James Mercer Langston Hughes was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance, revered to this day as a columnist, playwright, activist, novelist, and poet with incredible contributions to America American literature, and is now considered a leading commentator on the Harlem Renaissance and a pioneer of jazz poetry. In his autobiography, Hughes wrote of the Harlem Renaissance that "the Negro was in vogue," which he coined a cliché when David Levering Lewis' paraphrase of the quote was used as the title for his 1981 book, When Harlem Was in Vogue (Francis 28). . Hughes' writings have undergone the same treatment and retroactive perception that he says the Harlem Renaissance experienced in real time because people often only think of his "vogue" pieces such as "Mother to Son" in particular. This discussion seeks to broaden the perception of Hughes by comparing "Mother to Son" with the wide range of writing styles that four of Hughes' short stories use to make different comments with different tones, and this is intended to put poetry "in fashion" in a context that makes it relative to many other ways in which he wrote. This article will examine "Mother to Son" and four short stories to illustrate the range of Hughes' writing: from simple, reliable narration to complex, unreliable narration. This range suggests that Hughes's writing is suitable for graduate-level study. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayNifong argues that the most effective way to determine how effective the use of point of view is would be to study the different narrative styles of different works and decide whether or not the authors succeed in reaching their desired audience. “In The Ways of White Folks Langston Hughes is found to experiment with seven points of view and encounter varying degrees of success” (Nifong 94). It is a testament to Hughes' writing skill that he has single-handedly published a collection of short stories that collectively create a wide range of narrative styles, and The Ways of White Folks is one such collection. This discussion includes five stories from this collection for this reason. “Mother to Son” is a poem selected for this discussion because of its popularity. It is often quoted, featured on numerous websites, and performed by Tony and SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Award-winning actress Viola Davis. The second and last lines of the poem are the same, and are so famous that they are often mistaken for the title of the poem in a similar way to how Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" might be mistakenly but often called "The Road less traveled,” and these lines say: “Life to me has not been a crystal stair” (Hughes 2, 20). These are some of the characteristics of the poem that may qualify it as the archetypal work of Hughes compared to the rest of the his writings, but it is important to recognize that Hughes was a very prolific writer and, therefore, had many other works that expressed his thoughts in completely different styles and from very different perspectives. The title, "Mother to Son", shows one perspective self-explanatory for the speaker. It can be argued that readers gravitate to this piece because it is a very recognizable poem regardless of ethnicity. The lines quoted above refer, in the context of the rest of the content, to a classist observation because the fact that the mother having to tell his son that his life has not been a crystal staircase suggests that this “crystal staircase” is indeed a kind of crystal staircase. people's experience. He explains his experience and says: "There are nails, / And splinters / And torn boards /And uncarpeted places on the floor - / Naked" (Hughes 3-7). This not only paints a literal picture of poverty, but also paints a figurative picture of the negative aspects of capitalism because its contrast between different types of scales suggests that a is for those with power while the other is for those without power, explaining why she speaks from a place of struggle. The Mother essentially encourages the Son by saying, “So boy, don't go back / Don don't sit on the steps, / because you find which is harder / […] Because I'm still going, darling, / I'm still climbing, / And life to me has not been a glass staircase” (Hughes 14-16, 18-20). They are words that are meant to encourage the Son, but which confirm to the reader that the Mother is definitely saying that it is a bad or minor experience, figuratively speaking, to take ugly or rough stairs, and suggests that those with power have beautiful stairs. Marxist criticism refers to this as sign value because it is not that the appearance of the stairs makes it easier to climb, but the appearance of the stairs is deemed, at least by the characters, to be an indication of power. This means that the scales of the Mother and the Son indicate weakness, which is what makes encouragement necessary. Indeed, the sign value seen in the poem's absent scales also appeals to readers on the basis that an audience of Hughes' peers would identify with the sense of consumerism without even thinking about it, focusing more consciously on the idea of ​​having an uglier place . life (without sign value) which was difficult for a number of reasons. The ambiguity of the Mother's problems and the black dialect make it much more relatable. As easy as it is for readers to gravitate to "Mother to Son," which is