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Literary Analysis of Incident - Countee Cullen |
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The poem that I chose to analyze is titled Incident written by Countee Cullen. I chose this poem because in so little words it says so much. It conveys so much feeling and emotion. Incident was written in the 1920’s at a time when people of color were greatly discriminated against. Many public places like schools and restaurants were segregated. Through the experience of an eight-year-old boy Cullen illustrates some of the things black people encountered during that time period.
The character in this poem begins his trip to Baltimore full of joy and excitement. He sees a boy from Baltimore about his age staring at him. Thinking he could possibly make a friend he smiled, but was totally unprepared for the boy’s reaction. Instead of a friendly gesture in return the boy stuck out his tongue and called him a “nigger.” As you could imagine the boy’s feelings were hurt. Out of all the things he experienced
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Below are additional random excerpts from the paper...
Heart-filled, head filled with glee,
After reading that poem I felt sympathy for the young boy and mad at the “Baltimorean” for being so cruel. This poem appealed to my emotions and moved me. It was a shame that someone at his tender age of eight had to encounter such discrimination. The boy’s innocence and naive ness is what makes readers feel sorry for him. I think that is why Cullen chose to make the character in his poem so young. If the boy had been a grown man instead I don’t think his readers would have had the same reaction because in that time period that incident was nothing out of the ordinary. It was common to hear of a black man experiencing that kind of discrimination and things far worse like lynching.
Some topics in this essay:
Countee Cullen,
Baltimore Heart-filled,
,
Baltimore December,
cullen chose,
tongue called “nigger”,
called “nigger”,
tongue called,
countee cullen,
liked poem,
incident written,
character poem,
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Approximate Word count = 617
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)  |
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