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Fabian Vital Hampton English11 r0lr0lt2
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The Modernisttime period was a time wherethe Harlem Renaissance place. took The HarlemRenaissance a time whereAfrican Americans migrated northern to cities was to to avoid the Jim Crow laws that the Southhad established makelife really hard for the to colored.Harlem,a northern city in New York, happened be the centerof it. During believed that America African Americans fise times,which werethe 1920s-1930s,
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be fuasn't$r "the people"but for'hhite" peopleandthat their voiceShould heard.The poemthat talksaboutthe struggles of poem"Harlem" by Langston is Hughes free-verse living in Harlem.The literary devicesthat are shownin this poemarehyphenand personification The emotionthe poembringsto white people which targets white society. the is frustration.White societymay feel someempathybecause frustrationHughesgives Hughes'message that of out makeswhite peoplestepinto the shoes African Americans. oppressed by are he triesto conveyis that African Americans not really free and.being frustrationin usedcauses The white societyor govemment. hyphenandpersonification of to deliversthe message oppression and African Americans shownto whiteS frustration white society. The literary devicesleadto the emotionof frustation in African Americans.In starval, Hughes Harlem-"(Lines 1-2)Here, writes"Here on the edgeof hell/ Stands
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Langslon Hughes is trying to make the reader graspthe lines he just said by saying that Harlem is on the verge of falling into hell. He saysthis becauseduring thesetimes African Americans were considered'ofree",but still being oppressedin the since that they couldn't get jobs and had to pay more for food, etc. In a way they were liberated from slavery but only to be deprived of getting jobs and cheapfood? This helps causewhite society to feel what black Americans feel and get the feeling of fiustration from the African Americans of this time period. Hughes wants white people to get the feeling of guilt and empathy by seeingwhat the black Americans were going through during these times. Also in the first stanza,Hughes usespersonification to show how close Harlem is to being hell. "Stands Harlem-" (Line 2) This use of personification shows how white society has black Americans pushedagainstthe edge of a cliffon the verge of falling into hell becausethe governmentgranted freedom to African Americans but African Americans feel they arejust being pusheda bit more. They are being forced to live under a society that shows whites as superiorthan them. The emotion of frustration is shown by seeingthe symbolism of hell. Hell has negative very hot where the not so good ones go, ion and is describedas a place

supposed stayforeverifsent to

there. This shows where whites want the African Americans to go or make them feel as closeas possible,to hell. In reading the frustration of African Americans, white society is expectedto feel empathy and this gives the white crowd a clear message. first stanzalHughes In talks about someonetelling African Americans something,"The old'Be patient'/ They told us

before."(Lines5-6) Theselinessetthethemebecause whenpeoplearetold to be patient they areusually being impatientor frustrated.In this caseo'They"canbe referredto as