Point of View

Langston Hughes is written in the third person point of view. This is a natural point of view to choose for a biography because the term denotes writing about somebody else. Because it is not an autobiography, one would not expect the author to use the first person, I. Meltzer writes about Hughes from the standpoint of a fan and takes pride in Hughes' accomplishments. The biography is written in the past tense because everything that occurs in the book has already occurred in life. Since Hughes died in 1969, there is no reason to write in any other tense.

Setting

This biography is set during the years of Hughes' life, 1902-1969. Most of the story takes place in the United States, but there are portions of the biography that track Langston's activities in other countries, including Mexico, France, Spain, Russia, and China.

Hughes lived during a...