RUNNINGHEAD: The Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance



[Date of Submission]

[Date of Submission]

The Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance

PART I

Langston Hughes in his poem Negro speaks of rivers talks about the African American or the “Negro” race. His reference to I is actually to the whole Negro race, which he compares to the old Rivers that give life. He says that Negros understand the elemental forces that were before the time of civilizations. He uses the rivers as analogies to depict human blood in human veins; similarly, the rivers are the part of his body and soul. He shows how old the Negro race is by saying that “I have bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young”. He further describes the race's relations to the famous and culturally rich civilizations in Africa and Middle East. The Euphrates, flowing Turkey, Syria and Iraq, the Congo originating from central Africa and flowing to the Atlantic, the Nile, flowing from Uganda Africa through Egypt. He uses these rivers to show a sense of kinship with all the civilizations, just like all the rivers meet up at one point or the other.

During the Time of Hughes, Negro perceptions in the Western world were of a tribal and primitive society, more in touch with nature. This is what he depicts earlier in his poem. But after his visit to Africa, Hughes realized that Negros were simply a ravaged culture and symbolizes the lost roots.

PART IIIn Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited", Charlie goes up to Dr. Phil and explains on TV

“I have atoned for my crimes of the past. During the time of my marriage with Helen in Paris, I spent all my time and money on drinks and sins. But I have sobered up. The death of my wife and the problems we had even before, ...