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On the Way Home by Langston Hughes Although race is a constant theme in Langston Hughes writings, critics note his ability to write about essentially racial themes while delineating the personal circumstances of each main character (Votteler 108). In On the Way Home, Hughes relates a mans grief over the death of his mother without specifying the race of the characters (Votteler 108). A close critique of the story proves to be interesting. I will analyze On the Way Home, by Langston Hughes, in terms of symbols, characters, and conflicts. First I will analyze? On the Way Home?
in terms of symbols. For example, there is a symbol which appears throughout the story, the color yellow. When Ireland the color yellow to everyday life, I find that it means be careful, caution, oslo down. The symbol in the story was related to the same way.
This symbol was a bottle of yellow wine. Remember, ? Carl was not what you would call a drinking man? (Hughes 169). Carl purchased a bottle of wine after he receive the telegram from the Rossiters about his mother? s illness.
He knew that his mother may die. The bottle of wine was used as a false security of comfort forums grief over his mother. Carl promised his mother not to drink at all (Hughes 169). Carl knew that he should not drink but he decided to do it anyway. Carlsmother had always stressed to him not to drink. In the opening of the story, its said that Carl?
s father was a drunkard. Another symbols is Carl? s mother. Inthe story, she represented a sense of security to Carl. ?
She had raised him[Carl]with almost too much kindness (Hughes 169). The third symbol was a bath of warm water. The following passage from the story proves my point: ? The water in the tub was warm like the wine.
He felt good[sitting in the tub] remembering a dark grassy slope in a corner of his mother? s yard? (Hughes 172). Carl uses this as a security blanket to cover his guilt about drinking and his mother illness (Emanuel 133). The bath was a symbol of cleanliness to washday all of his problems. His bath and drinking backfired and he ended up missing his bus home.
Carl really needed to slowdown and think about what has doing. Next I will analyze? On the Way Home? , by Langston Hughes in terms ofthe characters. For example, the main character in On the Way Home is Carl Anderson. ? Carl is an office worker who has moved to Chicago from is hometown of Sommerville. Lonely, sexually repressed, and something of a mamas boy, he returns home once a month to enjoy the old-fashioned pleasures of popcorn and cider with his mother? (Hughes 133).
Carl, being away from home, looked forward to a new era of independence. He? wants to grow and resist growth at the same time? (Hughes 133). Another character is Carl? s mother. Inthe story she is gravely ill, on her death bed.
It is implied that she was a bit overprotective of Carl, even in his adulthood. She instilled moral and values in Carla's indicated in this passage: ? Be sweet Carl. Be a good boy.
Keep clean. Mother loves you. Be sweet- and remember what you? re taught at home? (Hughes 173).
The last character was a bar room lady, possibly a hooker. After Carl realizes that he missed he bus home. He decides to go into a bar a drink some more. He orders a drink and a lady wishes to join him.
She tries to pick Carl up to gnome with her as he orders a drink. Carl is drunk and confused during their conversation. This passage proves the point: ? I?
ll have to take you home to my house[said by the bar room lady], little boy. ? . ? Home? ? Carl said. ? HomeHome I Home? [then he wept like a kid] (Hughes 176). She knew that something was troubling Carl. She offers to get him home.
Last I will analyze? On the Way Home? by Langston Hughes in terms of conflicts. For example, the conflict in this story is the indivisibility of freedom and responsibility.
Carl looks forward avidly to the new era of sexual freedom that his mothers death will make possible. But he is not prepared to give up the security his mother provided. James Emanuel, a critic of short stories, perceives the story as a myth of rebirth and renewal: It is a story of a man whom death brings painfully into the world a second time, in a rebirth made necessary by a superfluity of maternal love (Emanuel 133). Another point is in Emanuel's interview with Hughes, Hughes stated: Ive known two of three people who in the presence of death go to pieces in a drunken way and think theyre having a good time (Votteler 133).
So basically from those remarks made, Carl is barred from manhood by his childish emotions. He is substituting one form of a dependency for another[quote of James Emanuel] (Votteler 133). I have analyze On the Way Home in terms of symbols, characters, and conflicts. Although Hughes did not share the popular appeal of the more militant writers who began to emerge in the late 1960 s. Nevertheless, critics commonly agree that Hughes holds a prominent place in American literature and among writers of short fiction. Arthur P.
Davis stated: His short stories from a world officio built with truth and a special love- a little civilization shaped high purpose and steadfast integrity (Davis 108).
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Research essay sample on Bottle Of Wine Langston Hughes
