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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.
Anne is a privileged white woman who lives a bohemian lifestyle in Greenwich Village. Her name echoes “Miss Ann,” the 20th-century equivalent of “Karen” and a reference to her inability to recognize her own privilege. Anne is a relatively static character who sees herself as a painter and a benevolent patron to the Black servants who work in her home. Anne is fascinated with Black culture and with Luther particularly, so much so that she ignores how unsuited he is to work as a gardener.
Over the course of the story, Anne encroaches on Luther’s boundaries, which culminates in her decision to paint him in the nude for her The Boy on the Block, a painting of a naked slave on the auction block that she intends to fix the sorrow of Black people on canvas. Anne is not just fascinated with Black culture: The more she paints Luther, the more she objectifies his body.
By the end of the story, she’s so attracted to Luther as an object that she asks her husband to reconsider firing him after Luther violates two of the core tenets of white supremacy: that Black people must always be deferential to white people and that Black men must be particularly deferential to white women.
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
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
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
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