Langston Hughes Theme B

Langston Hughes searched for his identity by writing from each and every one the perspective he has: to see him as less than this or to classify him simply as an African-American writer is lessening and stereotypical. Langston Hughes writing seems to take a post-colonialism and African-American critical approach. In the “Theme for English B,” Langston Hughes’ writes about the African American’s pursuit for their individual identity, unpleasantness of the struggle of black men and women in America to gain public acceptance, and equality. Langston Hughes gave America a personal visual rendering of what it meant to be an African-American poet struggling with his identity.

“Theme for English B” has a complex meaning. The title seems not to suit the poem. Although this is an English paper for a student, the poem has another message for the reader. The poem delivers a point of view from a young African-American student who feels limited by his race. Hughes expresses his feeling about school and allows the reader to understand him and his life as a black man.

In the poem “Theme for English B,” Langston Hughes talks about the African-American struggle for equality. Langston Hughes gives the reader insight into the thoughts of an African-American student. By being the only colored student in the class, Langston Hughes feels his race will limit his paper and it will not be seen as equal to his fellow white classmates. The instructor saying, “Go home and write a page tonight, and let that page come out of you—then, it will be true,” (2,3,4,5) opens the poem. Langston Hughes’s next step follows the instructor’s direction: “Go home and write a page tonight.” (2,3) The author takes the reader down into Harlem where he begins to write. In the page Langston Hughes illustrates everything within his heart, just as the instructor had intended for him to do. Langston Hughes understands that writing a paper from his heart is not as easy as it sounds

“I am the only colored student in...