Literature. Black American Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Literature. Black American - Essay ExampleIn I, Too he makes it stool that the stark military man will sell or surrender his birthright to no one, for I, too, sing America. . . .I, too, am America.The poem thus asserts the right of the black man to be heard, as it does the right of the black man to be given the respect due to a race that has known ancient, dusky rivers, for, the soul of the black man is no shallow sieve but has grown deep like the rivers.Ballad of the Landlord reminds the reader of Wole Soyinkas Telephone Conversation, but Hughes ballad is somewhat darker in tone and manner than Soyinkas poem. In a rhythm that echoes black American speech rhythm as well as ballad meter, he singsAlthough we do not hear the landlords voice, we gather that the landlord reminds the tenant that he owes him ten bucks and the tenant forcefully refuses to pay the amount till you fix this house up new. We atomic number 18 given to understand that the landlord then threatens the tenant wi th eviction orders, telling him that he would turn off the heating and throw his furniture in the street. When the tenant then shakes his fist in the landlords face, all hell breaks loose, and we are treated to the landlords shrieksClePolice PoliceCome and get this manHes trying to ruin the governmentAnd wind the landClearly, things have got out of hand and we hear the Coppers whistle, the patrol bell and the terse report, Arrest. /Precinct Station./ Iron cell. The next days newspapers complete the pictureMAN THREATENS LANDLORD/ tenant HELD NO BAIL/ JUDGE GIVES 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL. The ballad ends with absolutely no need to underscore the injustice of what was surely a routine inter-group communication not that long ago.This kind of discrimination was equally routinely doled out to others on the fringes of society, like gays and lesbians, and Hughes highlights their plight in Cafe 3 A.M. The poem is footling enough to quote in fullDetectives from the vice squadwith weary sadi stic eyesspotting fairies.Degenerates,some folks say.But God, Nature,or psychemade them that way.Police lady or Lesbianover thereWhereThe vice squad may appear weary, all right, but their defining chevron is the combination of sadism and voyeurism in their makeup, which makes them prick their ears at the