18 pages • 36 minutes read
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.
“I, Too” consists of one extended metaphor. The metaphor centers around the domestic image of a dinner table: The people who eat at it and those who are excluded. The only indication Hughes gives that this poem is about race is when he identifies himself as the “darker brother” (Line 2). The rest of the poem builds on the imagery of the dinner table and the treatment Hughes receives there.
The dinner table image functions as a metaphor for American society and the treatment of its citizens. The dinner table and the coming together of people around it are traditional American images. The Thanksgiving holiday celebrates the sharing of a meal between the Pilgrims and Native Americans. The Fourth of July and other major holidays in America typically feature the gathering of people and sharing of food. By describing himself as someone whom white people have denied a seat, Hughes illustrates the mistreatment of African Americans. He asserts that he is someone who not only belongs at the table, but someone who will thrive there. His exclusion is the loss of those who deny him, and he will not suffer because of it.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
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