The structure and tone of "Theme for English B" helps to highlight the absurdity of racism and the interconnectedness of black and white life in America. There are six stanzas.
The first stanza is one line, the tag to a quotation, "The instructor said. . . ."
The second stanza contains the words of the professor, "Go home and write / a page tonight. / And let that page come out of you— / Then, it will be true." Then he makes a claim that the page, if it comes out of the speaker, will be true. It is interesting that the professor’s quote is a part of—and begins—the page.
In the third stanza, the speaker tells us that he is black and from the South but is now going to a school up north, where he is the only black person in his class. He descends the hill from school into Harlem and goes to his room at the Y and writes. It is interesting that this stanza ends with a semicolon, almost as if up until now he was relating a story and the words that follow the colon are the "page that [comes out of him]". This is an example of metafiction, in which the narrator calls attention to the writing process and the artificial nature of literary texts. Metafictional techniques come from the modernist tradition of questioning consciousness and reality.
In the fourth stanza, he seems to be addressing the professor. The speaker admits that it is difficult to know what is true at twenty-two years old, but he tries. Here is an example of the questioning of truth and reality metafictional works present. The irregular syntax in the rest of the stanza seem to mirror the unsure young mind of the speaker. It ends, "Me—Who?"
The fifth stanza attempts to answer that question. He likes "to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love." He likes music, "Bessie, bop, or Bach. / I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like / the same things other folks like who are other races." He says to the professor that they are a part of one another and that they learn from one another, though they often wish that wasn’t the case. The speaker says the man is “older—and white— / and somewhat more free.” The fact that the text contains the words of and references his professor points to how interconnected black and white lives are in America and around the world.
Because Hughes’s speaker again mentions race and because we because we know that this is a metafictional work, it is safe to say that Hughes is commenting on the artificialness of societal narratives, particularly the eurocentric ideology that venerates whiteness and demonizes blackness. It’s about how stories profoundly change the way the world thinks, how its systems and governments are structured, how people treat one another within them.
The sixth stanza is one line, which identifies the document: "This is my page for English B." Again we see these pieces of self-referentiality, the literary work pointing to itself, emphasizing this idea of the artificiality of narratives.
The tone throughout is conversational and polite. The speaker is not angry at the professor; there’s no vitriol. They are just two people conversing, though they are different races. This tone further highlights the absurdity of racism.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
How does the structure and tone in "Theme for English B" connect to the theme of racism?
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