Works Cited

Arp, Thomas R., and Greg Johnson. Perrine's Literature. Ed. Aron Keesbury. Ninth Edition. Structure, Sound, and Sense. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

"Langston Hughes." Poets.org. 2008. The Academy of America Poets. 22 Mar. 2008 .

Langston Hughes Biography

James Langston Hughes was born Feburary 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was young so therefore he was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen. Where he then moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Soon after he moved to Lincoln, Illnois which was beginning of his poetry writing. Hughes went to school at Columbia University and also travel around the world including West Africa and Europe. Hughes travels influenced alot of his poetry and also his other works of art such as novels, short stories, and plays. Making hugh contributions to defining the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's. Through his works of art Hughes wanted to tell the true aspects of his culture and the love his people had for music. Langston Hughes died May 22, 1967 in New York because of complications of prostate cancer. In memory of him the residences at his home in Harlem, New York had given him a landmark status by the New York Preservation Commission and renamed it "Langston Hughes Place."

I enjoy the poem "Cross" because it focuses on the lives of interracial families living in America like myself.

"Cross" Analysis

Being of a cross between two races he is neither white nor black. He is not accepted by blacks because he is white, and he is denied by whites because he is black. In America during the 1920's the segregation of whites and blacks was very predominate and he is deprived of either race. Leaving him with the confusion of which race he can identify with. Through his adulthood and maturity he finally realizes that he can't blame his parents for who he is. He realizes that he can't hate his parents for his heritage and no matter what he does that's still who he is going to be. In the last stanza he is saying that his father died wealth and his mother died poor and in the last two sentences he asks where he is going to die being neither black nor white. Well he's saying that once he figures out if he wants to live his life as being a white man or a black man he will be recognized for that once he dies.

Paraphrasing the Poem

My father is white and my mother is black.

If I ever cursed my father I take it back.

If I ever cursed my mother and wished she

went to hell I'm sorry and now I wish her well.

My father died in a nice big house.

My mother died in a shack.

I wonder where I'm going to die

because I'm not white or black?

"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 the 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 where I'm gonna die,

Being neither white nor black?