Ballad Of The Landlord Analysis

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al Entry 1 Ballad of the Landlord by Langston Hughes The Ballad of the Landlord presents an immediate impression of the presence of conflict between a landlord and a tenant. The tenant calls the landlord repeatedly seeking to indicate the ignorance of the landlord regarding the concerns raised by the tenant. The main conflict within the poem revolves around money owed by each of them. While the tenant owes the landlord money in unpaid dues, the landlord also owes the tenant for failure to fix the house. The tenant seems aware of the landlord’s debt, but the landlord is ignorant of the cries of the tenant. The landlord makes no comments regarding the issues raised by the tenant. The conflict is not resolved amicably because of the ignorance of the landlord, and the subsequent desire to take legal action against the tenant. The tenant opts to punch the landlord, changing the conflict to assault. The poem was written during a period when there was persistent inequality and mistreatment of black tenants by white landlord. The landlords neglected their properties yet expected to get payment and the government failed to take action on the property owner. The landlord in a white person, protected by the government, and claims to be the government. The landlord seeks to impose his authority upon the tenant by using the government’s authority. Ballads were the common forms of verses during the period when the poem was written; hence the author called it a ballad. Another reason is that the poem presents emotional sentiments of the characters within the poem. Despite there being no romantic emotion, which are characteristic of ballads, the emotions in the poem are equal in terms of magnitude but move in the opposite direction; hatred. Jour... ... middle of paper ... ...g the relationship with Hamlet. Ophelia’s family members including her father perceive the Hamlet’s declarations of love for Ophelia as false and advise her to refrain from meeting Hamlet, in order to preserve her chastity and she agrees. Chastity is perceived as a woman’s most valuable belonging, which must be protected Other themes within the story are also introduced within this section of the story. Power struggle is presented by the rumors of Norwegians planning to attack the Danish kingdom. The revelation by old Hamlet’s ghost that Claudius killed him also presents the theme of power struggle. The themes contained within the story are clearly understandable but the Early Modern English used in writing the text presents a significant challenge. Philosophical questions used by the characters present a series of continuous puzzles throughout the beginning pages.

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