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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.
Racial inequality is at the heart of “Me and the Mule.” The poem introduces the mule as a symbol for the plight of African Americans: “My old mule, / He's gota grin on his face” (Lines 1-2). Because mules tend to be seen as obstinate creatures only fit for hard toil, this grin at first seems to be an overt marker of simplemindedness on the part of a beast of burden. The symbolic connection between the “grinning mule” and the speaker thus feels cruel and needless.
However, readers quickly see that Hughes is flipping the typical connotations of being a mule—and of being Black—on their head. He embraces the identification with the mule rather than rejecting it: “I’m like that old mule— / Black—and don't give a damn!” (Line 6). This makes it clear that the grin is doing something different in the poem. Despite the harsh treatment that the mule endures, it faces the world with a human expression that gives evidence to the intellect that its outward appearance might hide for those prone to bias. Like the mule, the speaker wants to prevent himself from internalizing the prejudice of the outside world, not giving “a damn” about racist views and proudly declaring himself to be “Black.
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
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
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
African American Literature
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American Literature
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Books About Race in America
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Books on U.S. History
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Civil Rights & Jim Crow
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Contemporary Books on Social Justice
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Diverse Voices (High School)
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Diverse Voices (Middle Grade)
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Equality
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Harlem Renaissance
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Poetry: Perseverance
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Pride & Shame
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Short Poems
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