Langston Hughes’s poem, “Theme for English B” from “Montage of a Dream Deferred” was published in an issue of Common Ground in September 1949. Interestingly enough, “Theme for English B” is only one of three poems in the entire issue, which is mostly a compilation of short stories and essays. A running theme throughout the issue is American identity, especially from the perspective of outsiders, immigrants, or descendants of immigrants. For example, here is a poem from Oliver Hale (pen name for New-York born Oscar Hirschmann) entitled “The Indivisible”:
As if in me I feel my brother’ s heart
sustaining life; his spirit leavens me,
and all his aspects are of mine a part,
whose source reveals a mutual destiny.
My brother is not white, my brother is
not black; not all his features can define
a lineage that is distinctly his,
opposed to that which seems expressly mine.
Let eagles claw or wolves tear at us both,
and royal blood will stain on either skin,
and flesh disclose the same imperial growth
of dazzling structures equally within.
We are love’s multi-numbered twins, in Time
and Nature one; Out of the dark we came
and shall return, life’s fleeting paradigm,
and leave behind the memoir of a name.
Hale’s take on racial tensions seems to be much more unifying than that of Hughes’s who points out the differences between the experiences of white and black, unlike Hale whose “brother is not white/ my brother is not black” (5-6). This is quite different from what’s presented in “Theme for English B” when Hughes says “You are white- / yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. / That’s American. / Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. / Nor do I often want to be a part of you.” (31-35). While still connecting those of white and black descent in the identity of America, Hughes’s connection is far more hesitant than what’s present in Hale’s poem.
The theme of America from the outside is presented again in Mikhail Jeleznov’s essay “Part Time Americans” which details the experience of Russians coming to America and his experience as an immigrant. Jeleznov writes “Our attitude toward the Americans was a mixed one. We envied them a little; they had a country they could call their own. It was, moreover, a fairly nice country; not like Russia but, in the long run, not a bad one” (49). Unlike Hale and even Hughes, Jeleznov’s experience of America never seeks in any fashion to meld Russians and Americans, even as he presents his experience of the Russians trying to carve out a place for themselves in the country. Rather, the Russians in Jeleznov’s essay function by putting on the face of Americans when they feel they must, but remain wholly Russian in their private lives.
One final piece in the issue of note is “Italian to the Moon Over New York” by Joe Papaleo, an Italian immigrant. Like Jeleznov’s essay, the poem recounts Papaleo’s experience coming to America. Papaleo addresses the moon, remembering how it “followed the ship / whose hopeful ones dreamed/ of a golden trip / to a golden city.” Later on in the poem, Papaleo portrays difficulties such as having his accent mocked as he tries to find happiness and identity in a new country.
The publication of “Theme for English B” within this context seems quite fitting, as Hughes, like the aforementioned writers, is very interested in identities and how concepts like race and prejudice figure in to the construction of America. Hughes’s perspective of an African-American fits what strikes as a wide presentation of diversity: a magazine issue that offers the experiences of writers such as Russian and Italian immigrants, and the work of a (presumably) Jewish author in addition to that of Hughes.
