Critical Analysis of Theme for English B Essay -- American Literature

When I first read Langston Hughes poem Theme for incline B, I did not particularly like it. But after(prenominal) reading it a second time and discussing it in class, I came to prise the poem on several levels. The way Hughes describes the setting of Harlem/New York is brief, that evocative. He also gives us insight into the thoughts and emotions of the main character, the young biased student, and ends the piece with several thought provoking passages. In the first stanza we bring the student, who is also the narrator, having gotten his crime syndicatework assignment to write a paper, is returning home to Harlem. The school he attends is on the hill (line 9), and apparently is in a better part of town, so he has to travel through the variant areas of the city. The streets he crosses are named, and then he gets to the Y (line 13). The usual intend of a Y is a point in a way that splits in two directions. In this case, though, it refers to the YMCA, where the stud ent lives. I think the causality is aware of this double meaning, because in the next line he clarifies the bourne by...