He had been punished for cutting through a white neighborhood in the South Side on his way home from work. That night as he tended his injuries young Hughes must have mused disturbed thoughts about fulfillment of his American dream of freedom, justice, and opportunity for all," (James Presley," The American Dream of Langston Hughes" par 1-2). These incidents impacted his life and influenced his works.
Other people influenced Langston's life in addition his grandmother. Some included Paul Laurence Dumber, Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, and Claude McKay. Paul Laurence Dumber was known as "master of dialect and standard verse." Hughes referred to Carl Sandburg as "my guiding star." He guided Hughes toward verse and a radically democratic modernist aesthetic. Claude McKay was a radical socialist and wrote accomplished writer of lyric poetry. The black churches of Laurence, Kansas were another influence in Langston Hughes" life. Hughes said the rhythms of the gospel music influenced his poetry. .
Langston Hughes was a victim of McCarthyism. McCarthyism is term referring to congressional investigation of persons suspected of communist activity during the 1950's. In March 1953 Hughes was forced to appear before "The House of Un-American Activities" where he refused to name other radicals and denied he had ever been a member of the "American Communist Party" .
Langston enjoyed a successful career until his death on May 22, 1967. He died from congestive heart failure in the Polyclinic Hospital in New York City. Hughes wrote novels, stories, poems, and plays about Negro life. "My writing has been largely with the depicting of Negro life in America," Hughes said before the day he died. This theme is evident in Hughes" short story "Thank You M"am".
"Thank You M'am" begins around 11 o"clock at night. It is very dark and a boy, later known as Roger, tries to snatch a woman's purse. Roger ran down a sidewalk, and tried to grab the woman's purse.
