Eyes of Optimism Look for Freedom in Langston Hughes' Selected Poems

Abstract

The current study tackles how slavery and racial segregation, which have obviously made an enormous impact in the United States of America for many years, can be defeated through optimism. The study opens with an introduction that clarifies some background about Langston Hughes as a poet who writes against slavery and oppression done to the American Blacks during an era which was known for racial segregation in the United States of America. The poet sheds light , in his poetry, upon the role of African Americans in activating hope and optimism to get freedom which has been reached at the end. The first section of the study analyzes the meaning of slavery and segregation as reflected in some selected poems, showing the oppressive face of the Whites against the Blacks. The poems exhibit simplicity as the poet's main strategy to raise one of the most sensitive cases in history; that is slavery. The second section comes next where the poet works on instigating his people towards the necessity of keeping on optimism as the key that will lead to man's freedom . Finally , the conclusion that sums up Hughes' message of how African Americans must convey the optimistic view throughout the African American history for eternal freedom.