I, Too, Sing America

I, Too, Sing America

“I, Too, Sing America” is a masterpiece by Langston Hughes. This poem produces a uni-focal impact as it presents a single theme in a lucid and compelling manner. The persona presented in the poem is a positive minded individual who does not delve deep into the extra social and or political implication of racial discrimination and does not venture into the intricate philosophical and imaginative domains. He is not a political activist but he is a dreamer who has little dreams to be treated equally. He does not view the problem of discrimination with the glasses of any pre-conceived notion but considers it a family dilemma. As he is positive minded, he is optimistic too as he thinks that days will come when he will be treated equally like other family member dining at the table. ‘Tomorrow, /I’ll be at the table’.

America is portrayed like a family in the poem. Some members of the family have discriminatory behavior toward another member of the same family. ‘They send me to eat in the kitchen/ When company comes.’ The only reason for this discrimination is that ‘I am the darker brother.’ There is no political or any other hideous reason behind this attitude. So contemporary American society is depicted as guided by natural tendencies and attitudes. These tendencies, attitudes have produced racial discrimination at every level.

Langston most alluring diction ‘I, too, am America’ manifest everything that the persona feels about America. He considers himself and inalienable part of American nation and society. He does not blame America for the pathos and miseries he suffers but it is the social structure. He is of the view that a time is not far off when he will be treated equally like his white family members. And then his fellow country will make out how beautiful he is; mentally and socially.

His theme was “I, too. Sing America” but that America was free of racial discrimination, poverty, miseries and pathos.