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Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Technically speaking, eyes are organs in the head that help a being—person, animal, or otherwise—see the world around them. A creature can navigate the world and discern where they’re going with their eyes. In “I look at the world,” eyes have a symbolic meaning. The speaker’s eyes allow them to grasp the racist components of the society they’re in; they represent perceptions about America.
Eyes symbolize consciousness, as the speaker has “awakening eyes” (Line 2) or “eyes no longer blind” (Line 12). The speaker wasn’t asleep or blind. Rather, sight represents insight or revelations. By looking at the world, the speaker learns about their place in it. They see how racism has “[a]ssigned” (Line 5) them an unfair place in society. They envision how they can make a just world. Eyes symbolize knowledge. Through sight, the speaker gains wisdom, and, as the poem ends, they’re prepared to use their intelligence to remake the world.
In the poem, “walls” are a product of “oppression” (Line 9). The speaker explores a specific kind of oppression: Racism. Symbolically, walls separate people and confine them. In the poem, the speaker is in a “fenced-off narrow space” (Line 4). Walls symbolize the lack of freedom “[a]ssigned” (Line 5) the speaker.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Langston Hughes