Race as an identity has played a significant role in groups of American whose skin is darker in complexion. Unfortunately, our society has created creates stereotypes regarding the African American man and women. Reshaping of the Black identity can occur in environments where the majority do not share the racial background or when they challenge perceived image of themselves. “Theme for English B”, a poem by Langston Hughes written in 195, is a poem that deconstructs race as an identity into human connections such as culture and nationality. Hughes examines the aptitude of racial understanding has caused conflicted views in his community, he shows that his classmates or professor may not understand him, because race has become the boundary defining their social structure. He concludes his poem, by using his position as a student to become an opportunity for his professor to observe how they could relate.
The first stanza, Hughes is upfront with the complexity his professor’s assignment regarding describing his indemnity. He approaches the assignment in the second stanza, by examining how his admiration of education has influenced him to move around the country, as he begins his roots in south and establishes himself in the North. He then gives a description of his neighborhood in Harlem with its unique destinations and his room He continues, the third stanza examining how his professor thinks of him as person and shows that his neighborhood also constructs his identity. He includes Harlem, an African American neighborhood in essay, because there is sense of home and comfortability around people that look like him.
Through the third stanza, he examines how the American pop culture with music and arts, brings many American together as they may all enjoy. The American pop culture may be the only way Hughes and white classmates could relate to, as their favorite artists, actors, or musicians have a diverse audience. Hughes then determines how or why race is responsible for his passion in the American culture. His conflicting understanding of race influences him to question if his white professor examines race as a factor in his or her identity. He observes that living in country causes him and the professor to share the same identity of being Americans, as an American he wants to be as free as him. Hughes has an explicit understanding that his white professor is more privileged than him. He wants his professor to be aware to be aware that as an African American, racial tension in the country will be responsible for the distorted indent his professor has created of him. Hughes states, “Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you.”, meaning he will never get the power and privileges his white professor has in America. Even as an American, his racial background empathizes the boundaries between him and his environment. He concludes the essay on a country to learn from, his professor and wants his professor to use his presence in the class, as opportunity to learn more about with the same racial background has him.
