Let America Be America Again Youtube
Let America Be America Again | Quotes
1.
Permit America be America once again.
Narrator
Hughes is calling for the U.s. to uphold and fulfill the promise of the American dream. This line, which is used twice in the verse form and serves equally its title, explicitly states Hughes's promise for the future.
two.
(America never was America to me.)
Narrator
The problem with America is first stated in the parenthetical lines of Stanzas 2, four, and half dozen. Hughes, an African American, has non had the same experiences in the United States as privileged white people. Because of the color of his skin, he is denied the freedoms and opportunities promised by the founders of the state. The land he experiences has never been the dwelling of the free. This parenthetical aside, and the two following ones, are important besides considering of their structure. The parentheses bespeak the line is to be said in a quieter voice, equally if the speaker is trying to sneak something in. This is representative of the silencing of minority voices in the United states.
iii.
Say, who are you that mumbles in the night?
Narrator
An outside voice flowing into the poem in Stanza 7, depicted in italics, directly responds to the speaker's parenthetical asides, posing a question to the speaker. After this, Hughes drops the italics and allows the speaker to answer freely to the unknown questioner—and speak his mind with a total and confident voice.
4.
Of grab the aureate! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Narrator
Stanza nine, in which these assertions announced, is almost "the fellow, full of strength and promise" who is trying to claim his share of the American dream. This stanza is full of short, action-packed phrases that brainstorm with "of," and create a feeling of frenzied greed. This is how he views privileged white people: grabbing as much as they can as fast as they can without it e'er beingness enough.
five.
I am the people, apprehensive, hungry, mean.
Narrator
The speaker doesn't just speak for himself in this verse form—he speaks for all oppressed peoples, including African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, and poor whites. These are the people for whom the American dream does not be. They struggle to survive, while the powerful and wealthy thrive.
6.
However I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream.
Narrator
The situational irony in the American dream is that the people who beginning envisioned it—the oppressed from other parts of the world—accept no chance of achieving it today. With the exception of Native Americans and well-nigh Africans, the ancestors of today'south oppressed populations came to America to commencement new lives where equality and liberty were promised to all. They did the back-breaking labor of building the nation, and their descendants keep information technology running smoothly. These are the people who should benefit from the promises of the American dream, non the moneyed elite.
7.
To build a 'homeland of the free.' / The free?
Narrator
The immigrants who first came to the United states of america did then to build a place where all people could be free. But that didn't actually happen. Stanza 12—"The free?"—is a pin point where Hughes goes from talking about the ideals upheld by America'due south founders to the reality of oppression today.
eight.
Who said the free? Non me?
Narrator
The speaker insists he would never classify the United States as being the homeland of the free. His emphatic denial indicates no minority population would ever hold with the assertion that America was founded on the principles of liberty.
9.
The millions who have nothing for our pay— / Except the dream that's well-nigh dead today.
Narrator
Hughes pays particular attention to the denial of economic freedoms. Minorities and the lower classes are forced to take low-paying jobs and struggle to survive. Prejudice and discrimination prevent them from getting improve jobs. Even so in that location remains the nagging thought that if they worked harder they would be able to achieve the ever-elusive American dream. But such a thought is no alleviation. The American dream is piffling more than a fantasy that will never come truthful.
10.
The steel of freedom does not stain.
Narrator
Stanza fifteen is a part of the poem where Hughes straight addresses the prejudice and racism faced by many minorities. The speaker says it doesn't affair what "ugly proper name[southward]" people call him—when a person is free, hateful language and deportment exercise not make an impact. Freedom is like a shield that protects one from destructive exterior forces.
xi.
Nosotros must take back our state again, / America!
Narrator
The speaker constantly refers to the The states as belonging to him or to a group of people. Hughes sees the U.s. as belonging to the oppressed, not the privileged. It is up to the former to take back the land and plough information technology into what it is supposed to be: a land of freedom and opportunity.
12.
And yet I swear this oath— / America volition be!
Narrator
In Stanza xvi the speaker avows his desire to make the United states a land of liberty and opportunity for all people, not merely the wealthy and powerful. His promises and calls to action increase in intensity as the poem draws to a close.
thirteen.
We, the people, must redeem.
Narrator
This is an allusion to the preamble of the U.s.a. Constitution. Hughes reiterates the thought that it is up to the oppressed to effect change in the United states of america. Hither his rallying cry assumes a more formal, authoritative feeling—resembling phrases from the founding documents of the United States.
fourteen.
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
Narrator
Until this point, Hughes has portrayed America every bit an intangible, theoretical concept. This is where information technology becomes concrete. Readers connect Hughes's ideas about liberty, oppression, equality, and opportunity to physical features of the Usa—which makes his argument all the more real.
xv.
And make America once again!
Narrator
Hughes is non saying people need to make America bang-up again. He's saying that they demand for the very first time to make it into the country it was ever supposed to exist. America has never been the state at the root of the American dream, merely the oppressed masses can finally make information technology that fashion.
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