Perseverance Despite Persecution Essays -- Literary Analysis, Langston

The founding fathers constructed the Constitution with the notion that only men were created equal. However, many minorities still struggle for the same rights and opportunities as others. commence to news and The Negro Speaks of Rivers are poems written by Langston Hughes that use symbolism to exemplify the struggles of African Americans as they attempt to persevere by dint of adversity. Hughes utilizes the steps in Mother to Son and the rivers in The Negro Speaks of Rivers as his briny mode of symbolism. Symbolism in the cardinal works develop the boilersuit themes of the poems, perseverance. In Mother to Son, Hughes uses a worn staircase as an lengthy metaphor to parallel its flaws to the struggles of African Americans. She urges her son not to give in to the pressures of society, because she has not. By stating Life for me aint been no crystal stair, (Mother to Son MS line 2) Mother is able to portray that her life is farther from perfect. In fact, she describes her life as having tacks and splinterswith boards torn up (MS lines 3-5). These defects represent the problems in her life that were caused by her race, her gender, or both. In addition, Hans J. Massaquois hold The Black Family Nobody Knows, exemplifies that the African American race is a unafraid and versatile race. He argues that many people tend to depict Blacks through negative stereotypes, such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, and gang sleeper (Massaquoi 28). Massaquois article, much like Mother to... ... Hughes uses geographical landscapes (Hogan 20), such as the river, as a common passage and a common adjust for African Americans. Hogan, much like me sees the rivers in The Negro Speaks of Rivers as a symbol of both rooted connectedness and fluid mobility and of cultural rise across both space and time. Through the exemplary use of symbolism, Langston Hughes produced two poems that spoke to a singular idea Black people get under ones skin prevailed through trials and tribulations to carry on their legacy as a persist people. From rivers to stairs, Hughes use of extended metaphor emphasizes the feeling of motion which epitomizes the determination of the people. Overall, the brainish feeling of the poems coupled with their strong imagery produce two unalike works that solidify and validate one main idea.