A thesis statement, simply defined, is a concise sentence which lays out your view on the topic at hand. It is usually placed at the end of your introduction.
The first thing you need to do is decide which element of this poem your essay is going to discuss, as this will form the basis of your thesis statement. If you haven't been given a specific topic, they sky's the limit when it comes to what your thesis statement could be. Your thesis could pertain to the issues of patriotism that this poem raises. Alternatively, it could relate to issues of racism, freedom, or simply the structure of the poem and its rhyme scheme.
A random example of a possible thesis statement that comes to mind would be the following: "Hughes' portrayal of the American dream is that it is unattainable for some and that the notion of 'liberty and justice for all' has never been a reality."
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Constructing a thesis statement can be a challenging task, so try this approach for your essay on Langston Hughes's poem "Let America Be America Again."
First of all, decide on a subject that you would like to use to focus your argument. For example, in the poem, the speaker uses a lot of repetition, both of actual words and phrases and in the context of alliteration, where the speaker employs the repetition of specific sounds. Next, determine your focus, or in this case, what is the point of all that repetition? Your answer to this question will help guide you towards your focus. For example, the repetition could be a way to communicate gathering strength, like when someone expresses his or her anger, the longer he or she talks about it, the more the emotion intensifies. Finally, select an action verb that links your subject (the speaker's use of repetition) to your focus (the communication of intensifying emotional power) and put all of your elements together into a thesis statement, like this: The speaker's use of repetition illustrates the intensifying power of the speaker's feelings toward America.
Make sure your thesis statement is debatable and that you locate quotes and textual evidence from the poem to support your argument. Good luck!
"Let America Be America Again" was written by African American poet Langston Hughes (1902–1967), one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance. The poem discusses the United States as a country founded on idealism. It describes the American dream as a pioneer creating a life of freedom and prosperity on open land, a place where all people are equal, a place where tyrants do not oppress their inferiors, and a place where people can achieve their dreams by hard work. Hughes admires this dream but contrasts it with the actual lives of African Americans, poor whites, immigrants, laborers oppressed by wealthy corporations, and other people who are downtrodden and oppressed.
What sort of thesis you explore when writing about the poem depends on the course for which you are writing the paper and your own interests. For example, you might talk about the tension between conventional metrical form and idiomatic speech in the poem as imitating the tension between social and political structures and oppressed groups described in the poem. Another thesis you could argue would be that Hughes portrays nature and and ideal society as both elements of American greatness and sees social injustice as something artificial, a departure from a state of nature.
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