THE CELEBRATED SHORT STORY COLLECTION FROM THE AMERICAN POET AND WRITER OFTEN CALLED THE 'POET LAUREATE OF HARLEM' A black maid forms a close bond with the daughter of the cruel white couple for whom she works. Two rich, white artists hire a black model to pose as a slave. A white-passing boy ignores his mother when they cross each other on the street. Written with sardonic wit and a keen eye for the absurdly unjust, these fourteen stories about racial tensions are as relevant today as the day they were penned, and linger ...
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THE CELEBRATED SHORT STORY COLLECTION FROM THE AMERICAN POET AND WRITER OFTEN CALLED THE 'POET LAUREATE OF HARLEM' A black maid forms a close bond with the daughter of the cruel white couple for whom she works. Two rich, white artists hire a black model to pose as a slave. A white-passing boy ignores his mother when they cross each other on the street. Written with sardonic wit and a keen eye for the absurdly unjust, these fourteen stories about racial tensions are as relevant today as the day they were penned, and linger in the mind long after the final page is turned. 'Powerful, polemical pieces' New York Times 'Some of the best stories that have appeared in this country in years' North American Review
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In 1934, the African American poet Langston Hughes (1902 -- 1967) published his first collection of short stories, "The Ways of White Folks", all of which have as a theme the strong force of racial prejudice. The stories show how even the behavior toward black Americans of well-meaning, liberal white Americans in the 1930s had a racist and patronizing tone. The stories are told with a mixture of irony,humor, and sarcasm. They are written with a brisk style, with the attention to rhythm, precise speech, and the telling detail that mark Hughes as a poet. The stories show the difficulties that Hughes believed stood in the way of racial relationships of equality. Yet Hughes qualifies the title of his collection in the motto for the book, to mean "some" white folks. Hughes quotes from his character Berry in one of the stories of the collection. Aware that he is being patronized, exploited and underpaid in his work at a home for disabled children, Berry says:
"the ways of white folks, I mean some white folks, is too much for me. I reckon they must be a few good ones, but most of 'em aint' good -- leastwise they don't treat me good. And Lawd knows, I aint' never done nothin' to 'em, nothin' a-tall."
The fourteen stories in this collection are set in varying parts of the United States, Midwest, East, and South, and involve individuals of varying economic and educational levels. Many of the stories involve themes of sexuality or of music. The most famous and probably the best of the stories is the first one in the book, "Cora Unashamed". This story is set in a small town in South Dakota. The title character is a member of the only black family in town and she has worked for years as a maid for a white family, the Studevants, who treat her with indifference. Cora has a strong sense of pride in herself and in her sexuality. As a young woman she had a child out of wedlock with a white man, the only lover she ever had. The child died as an infant. Cora remembers the man, the affair and the child with love and pride. When the young Studevant daughter finds herself pregnant by a young foreign-born man in town whom she loves, Cora comforts and supports her and bluntly breaks the news to her parents. The Studevants want nothing of the baby and take the girl to have an abortion which proves fatal. At the funeral, Cora rises to speak: "They killed you! And for nothin'... They killed your child. ... They took you away from here in the Springtime of your life, and now you'se gone, gone, gone!" Cora lives the rest of her life alone, with her family on the outskirts of the town.
Two of the stories in the collection, "Home" and "The Blues I'm Playing" center upon black Americans with a deep involvement in both classical music and in jazz and blues. These stories show Hughes' love for all forms of music and his understanding of the classics, as well as of the blues. Music works in these stories as a figure to show what black and white Americans share and also what deeply divides them. Both the stories are rewarding, but I will discuss only the first of them, called "Home".
In "Home" a young man, Roy, returns to his small midwestern town in Missouri after several years spent in Europe. He has been playing his violin at cabarets during the evening to support his study of classical violin with the finest teachers during the day. Upon his return, with his Europeanized dress and manners and his musical gift the white people of the town mock Roy. Both white and black people, however, are moved by a concert of classical music he gives at a local church -- for most of them it marked their first exposure to classical music. An elderly white music teacher at the local high school recognizes Roy's talent and has him play his violin for the students at the all-white school. One evening, when Roy and the teacher meet by chance downtown n late in the evening and exchange some words about music, the passersby assume a rape is about to take place and brutally assault and lynch him. The story concludes "And when the white folks left his brown body, stark naked, strung from a tree at the edge of town, it hung there all night, like a violin for the wind to play."
Other stories in the collection that I thought particularly good are "Passing" in which a young man on his way up refuses to acknowledge his African American mother, "Red-Headed Baby" which discusses an experience between a young white sailor and a woman in in a brothel, "Berry", which I mentioned earlier, and "One Christmas Eve", a story about an African American domestic and the ill treatment meted out to her and her young son.
The message of these stories remain important to contemporary American life. Hughes' writing raises these stories to the level of literature.
Robin Friedman
EmannuelVerette
Nov 23, 2010
The Ways
This book captivated my mind and spirit and I embarked upon a spiritual journey of sadness joy anger and fear. I stopped and cried. What heartache your pain is that it breaks my heart too. There is no more gently powerful description of folks lives: their longings their hopes and dreams their sorrows and shame. The real deal real truth of what the ways of people are. It is about white and black people and how they dance the funky dance of making it all make some kind of sense. Seeking justice and if no justice at least some small measure of understanding. Relating with eyes wide open. yea
