The speaker in Hughs' "Theme for English B" is a twenty two year old black man from North Carolina who is attending Colombia University in Harlem, New York. He is the only black person in his class. In his assignment he is trying to convey to his professor that both races are not all that different. He says, "Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love/ I like to work, read, learn, and understand life" (21-22). He is showing that he has the same characteristics as any other person. The speaker is living during the 1950's which was the beginning of the civil right's movement. The speaker says, "Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be apart of me/ Nor do I often want to be a part of you/ But we are- that's true!" (34-36). The speaker has experienced racism but is till proud of his color. He believes in equality.
Hughes, Langston. "Theme for English B." The Seagull Reader: Literature. Ed. Joseph Kelly.
New York: W. W. Norton &Company, 2005. 504-505. Print.
This is great. Thank you, Allison. I hope you don't mind but I edited the title of the book from Literature, to The Seagull Reader: Literature :)
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