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The South Summary
The Southern United States is here equated with a child-minded but strong person and, later, with a beautiful and seductive woman. The poet ultimately chooses to flee to the less attractive North because there he will be safer with his children.
The South Analysis
Hughes' personification of the South is evocative. The South is said to be a beast-strong idiot who scratches in the ashes of a dead fire looking for the Negro's bones. Hughes here expresses the unrelenting cruelty of Southern racism. It is not enough for blacks to be incinerated. The murderer is filled with a vindictive rage that drives him to seek the bones of the Negro for further insult. When Hughes calls the South a passionate whore whom he longs to love, he is speaking of the deep but fraught bond formed between Southern blacks and the...
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This section contains 206 words (approx. 1 page at 400 words per page) |
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