Cross by Langston Hughes

Cross

My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I'm sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder were I'm going to die,
Being neither white nor black?

© Langston Hughes. All rights res

Langston Hughes, in his poem “Cross” address the difficulty people of mixed race have of finding their identity and role in society. The title of the poem connotes a mixture of two things. For example when you cross breed you are mating two different species together to have a mixed offspring that does not exclusively belong to either group. Mulattos such as Hughes, similarly had trouble identifying themselves in times when racial tensions were high; whites didn’t accept them because they  had tainted blood and they didn’t completely fit into black society. The speaker identifies two old people in the first stanza. Besides their age, the only identifying characteristic that the speaker provides is that the man is white and that the woman is black. The differences in how he views them can be understood to be a result of their race.  I believe that the man and the woman represent his respective white and black side. The speaker condemns the old, white man which symbolizes him condemning his white background . Line 4 -5, “If I ever cursed my white, old man / I take my curses back” suggests that the speaker curses himself because he doesn’t want to be part white. However he is shown to be incapable of hating himself because he takes his curses back. This shift represents the speaker’s acceptance of himself as part white. Similarly, in the second stanza, the speaker condemns his black side through  is black, old mother on line 6 he wishes “she were in hell”. The speaker eventually accepts his black heritage on line 7-8, “I’m sorry for that evil wish / And now I wish her well”. The speaker’s reaction to his white and black side parallel each other because he first rejects both of them and also ultimately accepts both of them. However the poem ends with the speaker unclear of whether he should identify himself as black or white. The identity he assumes will cause him to lead vastly different lives. Lines 9 – 10, “My old man died in a fines big house. / My ma died in a shack” reveal that where you end up in life is skewed by your race. The last two lines of the poem, “I wonder where I’m gonna die / Being neither white nor black” create the ambiguity of which race the speaker should identify with. The lines suggest that it is not necessarily his choice of which race he will belong to but rather fate or some other external factor will decide. The last two lines could also be interpreted as suggesting that because the speaker is mulatto he will end up taking a new path in life different from a black or white person. He may neither take the path of the white man that causes him to die in the fine big house or the path of the black mother that causes him to die in a shack. This poem was written to raise questions but necessarily provide answers.

Age of Innocence Revisited

The Old New York society in The Age of Innocence is very superficial. What is ironic is that while it appears to be an orderly, peaceful, and calculated society at a glance, it is riddled with deceit, chaos, and ruled by unquestioned "conventions on which life was modeled".  Though these conventions help being order, they also hold them back from progressing and "were in fact only a humbugging disguise of the inexorable conventions that tied things together and bound people down to the old pattern".  They are described as “tribal” as they have unwavering loyalty to these customs simply because their predecessors followed them. One convention the society follows is the assumed role of women in society. The women in the novel are in a perpetual state of innocence. They are raised not to question what they do not understand and they are incapable of identifying the inequalities that face. To maintain the women's innocence, they grow up sheltered. However this raises the question which is better, innocence or experience? While the women in The Age of Innocence are presumably protected from the dangerous aspects of society, they also are caged and end up trapped in this state. Men are also allowed to have a past while women are not as Mr.Archer describes "it was his duty as a decent fellow, to conceal his past from her, and hers, as a marriageable girl, to have no past to conceal" Because the women have been "caged" for so many generation, they do not know the freedom they are missing, and thus they have no desire to change it. Mr. Archer wrestles with this thought and even exclaims "Women should be free--as free as we are". He sees many of the flaws and the hypocrisy in society. However, according to William Blake, society is doing these women a huge disservice as he believes that the “perfect state” would a balance of innocence and experience. Blake also believes human sacrifice is the basis of social organization. In The Age of Innocence, women sacrifice their freedom in order to keep social organization, even when they unknowingly do so. The restrictive nature of society strangles the imagination which Blake believes is essential to human existence.

Most of the people who live in the Old New York society firmly follow its customs as it is how they were raised. However two characters in particular, Countess Olenska and Newland Archer, seem to question things that other characters take for granted. Mr. Archer critiques the social system and specifically the way women are treated. He is angry about “the hypocrisy that would bury alive a women of her age if her husband prefers to live with harlots”, the double standard in which society overlooks the corrupt deeds that men commit but scold women if they were to do the same. Newland is actually torn between following the customs because it is what society expects him to do or speaking out against the injustice he perceives and face criticism. 

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a very unique war novel due to O’Brien’s focus in the book. The novel is centered around the emotions that revolve around being in Vietnam and not on the actual events that happened. For example in the story “The Man I killed”, the emphasis is not on the fact that someone was killed. Instead, O’Brien aims to capture the emotional response someone has after taking a life and the guilt he would feel. O’Brien admits that everything in the novel may not be true. However the importance is not on whether the events actually happened, it is based upon the emotion that the story evokes. There is difficulty in relaying the emotion of someone in a certain scenario(such as killing someone) to someone who has never been in that situation. For example in the story “Field trip”, O’Brien takes his daughter the place where Kiowa dead. Because Kathleen was not there during his death she cannot understand the significance of the place; she also does not understand the war in general.