its own testament to Hughes' skill as a writer, it is certainly one of his simplest and most ambiguous works. He deviated from this simple style in other works such as the short story "Passing". This story is written ironically as a letter from a son to a mother, and the son talks about some aspects of his life, which is the unique life of a black man passing as white. Like "Mother to Son," it is written in the first person, so the reader is placed in the mind of the son, Jack, who passes himself off as white and, as a result, has an unusual perspective on race that blacks who cannot pass might be annoyed by. This story is designed to make the reader uncomfortable by depicting an unusual perspective that far fewer people relate to and by penetrating a mind whose ideas about life and society are likely very different from the ideas of “Mother to Son's” intended audience. “Jack says many things in “Passing” that suggest he is aware of racial injustice but not as empathetic to the issues because he doesn't seem to realize the gravity of it all. As a result, his perspective comes across as narcissistic and almost childish despite being an adult begins: “I felt like a dog, walking past you downtown last night and not speaking to you, though. I didn't even give a sign that you knew me, let alone that I was your son.” he implication starts off sounding like Jack feels genuine regret about the social position he chose for himself, but ends with him quickly praising her for how well she behaves as if she didn't know him. It's worthy of praise because it must have been a lot difficult for her to ignore him as she did. she does it for her own good because this is a sacrifice she is willing to make for a child who has the opportunity to have a privileged life. The way Jack phrases theHis sentences say as much as the sentences themselves, which is a stylistic element of "Passing" not as prevalent in "Mother." to the Son." He says, “But I don't mind being 'White,' Mom, and it was very generous of you to push me to go ahead and take advantage of my light skin and beautiful hair” (Hughes, location 536). He says it as if it was rightfully selfish of his mother to simply expect him to identify as black if he didn't have to, which means it's a fact that being black is a bad way to live. He is willing to make light of problematic issues and return to his own perspective after only brief consideration of the perspective of others. To say that he doesn't mind being privileged is to describe an advantage as if it were a disadvantage that he should be praised for accepting. One of the differences between “Mother to Son” and this story is the introduction of irony that complicates what son Jack says. There is no irony in "Mother to Son," but here the reader must realize that Hughes is asking him to evaluate Jack's behavior and words rather than simply accept it. One example where Jack shows that racial prejudice is a problem is when he says, “Ever since I began passing as white, no one has ever doubted that I am a white man. Where I work, the boss is a Southerner and in my presence he always swears at niggers, never dreaming that I am one. It's hilarious!” (Hughes Location 536). Laughter is an inappropriate response for someone who is empathetic to the marginalized experience. He continues: “The funny thing, though, Mom, is that some white people sure don't like black people, right?” (Hughes Location 536). It makes it seem like an original idea, downplaying the obvious as if it might have been missed. Once again, Hughes' use of irony makes the reader even more aware of the irrationality of prejudice. The contrast between “Mother to Son” and “Passing” is stark, but this is the result of the two works having very different goals, not because one is better than the other. In the first case, the relatable speaker is an integral part of the discourse, while in the second the narrator is unreliable and transparent. The Mother in “Mother to Son” gives an encouraging word in a simplistically eloquent way, but there is probably more depth in bringing the reader into the mindset of someone who might rile Hughes's audience, which isn't just black. White people are meant to read this and many of Hughes' other works and gain perspective on the black experience, and an uncomfortable aspect of the black experience unfortunately is that of blacks passing as white as well as how other blacks they feel about the idea of ​​moving to Everything. It's a nuanced story that addresses a relatively darker and more complex issue of racial identity. As different as "Mother to Son" and "Passing" may seem, they still represent, even together, only a relatively small part of Hughes' range as one writer and another work can greatly expand that range in the reader's perception. "Red-Headed Baby" is a short story with a narrative style bizarrely different from any of Hughes' other works. The protagonist is a red-haired white sailor named Clarence, whose boat docks in the harbor of a black town in the vague South, in an area that might remind the reader of Louisiana. He is looking for a girl he had sex with the last time he visited him this time and intends to have sex with her again. What scares him and ruins his plans is that he discovers that he has a two-year-old girl who has red hair like Clarence. The narrative of “Red-Headed Baby” is extremely different from Hughes' narrative styles in other works because