavours to convince the Negroes that they could never acquire respectability in society if they despised their history and looked upon themselves as inferior. It was felt that the American Negro must remake its past in order to make his future.4 by and by the Negro began to search his identity in the glorious past-his heritage and his folk tradition, he began to feel proud of his black wholesome colour. La... ...hes, One. Selected Poems ( tender York Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), p. 92. Langston Hughes, Bound Noth Blues. Selected Poems (New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), p. 174. Langston Hughes, Vagabonds. Selected Poems (Ne w York Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), p. 91. Langston Hughes, Merry-Go-Round. Selected Poems (New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), p. 194. Langston Hughes, I, too, Sing America. Selected Poems (New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), p. 275. Langston Hughes, New Song, A New Song (New York International Workers Order, 1938), p. 25. Langston Hughes, The Black Man Speaks, Jim Crows Last Stand (Atlanta Negro progeny Society, 1943), p. 5. Langston Hughes, Freedom, Jim Crows Last Stand (Atlanta Negro Publication Society, 1943), p. 7.