Inequality In I Too America

Despite the many solution proposals, inequality is still a big issue throughout the world. It has been around for several decades and no matter how much people try to solve the issue, it doesn’t disappear. In the poems Still I Rise by Maya Angelou and I, Too America by Langston Hughes, the theme of inequality and unfairness is developed through the literary devices used by the authors. First of all, the Maya Angelou, the author of Still I Rise uses strong word choice to represent the unfairness the character faces. “You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise.” (Angelou 6) These words show unfair treatment that the characters feels.Angelou uses strong words such as shoot, cut, kill, and hatefulness to represent the inequality that the character faces when confronted by those who are racist and unjust. Furthermore, the author also uses word choice to prove the

“I am the darker brother, they send me to eat in the kitchen, when company comes (Hughes 1).” This quote shows the discrimination of the family members when outsiders come to visit. The author helps develop the inequality when he uses the word kitchen to represent the consequences of being a different skin color. Moreover, the author also plays with words to describe the remorse felt from the unjust treatment. “Besides, they’ll see how beautiful I am, and be ashamed— (Hughes 3).” This quote shows the characters’ audience’s remorse when learning about the truth about the person behind the darker skin. Hughes uses the specific word ashamed to show the emotion of the people who are biased toward colored skins. While using word choice to develop the theme of inequality, he also develops the idea of not judging a book by its cover— something which goes hand-in-hand with the theme of