"Mulatto" and the Myth of the Tragic Half-Breed

¶ … Mulatto" by Langston Hughes is that the figure of the tragic mulatto highlights the contradictions of white society in his presence and person: both during the era in which the poem is set and also during the Harlem Renaissance when Hughes wrote. The significance of the work lies in the fact that for the first time blacks in America were able to have a distinct literary voice after being oppressed and denied literacy and social agency even after the end of slavery. "Hughes used his writing to reflect his thoughts about political injustices, racial oppression, poverty, the black experience, family, and work" (Flick 1).

The poem "Mulatto" is a dramatic monologue, a poem which is not narrated in the voice of the poet like a lyric work but instead assumes the role of another character, often one who is marginal and despised, like the murderer of Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess." In the case of "Mulatto," Hughes highlights not only the conflicts and racial contradictions of American society but also black society which despises mulattos and individuals of mixed race as alien; mulattos themselves often view themselves as separate from their own race, both hopeful of claiming white privilege even though they cannot, as the narrator of the poem suggests when he says: "Niggers ain't my brother" (27). Hughes' literary works made some people uncomfortable as Hughes "did not want to exalt the black community to a position above reproach, and he did not try to appease the white community by blunting the edges of racism's harsh reality. This attitude did not endear him to blacks or whites," notes literary critic Amy Flick of the Center of Working Class studies.

Flick also notes that "the black critics often condemned Hughes. They thought that he was irresponsibly portraying the black culture as lowly and primitive. They felt that he was sending a poor message to the white community and thereby generating more racial tension." In "Mulatto" Hughes not only condemns white rape of black, enslaved women but the subsequent racial divides within black society that this caused, effectively creating color lines between blacks as well as reinforcing but also breaking down the color barrier between blacks and whites. The figure of the tragic mulatto was a common one during this era: "The tragic mulatto myth historically painted biracial people as emotionally unstable and destined to fit in neither black society nor white society" (Nittle 1). To some extent this poem perpetuates this myth, underlining the contradictions within both black and white experiences.

"Mulatto" suggests that slavery has produced internal conflicts for people of all colors within American society. "You are my son! / Like Hell!" cries the narrator (5-6). This suggests his white father's likely response to attempting to claim his parentage (i.e., the father would say, 'like hell you are my son') and the fact that as he is of mixed race, the son believes he is in a living, divided hell. Once again, the myth of the tragic mulatto suggests a sad fate. "Tragedy ensues because such characters find themselves barred from white society and thus the privileges available to whites" (Nittle 1). This can be seen in the internal conflicts of the narrator who hates his father but also desires to escape his fate as a slave. Even though Hughes did not write during the antebellum era, he still lived in a world where his opportunities were limited as an African-American. "The racial tyranny simply locked most blacks into a working-class existence. Most were not given the education or the opportunities to pursue more professional careers" (Flick 1). This is reflected in the poem and suggests since the beginning of the American experience, due to slavery, African-Americans have always been cut off from America's supposed universal benefits of freedom.