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Ian teaches college writing and has a Master's in Writing and Publishing
by Langston Hughes
I am your son, white man!
Georgia dusk
And the turpentine woods.
One of the pillars of the temple fell.
You are my son!
Like Hell!
The moon over the turpentine woods.
The Southern night
Full of stars,
Great big yellow stars.
What's a body but a toy?
Juicy bodies
Of nigger wenches
Blue black
Against black fences.
O, you little bastard boy,
What's a body but a toy?
The scent of pine wood stings the soft night air.
What's the body of your mother?
Silver moonlight everywhere.
Sharp pine scent in the evening air.
A nigger night,
A nigger joy,
A little yellow
Bastard boy. Naw, you ain't my brother.
Niggers ain't my brother.
Not ever.
Niggers ain't my brother.
The Southern night is full of stars,
Great big yellow stars.
O, sweet as earth,
Dusk dark bodies
Give sweet birth
To little yellow bastard boys.
Git on back there in the night,
You ain't white
The bright stars scatter everywhere.
Pine wood scent in the evening air.
A nigger night,
A nigger joy. I am your son, white man!
A little yellow
Bastard boy.
''Mulatto'' is the story of a mixed-race son approaching his white father and being rejected. The father refuses to recognize the speaker as his son, since he's not white -- he's a ''little yellow bastard boy'' who should ''git on back there in the night.'' And his mother is just a ''toy,'' not a person, because of her race. But by the end of the poem, the speaker reclaims that night, and his heritage, from his racist father -- it's a ''nigger night, a nigger joy.'' He proudly reminds the other character: ''I am your son, white man!''
The Harlem Renaissance really began around 1917, as African-Americans who had moved to New York - Harlem, to be exact - started creating and performing written works, plays, art, and music at places like The Apollo and the Savoy Ballroom, many of which are still around today. Mainstream (white) cultural acceptance of art by African-American creators paved the way for many artists working today; without Langston Hughes, we might not have Kanye West.
Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald were among the many jazz musicians who got their start during this time. Writers who became famous during the Harlem Renaissance include Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and, of course, Langston Hughes.
Hughes, himself of mixed-race, was especially interested in showing what everyday life was like for African-Americans during this time. This shows up especially in poems like ''Mulatto'' in which Hughes confronts common issues like racism and poverty. Hughes saw finding self-worth as a virtue, even in the face of extreme poverty and racial prejudice.
This idea of accepting yourself as a mixed-race person in the face of racism really defines ''Mulatto.'' The poem moves from the speaker, who proudly says ''I am your son, white man!'' to the white man, who can't even consider the idea. To the white man, the body of the speaker's mother is just a toy - not even human - so she can't have a child.
Most likely, Hughes would have struggled with some of these same issues, or at least have seen them in action. He was of mixed-race, though his father accepted him more than the father in ''Mulatto'' does, and aimed his poetic eye at the kind of racism that mixed-race people experience specifically. When he does so, Hughes is also able to examine the relationships in general between white and black people.
The message of ''Mulatto'' comes in the second half of the poem, starting with the line ''O, sweet as earth.'' The speaker affirms that, yes, black women can give birth too, and yes, again, ''I am your son, white man!'' The speaker affirms his own humanity and the humanity of his mother, and together they stand in for all African-American and mixed-race people.
Langston Hughes was highly influenced in his writing style by the rhythms of jazz music popular during the Harlem Renaissance. Rhyme and repetition, two jazz-inflected techniques, are especially strong in ''Mulatto.''
Several key ideas repeat throughout the poem. There's the lines ''I am your son, white man!'' and ''little yellow bastard boy,'' and the references to the pine scent and the stars in the ''Southern night.'' Hughes doesn't just repeat words for no reason, though. Each time an image or phrase returns, it's slightly transformed. ''Little yellow bastard boy,'' for example, starts off as a slur directed at the speaker, but by the end of the poem it becomes a badge of pride.
Although ''Mulatto'' doesn't have a traditional rhyme scheme, it uses rhyme to assist its rhythm. ''Wenches'' and ''fences,'' ''earth'' and ''birth,'' ''toy'' ''joy'' and ''bastard boy'' all cause the reader to slow down and pay attention. These lines stick in your mind, and the rhyme is what gives them that power.
''Mulatto,'' by Langston Hughes, tells the story of a mixed-race narrator confronting his white father. The father rejects the narrator, but the narrator is able to accept himself through the experience. He's proud to be a ''little yellow bastard boy,'' even in the face of racism and hate. This theme is common in Hughes' work and in his life. A leading voice in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s, Hughes uses the jazz techniques of his time, like rhyme and repetition, to make the poem stick in the reader's mind.
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American Literature: Help and Review14 chapters | 280 lessons | 1 flashcard set
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