McGraw-Hill OnlineMcGraw-Hill Higher EducationLearning Center
Student Center | Instructor Center | Information Center | Home
Electronic Resources
Internet Primer
Career Considerations
Summary & Paraphrasing
Avoiding Plagiarism
Study Skills Primer
Basic Concepts
How to Write about Literature
An Introduction to Argument
Exercise in Literary Analysis
American Lit and the Internet
About the Author
Orientation
Key Concepts
Essay Questions
Multiple Choice Quiz
Matching Quiz
Fill in the Blanks
True or False
Links
Texts Online
Feedback
Help Center


The American Tradition in Literature, Volume 2 Book Cover
The American Tradition in Literature, Volume 2, 10/e
George Perkins, Eastern Michigan University
Barbara Perkins, University of Toledo-Toledo


Orientation

Like Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and others, Langston Hughes drew deeply on his own experiences as a black American for focus and enrichment. That experience is the primary study of all of his literary work.

Hughes's poetry captures and brings to the surface of black artifacts like music, argot, dance, and imposed stereotypical images, the deep pain and anguish lying hidden within. "Dream Boogie" slips behind only momentarily the rhythms of boogie to suggest something dark that whites ("Daddy") might not tolerate. "Harlem," on the other hand, strips back the veneer to reveal the nasty ugliness of the black "dream deferred" and dares to project its consequences.