it is full of sentencesincomplete that express complete thoughts. This broken speech in the narrative is such a divergence from Hughes' other writings that a reader might even think at first that it was some sort of prose poem. Since this story is also told in the first person, the style is basically a representation of Clarence's stream of consciousness, and stream of consciousness writing, regardless of the narrative style used, is a legitimate challenge for any writer. This is why Hughes chooses to write in the first person with a broken sentence structure because it is a more authentic way of writing stream-of-consciousness works. The narrative guides the reader through a series of isolated ideas that gradually paint a picture and frame a scenario. For example, one paragraph reads: “Crossing the railroad tracks on the edge of town. Green lights. Sand on the road, penetrating oxford shoes and dungaree cuffs. Sounds of the surf, sounds of mosquitoes, screams of niggers in the night. There are no street lights out here. The speaker is just giving the reader thoughts about what he observes as he goes along. At another moment, when Clarence, the speaker, discovers the mixed-race, red-haired child who looks like him, he gets anxious, which confuses his thoughts and makes his sentences even more pointed. A red-haired child. Child gone to the moonlight. No yellow-white, bow-legged, bug-eyed baseball kid. Get it out of here pulling my legs looking at me like me like me like me like me with red hair like me. Another formal element of the writing of "Red-Headed Baby" that may be important to note is that Hughes actually punctuates his complete thoughts in a way that gives the reader a window into Clarence's anxiety. As his anxiety increases, the sentences begin to chain and he suddenly begins to use chained sentences frequently. In fact, he used direct sentences almost exclusively when he began to struggle with the realization that the red-haired boy is his son, which is the climax of the story where Clarence's anxiety is at its peak. What increases the anxiety in Clarence's mind is that not only do the sentences begin to flow together as he becomes more anxious, but the dialogue and narrative also begin to flow together so that the reader is forced to pay close attention to the context. clues to know who is talking sometimes. A reader familiar with Langston Hughes' other works is more likely to recognize that his broken sentence structure in "Red-Headed Baby" is a stylistic preference that he chose specifically for this story and that it must have a purpose because it clearly he did not write this way in other texts. This is why it is necessary to discuss other works before discussing “Red-Headed Baby”, because it is so well done that it can convince the reader that Hughes' writing style might actually be confined to the confused thought process of Clarence if the reader has not read other works. works by Hughes. Having read "Mother to Son" first is helpful as the poem provides an example of what Hughes considers sufficient dialect. It demonstrates how willing he is to bend the English language to the authentic sound of a character on a normal basis, then again highlights the dialect found in “Red-Headed Baby” as extreme. Having read “Passing” before “Red-Headed Baby,” the reader is inclined to note that the latter is not representative of his normal narrative structure even in formal details such as punctuation. “Red-Headed Baby” also uses more elaborate vocabulary than “Passing” and “Mother to Son.” By now, the three works discussed so far show the variety in Hughes' writing. Haoften changed his writing style to fit the picture he was attempting to paint at the time, so the fourth work worth discussing at this point is one that can complement his writing style with what might be considered a narrative closest to his. most used style. In “A Good Job Gone,” Hughes gives readers the perspective of a young African-American male, and the boy serves as a servant in the mansion of a wealthy white man named Mr. Lloyd who lives on Riverside Drive. Even though the black boy is the protagonist of the story, Mr. Lloyd is actually the focal point, and the boy is used more as a reference point to observe Mr. Lloyd. The story of "A Good Job Gone" is told from the perspective of the young African American boy whose only real concern is having a good job and keeping it, and he is telling this story to a peer, explaining how good he was. Working for Mr. Lloyd in a mansion on Riverside Drive in New York City was actually the best-paying job he ever got because Mr. Lloyd regularly paid him twenty dollars a week but usually gave him five cents for small things or for when he left. for the weekend not at all. The most important point to note about Mr. Lloyd from the boy's perspective, though, is probably the fact that the man had no problem accepting black people, which is clear based on the fact that he hired the boy with that that the reader can. I assume there were no problems. The story of “A Good Job Gone” is fundamentally a story that makes a commentary on White America, and for the most part, that is the purpose of Mr. Lloyd's character. He is a strange man with unique circumstances. His wife is paralyzed, and he keeps her in a separate house uptown because, although he may still genuinely love her (as evidenced by the fact that he periodically returns to visit her), he