English coursework for American Literature

Hey just thought Id share this as its the first essay that has been graded A that I have received back this semester, quite chuffed with it. Its an evaluation on a short story called "Red-Headed Baby" by Langston Hughes. The module had 2 different lecturer's on it, the lady who was taking it during this reading was hilarious. (Uni of Derby btw)

You had to assess how it can be classed as an american text.

The short story in question that will be focused upon during this introduction is Red-Headed baby by Langston Hughes. Hughes was a popular writer during the 1930’s and was an integral cog in the black literature machine during this time helping to found black theatre’s and bringing out major volume’s of black writing. He remains one of the most esteemed African-American writers ever. The short story of Red-Headed Baby focuses on the world through the eyes of “Mister Clarence” A man who is fond of picking out the uselessness of his world around him but seemingly doesn’t have any value to the world he inhabits at all. 5 years on a steamer and he is only a first mate, showing a lack of pride in his work and a nonexistent hope of actually moving up in the world instead of visiting port’s where there’s nothing to do except “get drunk and go out and sleep with *******? Hell!”# This is obviously a task that Clarence looks down upon whilst he himself is on the ground yet like all black women in this time era, the white Mr Clarence decided that they will indeed serve a purpose instead of being of utterly worthless value to the decent hardworking down on his luck American that he indeed is. So Clarence sets off to find his ebony prize for the night and wanders down a black neighbourhood which is according to him falling down around him due to a severe lack of neglect. Clarence makes sure to point out every aspect of dismal “******’s” lives remarking that they never have street lights out where they live and that the rickety huts are overrun with wildlife. Finally reaching his destination, Clarence proceeds to the front door with a internal monologue to himself about who he expects to greet him and what condition they are going to be in since their last rendezvous three years ago. He is surprised to hear that he is being welcomed into the house by being address “suh” or sir because he believes that by the old grandmother recognizing him in this way she remembers his voice from last time and this is shocking to Clarence as he expects there to have been many a man that has come and go since his last meeting. He enters and comes face to face with the woman who he has came here for, her name is Betsy. He is quite taken aback by the appearance of Betsy expecting her to be something entirely different to what he saw but nevertheless he is very pleased and immediately wants to get his hands on her by exclaiming “Them same damn moles on your cheek! Com’ere, lemme feel ‘em”#

Many aspects of this new Betsy make Clarence begin to wonder, for instance when she offers him a drink he is shocked by this because the last time they he was in the house they were righteous God fearing people with no alcohol at all. This unusual trio is then interrupted by the appearance of a small red-headed baby who is small blue eyed and yellow skinned. Clarence after a small bout of surprised questioning realises that the baby must be his and immediately panics and decided to plan his quickest escape route by offering to pay for the liquor and then swiftly leaving. Even before he leaves he is disgusted at the fact that the baby comes over and grabs onto his leg, a sign of desperate hope perhaps?

Now during the time that Hughes was writing this story African Americans were at the bottom level of the social hierarchy that made up America. Even more so at the bottom were African American women simply because they were viewed as objects by white people and even some male African American’s. The first thing that Hughes is picking out about this society is that the white man of this day and age lacked the simple necessities in life that were supposed to make his race superior to all others. Hughes paints a mockery of white American men of this time period in the way he describes the stupid nature of Mister Clarence. His message was that even though they had the seemingly superior skin colour, they were more often than not destined to go nowhere in life because they held a bitter hatred for African Americans that involved pinpointing every dismal aspect of their lives and reflecting it against the white man’s to weigh up the pros and cons and see who indeed came out on top. In this case Hughes is pointing out some irony in the fact that Clarence who is obviously a bitter racist doesn’t have anywhere to go except for this poor black girls house to see her and perhaps seek some kind of comfort from sleeping with her. There is noone else in his life that Clarence could seek this gratitude from because he is a useless white man destined to be nothing in life except for floating aboard a tramp steamer lost in his own thoughts about the way the world works. The only reason he is able to seek solace and comfort in this young black girl is because as Hughes leads us to believe that because and only because of his skin colour is why this young woman is granting him an audience with her for the night for pleasure and for company.

Hughes then decides to inject a connection between the two races in the shape of a child, a child who he describes as being “A red-headed blue-eyed yellow-skinned baby!”# This rainbow of colours is a brilliant description used by Hughes because it helps to point out that this baby is not just one type of colour but that the child has an influx of many. It is a walking connection between two race’s that is welcomed by the black woman but is discarded by the white man. To Clarence the sight of a knowing link between him and a race he deems un-superior is a sign that he has let down his own race and therefore he decides to just leave and ignore the subject at hand, doing what Hughes believes all white men do from their problems and just running away. There is an underlying message here from this small multi-coloured baby that I believe Hughes wanted to spread around America at this time and that is that link’s should be forged between all race and gender classes and not just abandoned with no hope. This race affiliation is one of the key aspects that helps to define this text as being American. Another aspect of Hughes short story is that in the way he first writes about the white man, he ever so slightly reveals that the ball is being struck by both sides in his culture. It is not only the white man who is subjecting African Americans to a lifetime of abuse but the African American is also giving their fair share of ammunition to the problem. The way Hughes mocks the white man at the start leads a reader to believe that because of his intellectual capacity he deems it necessary to “win one back for his team” as the metaphor goes by openly mocking the white American’s typical mindset and lifestyle of being fond of liquor, having no aspirations and generally just hating the black race.

This is the way society was in America at this time when the nation at a whole was suffering from The Great Depression. It was hard enough for a white man to get and sustain a decent job never mind black people having them as well. Hughes was an exception to his dilemma by using his sardonic views on the white culture to effectively mock them in his literature. This tennis game like style of hurling insults between black and white race’s is a typical American flaw which has led to greater decay’s in the rebuilding and reforming of friendships and coalitions through the United States. The way that Hughes writes shows a distinct bitterness about the way African Americans were treated and he is rightful to feel this way given the years of neglect, slavery and often satanical ways in which his fellow African Americans were treated. This short story is a statement on how society dealt with its problems during this problematic era for the American people. Black people just tended to get on with their lives and make the best out of what little goodness they had and white people still continued to sit in the ivory tower looking down upon the masses and running from any problems they encountered that were deemed to uncomfortable or too beneath them to face. There is hope that is Hughes perhaps of a new world beginning somewhere in the future and this red-haired baby is perhaps one of the first links between the two distinctly different and hostile cultures. The underlying message that has been woven into the last few lines of this short story is that the old ways must go out because they aren’t working. The poor young black woman pleads desperately with Clarence to stay and perhaps to interact with the child that is assumed to be his and even though she doesn’t directly clarify to him that it is his child, he knows within himself that it is after seeing the red hair which is a direct impersonation of his and perhaps the skin colour as well thinking to himself that the yellow skin is the outcome of mixing the two race’s together. As is American culture to this day the story always has two sides, and this short story is a mixture of the hope of an African American culture that one day wishes to be on the same level as their white counterparts but also shows the irony and bitterness that they hold about this social hierarchy they find themselves desperate to climb. Hughes indeed shows his will to forge a link between the two but as he does this also shows a determination to out the white man as someone who isn’t necessarily worthy of their place at the top of the hierarchy, Hughes was one of the first African American writers to suggest this theory and he certainly wont be the last. For now his short story only remains an insight into the ways and workings of America in its darkest hour as it tries to overcome the boundaries set down by its own people and carried throughout the years in a country that is deemed to be the “Land of the free.”

Thanks for reading, Neil.