America is Not America

Ah, the much-anticipated Langston Hughes post...It's just not me until it's did the day before.

SO:

Heh. I like this poem~ Hughes was/is totally on the right track here. I could write 2 pages worth of post talking about this poem, but I have guidelines to meet, so I'll try and summarize my take on it. No hating if I'm not the least bit original or out of the box.

Basically: America is the Land of Phony...the "American Dream" is indeed just that. A dream dreamt up by Europeans--and actually, probably other peoples too-- who wanted something better than the reality they had. This was the dream of equality, happiness, and freedom (give or take some more desirable qualities). People came here hoping for a better life and a fresh start, and yet 200+ years later, we are in a glorified version of the countries we'd come from. "Freedom" and "equality" are just terms...used loosely and relatively.

In this country of diversity, there is no equality; and dreams are crushed by the cruel reality of the same game of life: eat or be eaten and winner take all. We, the people, who dreamed of such a great land, work hard for a seemingly unattainable dream and get nothing in return. We have nothing...except the hazy memory of the American Dream.

ANSWERING GIVEN QUESTIONS!!!!!

Hrmm...I'd say that the two perspectives in this poem were the optimistic view and realistic view. Namely, the delusion that America is the bestestest country ever, full of freedom, equality, and opportunity. 8D Now, the realistic perspective: all that is a bunch of PHOOEY. We're just technologically advanced, but inevitably that has led to a bunch of other problems, and the more complicated our society gets the more complex our problems become. And there is a ubiquitous existence of prejudice and unfair judgments and assumptions, no matter how small or how hard we try to cleverly cover it up.

Umm, I feel like that paragraph answered a lot of the other questions, so the rest'll be short answers!

Hughes calls for an America that is America--the very epitome of the "America" (dreamed land) people have hoped for, for centuries. A land of freedom, and opportunity, and equality...and this is really getting quite redundant... >. > At this point, I am using "America" as the Promised Land and dreamland of most people; it's just a..umm...symbol. There we go. (Hard to explain/put into words)

I would say the overall tone of this poem is... one of scorn and distaste. OH, and wistful too. Hughes is looking down on the America we've become, and dislikes the fact that the very people who tried to build up an ideal country of freedom and equal opportunity are the ones helping to make it what it is today...either they're the oppressed or the oppressors. Hughes hopes for a better America...an America that is truly "America".

I think Hughes criticizes the whole--well, the same 3 main traits/qualities/principles or whatever that I keep mentioning above--there is no equality, there is no freedom, there is no opportunity. Hughes is criticizing the lack of all of that.

Fitzgerald and Hughes must have been on the same page; they both are doubting the "America"-ness of this so-called "America." No equality in The Great Gatsby's  New York; no equal opportunity as proven by the differences in financial affairs and status. Etc., etc....

I agree with the criticisms 100%... or close enough to that. I mean, I've always been viewing the world in a kind of cynical way, so I'm already inclined to believe a lot of things are lies by default. I'm a skeptic, and I DEFINITELY do not think our America is the America. Everything is just a lie or jumbled up contradiction.

--STARBURST: IT'S A JUICY CONTRADITION!!!

--AJ out.