CROSS BY LANGSTON HUGHES

James Langston Hughes [1902-1967] was born in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He is the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Langston the brother of John Mercer Langston. He is the first Black American to be elected to public office. He attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he began writing poetry in the eighth grade. His father would discourage him from pursuing writing as a career, in favour of something 'more practical'. Langston's tuition fees to Columbia University were paid on the grounds that he studies engineering.

At first the poem “Cross” confused me but after about 2 times of reading, I understood exactly what was going on emotionally and culturally. I do believe he is talking about minority groups during his time. I also believe he is not only talking about where his parents and grandparents fit in. Thus, he also tries relating in to where he will fit in. He wants to know where he stands in life and where he is loved in aspect to the colour of his skin. As he says he is "neither white nor black." Furthermore, it talks about slavery, and a time period that African Americans did not have a say in any part of life at all. The speaker of this poem isn't happy about his heritage either. The speaker is angry and he identifies himself as being nobody. By the tone of the poem, I'd say that he was much closer to his mother than his father, because when he said "I'd take my curses back" it almost sounded like he was saying it out of fear instead of respect. However when he said rude things to his mother, it almost seems as though he didn't mean what he said, but at the same time he knew that his mother still loves him and would never leave him.

The poem shows that the poet lives with confusion of which race he can identify with. This is because being of a cross between two races he is neither white nor black. He is not accepted by blacks because he is white, and he is denied by whites because he is black. Through his adulthood and maturity he finally realizes that he can't blame his parents for who he is. He realizes that he can't hate his parents for his heritage and no matter what he does that's still that he is going to be. In the last stanza he is saying that his father died wealth and his mother died poor and in the last two sentences he asks where he is going to die being neither black nor white.