Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes and His \"Refugee

¶ … Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes and his "Refugee in America," and Zora Neale Hurston and her "The Eatonville Anthology." Specifically, it will relate the thoughts of these two writers to the statement by W.E.B. Du Bois in "The Souls of Black Folk." "It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others...One ever feels his two-ness...An American, a Negro."

THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

Zora Neale Hurston's "The Eatonville Anthology" is a delightful account of the small Florida town of Eatonville and its colorful residents. Each short vignette discusses a different resident of the town, seen through the eyes of the narrator. Hurston is literally showing the reader the entire town as if the reader were a voyeur, standing back and watching, never seen. This is exactly what Du Bois speaks about in his quote regarding double consciousness, and Hurston vividly illustrates it here. In a small town, people are always being viewed through the eyes of the other residents, and Eatonville is no exception. These people are all-American and all-Negro, and they show their two-ness throughout the short story. For example, in a short sentence, Hurston depicts how the war (World War I) affected the town. "But the boys and girls got scattered about during the war, and now the dance the fox-trot by a brand new piano" Hurston 66). This could be any town in America, black or white; it does not matter. The war affected everyone, and life changed for the people back home when the children came home. What makes it uniquely "two" is how the people react to the modern dancing. They would rather not change with the times, so they older people do not respect the young ones. This shows the two-ness of the people by depicting them holding on to their culture, the thing that differentiates them from the whites, and makes them uniquely American and Negro.

Hurston wrote her story for a white audience, but it would appeal to blacks too, because it depicts the townspeople with such accuracy. The townspeople represent people in a small town anywhere, with their particular idiosyncrasies and beliefs. Her style is much like the way the people of the town speak, and helps represent who the people are, and how they talk. She uses dialect when the people speak, such as "fresements was served! Every gent'man would please take his lady by the arm and scorch her right up to de table fur a treat!" (Hurston 66). Again, this is a depiction of their two-ness. They speak the language of America, but in their own unique way, adding their own flavor and inflection, making it distinctively American and Negro at the same time.

Hurston can see the two-ness of the people in her town, which is why she can depict it so accurately. Each character is unique and compelling, from Mrs. Tony Roberts who begs for food even though she can afford it, to the meek Mrs. Crooms who finally fights for her man. These are real people with real concerns and real answers. Each one is an individual, and there are millions just like them all over America, living in small towns and big cities. They are African-Americans, celebrating their own style and culture every day, by the way they speak, they way they live, and the way they interact with each other in their community.

Langston Hughes poem "Refugee in America" is a much shorter work than Hurston's is, but it still contains many references to the two-ness of African-Americans, but in a much different format from Hurston's. Hurston looks at the black people in her story with amusement and clear affection, and portrays them as simple people living in simpler times.

Hughes on the other hand, in eight short lines, portrays the difficulties facing black Americans because of their two-ness. He talks about freedom and liberty, something that blacks did not experience even after their emancipation after the Civil War. They had to keep on fighting for equality right through the 1960s, and still continue today. Hughes says he has freedom in his heart every day, but does not necessarily experience freedom every day. "On my heart-strings freedom sings / All day every day" (Hughes). While Hurston's story is a celebration of blackness in America, along with all its quirks, Hughes work is not a celebration; it is a moving and eloquent plea, pleading for freedom and equality for everyone, regardless of color.

The lines " There are words like Liberty / That almost make me cry. / If you had known what I knew / You would know why" (Hughes) are the most poignant of the poem, and are the exact opposite of Hurston's technique of being outside and looking in at the people of Eatonville. Here, Hughes is on the inside looking out, and trying to share with his readers what it feels like to be black, and suffer from oppression. That is the other side of the two-ness experience, the perpetual oppression black Americans have continually faced. These two authors use the same theme of two-ness, but expand on it in many different ways. However, each one makes their point eloquently. Hurston shows the Southern blacks as real people with real concerns and needs, who contribute to the country just as much as any other residents. Hughes shows blacks in his poem in a constant struggle between being black, and being American. Each outlook has merit, and each outlook captures the experience of blacks in America, both good and bad.