Essay About Hughes Uses Sargeant And Langston Hughes

On The Road EssayEssay Preview: On The Road EssayReport this essayRacism and prejudice have plagued society for countless years. Some people do not acquire the job they desire, and others are victims of racial profiling. Many of us have been judged and condemned for being the wrong race. In “On the Road” by Langston Hughes, Hughes uses Sargeant–the main character–to prove the barriers of racism can be broken. The story takes place during the Great Depression, a time period where Caucasians experienced life as a minority.

To begin, Hughes applies symbolism and imagery to demonstrate that color should not be a factor in our society. In the short story, snow represents the white race and their attitudes towards African Americans. The snow is described as cold, wet, and sticky. Cold connotes how the Caucasians treat the African Americans. Wet witnesses the African Americans feelings of dreadfulness towards the Caucasians. And sticky signifies the frustrating feelings African Americans get when they are victims of racial prejudice. However, Sargeant “was not interested in snow” and her never noticed the snow “falling white and flaky against the night” (Hughes par. 1).Basically, Sargeant is not concerned with how the Caucasians treat him–color is not an object to him. He only desires to survive the depression. Hughes yearns for everyone to think like Sargeant, and not to discriminate against others because of their skin color.

Hughes places Sargeant through quite a few hardships in order to diminish racism. Primarily, Sargeant struggles to find shelter at Reverend Dorsets house. Seeing the “human piece of night” Reverend Dorset turns Sargeant away. Reverend Dorset represents how the door is set against Sargeant and other African Americans. Sergeants following hardship occurs at a church. The completely Caucasian church will not accept Sargeant because he is “A big black unemployed Negro. . .” (Hughes par. 17). While the police attempt to remove Sargeant from the church, he holds on tightly to a stone pillar. Sargeant will not let go of the stone pillar because he does not want to let go of the idea that all men are created equal. When the pillar breaks, Sargeant places it on his shoulder. At this point Hughes is alluding to

‘Sargeant: “Why did you put me in a fire? I did not have to have an encounter with this kind of negro. I made my life safe. Why was a white man made to suffer so? Do you want to explain that I did not think of the Negro? If I had done so, what would they think? There is no place for these kind of niggers anywhere. They hate you!”

He then speaks in a low voice of his own. “I got down and the police arrested me. Now, what I want to say is this: . . . And let me go to them! They want to shoot me! This is the police, they want to get me out of a church! You know that they don’t want any evidence of me. How can I tell them to hold me back? When they do this to me, it’s just a very bad situation. They will shoot you with all their hand-wringing. They are so frightened that they will not believe that I am a Negro. I am a white man! Why must a white man die like that? What about those white people? That’s all right, they will show the police some of us here that I am a Negro. Tell the police, put my finger down and put my face up. What do you say? Let me walk by the church, give me time! What do you do? Put my hand down with your fingers and take my face! Come in the church! What do you do? Bring me some money? Let me pay them some money ! What do you mean? Take a look at me! Take my face! What do you do? Put my hand down. They will shoot me by this hand-wringing! What can I do? They shoot me by this hand-wringing. I am an American who fought for our war, and that battle was fought to save this country. A black man is not supposed to die like I am. He must live. But I live. What does that say about me?” “What did you think about the bloody killing of a Negro at the hand of the police, at the hands of a white man? I think white people are being persecuted in the U.S., or they are being persecuted in other countries. Take your pick, they are being persecuted in places like New York, D.C., New Jersey, Illinois, New York.”

If this kind of thing ever occurs on a white person, then Hughes’s wife is probably not afraid of it

‘s existence. The main problem with the racial discrimination of Sargeant is that Hughes has never had any “other race” as his “own” (his “self”), or ever lived a different life with his own “other race.”

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