Hughes
In his 1949 essay "Bop", Langston Hughes discusses "be-bop", a popular style of music in the 40's. He uses another character, Simple, to describe the music and why it is special to only the colored people.
Hughes uses vernacular wording to paint a picture of the craziness of bop music. The words spoken are not actually words but syllables and sounds, crazy sounds in this crazy music. When the author asks what the difference between re- and be-bop, Simple tells Hughes that the difference is race. Of course, it's always race to Simple, but the way he describes the reasoning behind why only colored people understand be-bop takes us to the streets of a 1940's street riot. Simple says that "bop" and "mop" sound is heard when the police beat on the heads of the negro people. So why can't white people appreciate good bop music? Because they are not being treated the way the blacks are, according to our main character. He argues that "folks who ain't suffered much cannot play Bop, neither appreciate it" (Hughes 191). Therefore he is implying that re-bop is different from be-bop because re-bop, an imitation of be-bop performed by white people, does not have the same pain and soul behind it as be-bop does, it does not come from the same dark days. Hughes uses the word nonsense a lot in this essay. I believe that he is using a certain word to paint a certain picture of misunderstanding. It will be nonsense to who ever does not understand this type of music, and his misunderstanding will be nonsense to anyone who perfectly understands it.
Simple tells the author that white people cannot understand bop the way black people do. Do you think Langston Hughes is white because of this, or is he more of a black man trying hard to fit into the white world? Or maybe he has not been through what Simple has?
Hughes uses vernacular wording to paint a picture of the craziness of bop music. The words spoken are not actually words but syllables and sounds, crazy sounds in this crazy music. When the author asks what the difference between re- and be-bop, Simple tells Hughes that the difference is race. Of course, it's always race to Simple, but the way he describes the reasoning behind why only colored people understand be-bop takes us to the streets of a 1940's street riot. Simple says that "bop" and "mop" sound is heard when the police beat on the heads of the negro people. So why can't white people appreciate good bop music? Because they are not being treated the way the blacks are, according to our main character. He argues that "folks who ain't suffered much cannot play Bop, neither appreciate it" (Hughes 191). Therefore he is implying that re-bop is different from be-bop because re-bop, an imitation of be-bop performed by white people, does not have the same pain and soul behind it as be-bop does, it does not come from the same dark days. Hughes uses the word nonsense a lot in this essay. I believe that he is using a certain word to paint a certain picture of misunderstanding. It will be nonsense to who ever does not understand this type of music, and his misunderstanding will be nonsense to anyone who perfectly understands it.
Simple tells the author that white people cannot understand bop the way black people do. Do you think Langston Hughes is white because of this, or is he more of a black man trying hard to fit into the white world? Or maybe he has not been through what Simple has?
posted by Lesley at 3:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home