Poem Analysis: I, Too, By Langston Hughes

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“I, Too” by the poet Langston Hughes who was an African-American poet, and a columnist from Joplin, Missouri is one of the best poems about race that anyone can read. Reading poems like this make readers see how old African-American poets had to overcome so many obstacles and issues to live their daily lives and go freely where ever they want to go. Yet, this poem also shows how optimistic and hopeful they were. An explication of Hughes’ “I, too” gives readers a deep understanding of the theme in his work and his experience. In this poem, Hughes shows how black people went through racism and struggles being considered the lower class in America. Yet, unlike most poets who write about racism, Hughes shows readers that African-Americans were This stanza includes seven lines and includes the part where the speaker identifies himself. “I am the darker brother/ They send me to eat in the kitchen/ When company comes, /But I laugh, / And eat well, / And grow strong” (pg. 713). These lines give readers an overall idea of why he said “I Too sing America” because it shows how he was telling that even though he has darker skin than white Americans, he is still an American. In his time, black people were separated from white people even in restaurants, and that is what he meant by saying “They send me to eat in the kitchen.” Thus, this line means that white people literally sent him to eat in the kitchen away from the whites when visitors come. “When company comes” means when visitors come and that is when black people would be sent to the kitchen to eat. Even though this situation is unfair and unreasonable, Hughes stayed optimistic and had so much hope that there will come a day where he will be treated normally with respect just like white Americans. He expressed his optimism by saying that he laughs when people treat him like this and try to eat as well as possible to grow up as healthy and strong man as He is explaining to his readers that unlike now, the future will be bright. He is so hopeful that he will not be always be treated and hidden from the company the same way; instead, some day, he is hopeful that he will be sitting at the main table with all the white Americans. Then, with a tone of voice that has strength, he goes on to line eleven to say that in the future that he is imagining, no one what so ever will even dare to tell him that they have company and that he should go and eat in the kitchen. At this point, he moves on to say “Then,” which shows how he is waiting for that day to come with the belief that it will

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