ON THE ROAD

It's a story On the Road - Langston Hughes



On the Road - Langston Hughes

Thesis Statement

“The theme of inequality continues to be extremely hurtful to people today”

The Story

Sargeant, an African American vagrant, seeking food and shelter, arrives in Reno, Nevada, in late 1934 in the midst of a dangerous snowstorm, it is bitterly cold, but his overwhelming concern is to find food. To him, the snow falls almost undetected; he is too hungry, sleepy, and tired to notice the storm. The first potential refuge that Sargeant encounters is a parsonage. Its occupant, the Reverend Mr. Dorset, opens the parsonage door and sees Sargeant as “a human piece of the night with snow on his face” standing on his porch. Before Sargeant can open his mouth, Dorset directs him to the local relief shelter, emphatically stating that he cannot stay at the parsonage.

The parsonage door shuts in Sargeant's face before he can say that he has already been to the relief shelter and that it is not open to his kind. Sargeant recalls his vast experience with similar relief shelters, which are usually out of beds, out of food, and out of bounds for him.

As Sargeant stands outside the forbidden parsonage, he connects it to the large church next door — one with two large doors. Dazed by hunger and cold, he stands before the church steps observing its high, arched doors, with pillars on each side, balanced higher up by a window displaying a crucifix with a stone Christ hanging from it. As he gazes at the crucifix, Sargeant notices the snow again and feels the cold and hunger more than before. He climbs the church steps and knocks at the doors, but no one comes. He then pushes with all of his strength against the doors, which begin to give, but not before calling attention to his actions. Several white people are alarmed by his actions, but he explains that he simply needs a place to sleep.

Just as, the doors give way, two white police officers pull up to the church and attempt to stop Sargeant. As he resists, he grabs an armhold on one of the church pillars. The police beat him over the head, and the church falls down.

Sargeant dreams: The whole church falls down in the snow, bystanders, police, and all. He picks up a stone pillar and throws it six blocks up the street and continues walking, the crunch of his shoes loud on the snow. Sargeant discovers that Christ is walking beside him. He is startled but realizes that this is the first time he has ever seen Christ off the cross, apparently a consequence of the church's falling down. They both laugh.

The conversation between Christ and Sargeant continues as they walk toward a hobo jungle, an apparently safe place for Sargeant, but Christ has other plans. He is going on to Kansas City. Sargeant enters the hobo jungle, sleeps, and at 6:00 a.m. here's a train, wakes up, and pulls himself ...