The controversial langston hughes essay example

African Americans have had a complicated history that has transformed to outstanding characters. Langston Hughes is such an African American character whose works continue to raise an amazing intensity of controversy. He is a controversial writer in almost every piece of writing that he presents to his writer. There are several possibilities that this controversial nature is from the history he has had as a person of color. The intent of this paper is to describe the controversial character of Langston Hughes.

His first display of controversy is when he introduced an entirely new genre of poetry called a “ jazz poetry”. This was when he was still young, and no one expected him to display such talent. He had had a troubled childhood that inspired this decision to be outspoken. His grandmother encouraged him not to fear speaking for his rights. The most controversial aspect about his early introduction to poetry was the courage he displayed in delivering his messages against bigotry. He was political from this early age, and continued to fight for the diverse rights of African Americans.

”. . . how could a large and enthusiastic number of people be crazy about Negroes forever?” (Berry, 200)

The Harlem renaissance made this poet become a social activist who would be as controversial as he could. He realized that being black did not justify all the bigotry related treatments that his other black people kept facing. This realization made him create several essays that attempted to address social issues of the African American community. During his schooldays, Hughes was nominated class poet but did not appreciate the role. He reveals in this autobiography that he believed the choice for class poet was racially inspired. This is a political mind because his exemplary talent in writing poetry informed the nomination for class poet.

Apart from his work, his personal life was also filled with controversies. For example, his wife was of mixed races. This is controversial because at the time of his marriage, there was a significant level of racism. His upbringing was controversial because he could not access paternal love as other children did. The separation between his parents exposed him to this controversial childhood that created significant resent in him.

Langston displayed a profound love for the African American men he worked. These created suspicious that he could have been a homosexual. In other social essays that he created during his career, he displayed controversies in his ideal life of the African American. For example, Langston Hughes used these essays to practice his social activism.

“ I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.” (Berry, 300)

Hughes registered an early maturity in his life when he disagreed with his father. Berry suggests that this disagreement was the chief inspiration for the maturity of Langston Hughes. This is controversial because disagreement with parents is not admirable. This has a significantly positive impact on the life of this controversial writer. According to Berry, Langston wrote one of his famous poems while on the journey to re-unite with his father. “ The Negro Speaks of the Rivers” is the title of the poem that he wrote.

The content of the above poem was controversial because Langston Hughes used it to ventilate his anger towards bigotry. He also felt that it was unfair for other black writers not to identify with their African American roots. Langston believed that the ideology of communism could not offer any effective help to the blacks. This is why he opted to encourage other blacks to embrace the socialism movement. This was also controversial because most blacks of his time were used to the Marxist idea of communism.

Other significant controversies in the life of Langston Hughes revolve around his education. There is sufficient evidence that he did not complete his engineering course. This is why he disagreed with his racist father. He had an alternative passion for writing that would later shape his controversial career. The first controversy would be the fact that he went against the wish of his father to pursue his writing ambition. This was also significant because it enabled him fight for several rights of the black community. All the works that Hughes created depicted his quest for a community that would not display any aspect of bigotry.

“ Negroes – Sweet and docile, Meek, humble, and kind: Beware the day – They change their” mind. (Berry, 295)

The creation of the character of “ Simple” suggests that Hughes was critical of the modern black man. This black man could not engage in further fights for his rights. Instead, he was content with his stature, which made Langston bitter. This is controversial because Hughes is not afraid to criticize this modern African American. Langston Hughes refuses to acknowledge the black man because he believes that he could be better than what he was at that time.

References

Berry, Faith. Langston Hughes, Before and Beyond Harlem. New York: Wings Books, 1995.
Print.