THEME FOR ENGLISH B

By Langston Hughes

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you---
Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it's that simple?

I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me

at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York too.) Me---who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.

But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white---
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me---
although you're older---and white---
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

Retrieved from Keith’s Poetry archive at http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/English_B.html on 12th

October, 2010.

So will my page be colored that I write?

The poem talks about a ‘coloured’ American man’s assignment given to him by a white English
B class teacher. He has been given a vague statement as his assignment, and what he has
generally been asked to do is to write a page on something that comes out of him, and thus it
should be true. The man questions the simplicity of the assignment, however proceeds to write a
page about himself. What is described touches on the theme of racial equality. He is explaining
that despite having a different pigmentation of the skin, he does practically everything the same
way as any other person in that time. He says,

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.

I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.

He then poses the important question

‘So will my page be coloured that I write?’

What we find odd is that here, even the question that the persona poses is wrongly structured.
We see that he says ‘So will my page be colored that I write?’ instead of ‘So will the page I write
be colored?’ Is this a coincidence? I think not. He deliberately did that so that people could easily
fall into the trap of giving the common excuse for racial discrimination : ‘ The man wasn’t in the
English B class because of his race but because he wasn’t fluent enough in the English
language.’ But in reality, he isn’t the only one in English B, which shows that he was put in
English B because of his race, since he says ‘I am the only colored student in my class.’

In essence he is questioning the grounds on which racial discrimination is based on. What he
means by his question is that everyone can like the same things he does and vice versa, thus
should what he say be based on race the same way everyone is basing it? He is wondering
whether his race will affect how the teacher thinks about his assignment. He has this presumption
that whatever he writes may not be true according to the teacher, not just because the latter is
older than him but because he is of a different race. He says
 ‘As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me---
although you're older---and white---
and somewhat more free.’

This question also touches on the aspect of communication. The poet wonders whether the same
things that other people would say will be interpreted differently according to the race. He asks if
his page would be coloured, meaning ‘Will my work be classified or discriminated according to
my skin color or will it be taken equally to everyone else’s?’ and ‘Will people discard the
message in my poem in favor of paying more attention to the origin of the poet?’

I would say that in that time, the source I used mentions that it was the year 1951, people were
racially discriminative, and that they would despise the message in the poem due to the color of
the skin of the poet. This is in contrast to the poet who is quite liberal, as he expresses his views
of racial equality under the umbrella of being Americans. He says,

You are white---

yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me.