Literary Analysis of Incident - Countee Cullen

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

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.

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