cannot have sex with her. He is also struggling with depression, which manifests itself in his alcoholism and philandering. He often brings women back to his mansion, a few times consecutively, but in the end he always turns his attention to someone else and leaves the previous woman behind. In this depression and the chaos of life he has created for himself, Mr. Lloyd gradually goes mad in the story, and the breaking point for him is the heartbreak he feels for a black woman named Pauline from Harlem, which is not that far away. from Riverside Drive. The depth of the commentary on White America in "A Good Job Gone" is found in the fact that it suggests that only a crazy (or borderline) white man is capable of finding comfort with African Americans, and his loss of sanity has him purpose of leading the reader to a point where the reader wonders whether Mr. Lloyd's fair treatment of the narrator was truly evidence of him being as good a man as the narrator claims. It seems more and more likely, as the story draws to a close, that Mr. Lloyd is actually just a man so desperate for love or companionship that he can't afford to neglect relationships with black people. He is a white man brought so low despite his wealth that he no longer cares what color his friends or girlfriend are because he can't afford it. All the women the narrator has seen Mr. Lloyd with before are white, but when Pauline arrives, Mr. Lloyd becomes happier than he has ever been in the story. He can only feel good about himself in her company, despite the fact that she is obviously the same as all the white women he has spent time with. All the women he brings home, regardless of color, are actually only after his money because they want him to spend it on them. The scene where Mr. Lloyd and Pauline break up best captures the man's character.Mr. Lloyd goes to a club in Harlem and finds her with another man, and this man is Black, which the narrator finds particularly amusing. Afterwards, they argue while drinking and Pauline is brutally honest with Mr Lloyd about the fact that she has no feelings towards him. The speaker says: I thought Pauline was stupid for talking like that, but I guess she was so drunk she didn't care. “Yes, I love that black boy,” she shouted. “Yes, I love him. You don't think of buying my heart, do you?" And that hurt the boss. He had always thought that he was a great lover and that women valued him for something other than money. (Since most of them wanted his money, no one ever told him he wasn't that attractive. All his girls swore they loved him, even when he hit them […]) (Hughes location 653) The protagonist actually frames the story a lot before this scene as evidence that blacks. they mess up good things in general. “They would confuse the Lord if he became too intimate with them” (Hughes 584) the reason he takes this position is because he feels that Pauline is an example of this control and is eventually locked up in an asylum, the protagonist loses his job, hence the title “A Good Job Gone.” He is an unreliable narrator, however, because the reader constantly observes that things are not quite as describe them. The dialogue is reliable enough, but when the narrator summarizes what happened, it's not exactly what the reader is likely to have observed. Any sample of Hughes's works can display a wide variety of narrative styles in his writing, and the sample in this discussion is no exception. “Mother to Son” is a poem that uses the simple, recognizable voice, which differs greatly from the ironic and somewhat unreliable voices of “Passing” and “A Good Job Gone.” Different again is the stream of consciousness narrative that Hughes uses in “Red-Headed Baby,” but the common feature in each of these is the use of first-person narration. This is not to say that Hughes limits himself to the first person. In fact, another of his stories, “Berry,” is written in third-person omniscient. Hughes seems to prefer the first-person perspective most of the time, but in this story he narrates in the third person. Even so, this third-person narrative frames his writing in a way that seems closer to Hughes' voice than the other texts discussed here. The prose is very well written and the organizational structure of the sentences can seem to recontextualize the narratives of other works like "Mother to Son" or "Red-Headed Baby" because of how well everything is said. For example, when describing gossip among nurses about Mrs. Osborne's falling in love with a married person, we read: "Of course there wasn't a word of truth in it," Mrs. Osborne said to herself, admitting at the same time time that Martha Renfield, his wife, was certainly not up to the doctor's standards. However, she was not engaged in any frivolous errands to the doctor's cottage that evening. Had to see it for this nigga in their midst. ""Berry" is the story of a home in New Jersey for crippled children. The doctor and the head nurse have a hidden romance even though the doctor's wife is always around, which forms the backdrop to the main story. A "man of cooking" left her job at home before the story begins, which required Mrs. Osborn, the head nurse, to request a new employee from an employment agency, and the agency sends home a young boy of color. called Milberry Jones. Everyone at home is moderately accepting of Milberry, but takes him for granted despite him being the only employee with a solid work ethic.