... while staying in Moscow. Thirty-one years at the time, Hughes had reluctantly accepted the fact that he was homosexual; he was surprised himself to find himself in love with a woman. He had a love affair. It wasn't his first, but it was the most serious. It ended when Hughes was unable to commit himself fully to the relationship as Si-Lan wanted ... continued to call for an end to racism and segregation in America. In May 1967 Langston Hughes checked himself into the New York Polyclinic Hospital, complaining of severe abdominal pains. Tests indicated he had a swollen prostate gland, and...

• Word Count: 1295
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... petulant, mischievous. To Pecola they are simply pretty. She eats the candy, and its sweetness is good. To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane." She develops an imaginary friend to whom she speaks about her new blue eyes. She belives she was given these eyes by the town Psychic ... of a child. Pecola and her family are representatives of the larger African-American community, and their name "Breedlove" is ironic because the society that they live in does not "breed love." It breeds hate: hatred of blackness, and thus hatred of oneself. M...

• Word Count: 1724
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... will not let America break him. Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth, Stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth! (1-4) The first three lines describe the life stealing heaviness that America places on the speaker. America is personified and McKay uses this device to depict the ... ...

• Word Count: 1569
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... were at the courthouse and there were no seats left in the front row. Three blacks stood so that the white children could be seated. There were also extensive literacy tests that had to be passed. Again, many of these "free" blacks had ancestors that were slaves. They were not taught to read, therefore they could not teach their children or ... they're colored, so they're just in-betweens, don't belong anywhere." He pretended to be a drunk so he didn't have to explain the fact that he was simply in love with a black woman. The alcohol, he said, gave the people an excuse to say he didn't...

• Word Count: 1427
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School