Pride in One's Country

Additionally, Hughes is explaining that even after slavery’s end and the legal freedom of African Americans, they still weren’t truly free in America. He continues to say, “The land that never has been yet- and yet must be- the land where every man is free” displaying his pessimistic but hopeful patriotic desire to have pride in America. In a country, America, where whites have all power, as Hughes thoroughly expresses when he says, “I am the young man, full of strength and hope, tangled in that ancient endless chain, of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one’s own greed!” (Hughes).

Detailing the behavior and superiority of whites, in America, where African Americans, as Hughes rationalizes, are “the poor white, fooled, and pushed apart, the Negro bearing slavery scars, the red man driven from the land, the immigrant clutching the hope I seek- and finding only the same old stupid plan, of dog eat dog, of mighty crush weak” and “the farmer, bondsman to the soil, the worker sold to the machine, the Negro, servant to all, the people, hungry, humble, and mean, who made America, whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain”, (Hughes).

Langston Hughes’s poem proves his strength, value, hopefulness, and the contributions he, as a black man, has made in America.

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With ever accomplishment African Americans have made to make America the country it is as Hughes states, Hughes finds it problematic to understand why blacks still go unnoticed or get unaccepted.

Furthermore, Langston Hughes and Malcolm Cowley both agreed that America was no longer the “land where Liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, but opportunity is real, and life is free” (Hughes). Hughes and Cowley mutually felt they were alienated in America. Cowley chose to leave America and to go to Paris, whereas, Hughes saw the problem that not only he was having but all blacks as well and strove to fix it by making the hardships of African Americans evident in his work (Wall). The use of the words “it was my own country”, in Malcolm Cowley’s poem, convey his pride in Paris (Cowley). He broadcasts the theme of pride, as well as, optimistic patriotism when he said, yet being mine; its face, its speech, its hills bent low within my reach” (Cowley). Langston Hughes says, “O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, and yet I swear this oath, America will be!”(Hughes).

The poems of Hughes and Cowley differ completely. Hughes’s poem is based in America where he isn’t free but wants to be and can call the land or country of America his own. Cowley’s poem is based in Paris where he is free, no longer feels estranged, and can call the land his own. Malcolm Cowley’s poem is confident, hopeful, and happy. Cowley could call Paris his own country, but Hughes only had the desire to call America his own land. The poem of Langston Hughes is hopeful but also expresses the despair and isolation he felt as an African American in America.

need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one’s own greed!” detailing the behavior and superiority of whites, Malcolm Cowley didn’t really have a need to flee America for Europe (Hughes). In America, where African Americans, as Hughes rationalizes, are “the poor white, fooled, and pushed apart, the Negro bearing slavery scars, the red man driven from the land, the immigrant clutching the hope I seek- and finding only the same old stupid plan, of dog eat dog, of mighty crush weak” and “the farmer, bondsman to the soil, the worker sold to the machine, the Negro, servant to all, the people, hungry, humble, and mean, who made America, whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain” (Hughes). Langston Hughes’s poem proves his strength, value, hopefulness, and the contributions he, as a black man, has made in America. With ever accomplishment African Americans have made to make America the country it is as Hughes states, Hughes finds it problematic to understand why blacks still go unnoticed or get unaccepted.

Blacks have always struggled and were hindered, lacking the ability to flourish. Whites have always been considered superior to blacks and could get ahead. Langston Hughes poem; “Let America Be America Again” and “The Long Voyage” by Malcolm Cowley demonstrate the similarities and differences of black writers compared to white during the American literary renaissance period and black and white existence.