African American Experience in Literature

The writings of Langston Hughes demonstrate an honest expression of uninhibited African American existence. While this caused many to view Hughes' works with scorn and prejudice, his works deal honestly with the African American experience as he knew it. Hughes' works paint an unvarnished picture of life as an African American in a society that is prejudiced and racist against African Americans. Hughes' works not only graphically depict the abusive aspects of such an existence but they also celebrate African American expression without diminishing or ameliorating the traits deemed "unworthy" by a mainstream and White culture. One of his most famous poems, A Dream Deferred, asks the question: What happens to a dream deferred? The Dream Hughes' is referring to is the dream shared by all human beings, the dream of living a fulfilling existence as a free individual with the full rights of other human beings. Hughes' works not only retain the rhythm, idiom, and dialect of African American culture but they also influenced many African American writers like Toni Morrison and Gloria Naylor. For Hughes' poems might express the African American experience on one level but they convey themes and issues that are universal and apply to all human beings. It is this aspect of the African American experience on the individual level and the universal experience on the communal level that Hughes' A Dream Deferred most has in common with Naylor's The Women of Brewster Plac

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ns in 1950s America. The poem shows Hughes' great capacity to reaffirm the self while still nurturing others, for the poem serves as a warning to individuals who might self-destruct because of oppression as much as it does as a warning to societies that encourage oppression. In both Morrison's Jazz and Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place, we see similar themes as those expressed in A Dream Deferred. We see this most clearly in the reactions of the different characters to the obstacles or challenges they face in dealing with an oppressive or harsh environment. In Jazz, we see that Violet is a woman who has a bad case of the blues. She is physically strong, for as we are told she "could handle mules, bale hay and chop wood as good as any man," (Morrison 1993, 105). However, Violet suffers because of being hungry for love, especially mother love. Her bird says "I love you", she takes a doll to bed with her, and she tries to kidnap a child. Her abortion haunts her and she cannot accept blame for her own actions. She blames the fetus for not being strong enough to live through the homemade abortion remedy of "soap, salt and castor oil," (Morrison 1993, 109). Joe Trace is another example of an individual who suffers from self-

Category: Literature - A