O’Brien writes the stories because it helps him cope with the trauma he faced in the war and it helps him make sense of his past. On page 36 O’Brien states, “Stories are for joining the past to the future, Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can’t remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” which reveals that O’Brien uses the stories he writes to be understand his present by learning from his past in order to hypothesize how it will affect his future. It’s ironic that O’Brien does not tell stories to share his experiences with others, but writes the stories for self-understanding.

There are also no long battle scenes that portray the intensity of war; O’Brien focuses on the mundane things. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien lists out the various things that the soldiers bring to war. In the military where soldiers face life and death the things they bring with them from home would seem unimportant. However the items the soldiers bring with them represent a connection they have to home and place they can return to after the war is over. It is this connection that gives the soldiers the drive to keep going. O’Brien shows that war is not simply about shooting the enemy and returning a hero. Much of the soldiers’ time in Vietnam is spent sitting around, waiting and being bored and it is in these times that they need something to anchor themselves with.

The final chapter of the novel, “The Lives of the Dead” takes place before the war and is seemingly unrelated. However Linda represents O’Brien’s first encounter with both love and death; O’Brien has no control over Linda’ death. Because many things are out of his control, O’Brien dwells on the decisions he makes and the things that are within his control.

The Brotherhood

The brotherhood represents the ideal of stripping yourself of your individuality in order to join a group in which everyone works toward a common goal. The brotherhood is similar to a machine that is made up of multiple parts. Each person represents a replaceable part of the machine that come together to make the machine work and achieve something. However the importance of each part is small relative the importance of the machine as a whole. The brotherhood doesn’t see its members as individuals, but means at which they can accomplish various tasks. They only tell the narrator as much information that he needs to know in order to accomplish his tasks. As a result, membership with the brotherhood leads to the stagnation of the narrator. Because the narrator loses his identity and wears the identity that the brotherhood gives him, his progression as individual is stunted. The narrator says, “You might not recognize it right now, but that part of you is dead! You have not completely shed that self, that old agrarian self, but it’s dead and you will throw it off completely emerge something new. History has been born in your brain” which suggests that the narrators seeks the strip himself of the identities that the brotherhood and the rest of society has given him and starting anew by creating his own identity based upon his own perceptions.

It is also interesting that the name of the brotherhood’s building is the chthonian which is also the name of the gods of underworld. People gave these gods sacrifices in order to appease them. Similarly, the members of the brotherhood sacrifice their individuality in order to work towards the goals of the brotherhood. The brotherhood is also god like because they have control over their members and what happens in Harlem. Many of the descriptions of the brotherhood and the chthonian involve frozen water which represents the stagnations. In the lines, “I could see the word Chthonian on the storm awning stretched above the walk as I got out with the others and went swiftly toward a lobby lighted by dim bulbs set behind frosted glass” the light represents enlightenment which covered by a “frosted glass” which prevents individuals from reaching enlightenment.  The frost on the glass can also be seen as a contaminant that prevents you from looking from the outside and seeing the light through the glass.

Not only do I see the members of the brotherhood as blind, but I also see the leaders as blind as well. One of Brother Jack’s eyes falls out which reveals that he has one fake eye. His one eye suggests that he is at least partially blind and that though he may have good ideas, he tries to achieve them through incorrect means. Eyes also symbolize a way to look into someone’s soul. The fact that Brother Jack places a fake eye to cover the crevice where his other eye would go suggests that he is covering up something within his soul that he is trying to hide. 

Invisible Man - Battle Royal

The battle royal scene represents the entire novel and Ellison used the battle royal as inspiration for the rest of the novel. In many ways, the battle royal is representative of the system itself. Firstly, it is significant that the boys were blind folded at the beginning of the battle royal. Their physical blindness is representative of their multi-layer metaphorical blindness.  The boys are blind to the system itself and to what they believe the system has become. With the erection of black colleges and the abolishment of slavery blacks believe that society has progressed and become better for blacks. However the reality is that whites still view blacks as inferior and second class citizens. The boys are also blind to the true intentions of the whites. The whites pretend to help the blacks and act as if they want to help the boys but ultimately want to control the blacks for their own benefit. The true intentions of the whites are exemplified when the narrator accidently says “racial equality” in his speech and the whites become angered and stirred up. They do not want racial equality and they will not stand to hear a black boy give a speech about. They calm down when he corrects himself and says “racial responsibility” which shows that whites can tolerate blacks when the blacks are conforming to the values of the whites. The whites are also blind to the true nature of the blacks. By stereotyping all blacks into one category, the whites fail to see each of the boys as an individual. They are also blind to the true beliefs of the narrator who follows his grandfather’s words by agreeing with the whites but retaining his internal resentment for them.

