Analyze the poem “I, Too” by Langston Hughes

I, Too

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–

I, too, am America.

I discovered this poem on a website and found it to be very interesting. As the author, Langston Hughes is African-Amiercan, it seems as if the literal meaning of the poem fits. I enjoy the storyline of the poem in its entirety and find it to be very intriging. I like how the poem contrasts and in a way gives two different points of the story. I can visualize the speaker metaphors.

In this poem Langston Hughes criticizes the lifestyle and face of American people in the 1930s when I search in google. The poem is centred on a black african struggle to become equal in home american. By using the title “ I, too”  the writer is trying to explain what makes up America. He means that everyone in America is an American. No matter the color of their skin, or their religion, etc.

In the beginning of the poem, when the speaker says that “I am the darker brother,” it basically just means that the speaker is different than the rest of the characters that he is referring to. He may be a African American but he is still an American. The poem continues and the speaker talks about how they send him to the kitchen to eat, it shows the racial discrimination among society. However, as the poem progresses, the speaker shows the gradual change in society’s outlook and treatment of people who are not of the same color. But when the speaker says “but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong”, it means the isolation has a positive effect on him because he becomes stronger even though he pains in that condition, he will not let kill his spirit.

And when the speaker talks about how no one will dare tell him to eat in the kitchen and talks about how beautiful he is, it shows the uprising and growing of society as a whole. And it is symbolic of  how everyone is beautiful, no matter what race or ethnicity they are.

The speaker gives a perfect closure to an excellent poem, “I, too, am America,” it means, In America, there is supposed to be no racial discrimination and freedom amongst everyone. I mean, The speakers try to give the message of the poem is black Africans have equal rights too, like every white person in the world.

I enjoy reading this poem because it’s very deep and says a mouthful and it shows that the people should to have the same freedom in the world. I mean, God created the human for one goal, everybody has the same authority. So, I am thankful to life today where I don’t have to feel the black African condition.