The walls of the arena are symbolic of the confinement that blacks encounter within the system. They are stuck within the system and are unable to leave or change their situation. No matter what they do, they are unable to save themselves. By fighting within the battle royal, the boys further reinforce the stereotypical views that the whites have of blacks as animalistic and violent. The reality is that these stereotypes are forced upon the blacks and perpetuated by the whites. In order to survive, they must act violently, work within the system, and the blacks end up turning on each other. By fighting each other instead of the enemy which are the whites they do nothing to change the system and they remain in the metaphorical arena.

Another prominent image in the battle royal scene is the depiction of the white woman surrounded by the black boys. This creates the image of the eye and her tattoo of the American flag suggests that she represents blinded American values that are driven by sex and greed. Like the money that the boys couldn’t have because they electrocuted before they reached it, the woman is something that the boys cannot have. The scene is very sexual and relates to the animalistic nature of the battle royal/

Sonnet 129

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated, as a swallow’d bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.


In sonnet 129, Shakespeare suggests that lust is an animalistic urge that drives human sexual action and ultimately leads to shame. The sonnet traces the different stages of lust in order to exemplify that lust leads to one’s downfall. The first stanza identifies what lust is and it describes lust as a negative desire. The first line calls lust an “expense of spirit” which suggests that it is costly to the spirit to lust and that you must sacrifice something in order to do something. It can be seen as something that contaminates the soul. The speaker goes on to add that it is a “waste of shame” which portrays it as shameful. Lust is also a waste because it is an unnecessary evil. The last two lines of the stanza list adjectives to describe lust and that suggest that lust is extremely sinful and dangerous. Lust parallels the devil which the intense immoral descriptions of it such as “perjured, murderous, bloody, and full of shame”. Lust is portrayed more like a living entity than a controllable emotion. Lust seems to have a mind of its own that allows it to over a man and use his sexual desires to compel him commit horrendous acts. Other descriptive words for lust such as “Savage, extreme, rude and cruel” connotes that lust is very animalistic. It represents a lack of self-control and sophistication.

The second stanza describes the effects of lust after the thing that you have been lusting over has been achieved. However even after it is obtained, lust continues to be a negative force that robs the person exemplifying it of their happiness. Lust makes a person feel crazy and “mad”. By definition, feelings of lust can never be quenched because lust is the desire for something(often sexual) that you cannot obtain. As a result, if you do happen obtain, you will begin to lust over something else that is currently unachievable. The line “Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight” suggests the happiness of obtaining what you have lusted over is immediately replaced by self-deprecation and a realization that what you are doing is wrong and sinful.

The third stanza illustrates the false illusion that lust causes one live under. Lust causes the thing lusted over to appear to be something good and necessary to have. However this is a façade that results from the blocking of proper reasoning. Lust drives someone to become “mad in pursuit” so they become fully engaged in the pursuit and will do things that they wouldn’t normally do to obtain the thing that they are lusting over and they may do something “extreme”. The speaker finds paradoxical happiness in realizing that lust is “a very woe” and only leads to sadness.

The couplet compares lust to heaven and hell to portray the true nature of lust. Lust appears to be heaven by causing you to chase things you desire. However in actuality lust will drive you to hell because it taints the soul by causing you to chase sinful things. The line, “All this the world well knows; yet none knows well” points out the irony that though it is widely known that lust is evil, people neglect that and continue to lust.

The Significance of the grandfather's advice in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

One of the most important quotes in Invisible Man are the instructions the grandfather gives to the narrator at the beginning of the novel. He tells the narrator, "Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open...Learn it to the younguns". The narrator uses his grandfather's words as a guideline for his actions in the rest of book. The grandfather wants the narrator to wear a facade in which he acts as if he agrees with the whites while internally he retains his resentment for them. The grandfather calls himself a traitor because he becomes blinded by what the whites tell him. However there is no definite right or wrong and it remains ambiguous throughout the novel whether the grandfather’s words are the best way to combat inequality. The grandfather believes that in order for blacks to progress, they need support from the whites but that they shouldn’t become blinded by the vision of the whites. The whites mask their true intentions by appearing to be helping the blacks so the blacks must do the same to no become manipulated. The narrator is given similar advice by the vet later in the novel who says to him, “Come out of the fog, young man. And remember you don’t have to be a complete fool in order to succeed. Play the game, but don’t believe in it – that much you owe yourself”. The invisible man is conflicted on whether he should follow his father’s advice. The narrator says that “The old man’s words were like a curse” which connotes that the words were a burden and a standard he had to live up to rather than something he wanted to live by. As a result of following the advice, the narrator becomes invisible and unable to affect his surroundings. His invisibility protects him from being attacked by whites because they believe his views align with theirs; however in doing so he loses his own individuality. His grandfather’s words plague him as he is trying to find his own identity. The narrator says that “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free” which suggests that he feels confined within his invisibility and lack of identity because it leads to stagnation. In the brotherhood for example, he becomes a cog in a machine. Brother Jack tells the narrator, “You’re a soldier now, your health belongs to the organization” which suggests that the narrator must sacrifice his own individuality in order to progress the goals of the brotherhood and that within the brotherhood he is just a body that they use to get tasks done.