Langston Hughes :: essays research papers

DoorknobsLangston Hughes is considered by more readers to be the most signifi female genital organt b want poet of the twentieth century. Except for a a couple of(prenominal) examples, all his poems are about social injustice in America. The gloomy tone of his writing often reflected his mood. Race relations were present in almost his whole career, following him from his starting time poem to his last.The poem Doorknobs was written in 1961 after his subpoena to appear before Senator McCarthy for subversive activities. Although many other poems by Hughes deal with prejudice, race, or politics, Doorknobs deals with life itself. Hughes anger over the political attacks are seen on many of his poems. Hughes Doorknob describes a electric razor who seems to be hydrophobic of life and horror-struck of the adults in his life By the end of the poem this child is flat an adult himself who appears to be insecure, and perhaps, afraid of life itself. This man portrays a sad, non-confide nt, scared life as we can see on the lines 1 to 3. We experience first hand the lack of control, the terrorizing tinges this door holds for this childThe simple silly terror of a doorknob on a door that turns to let in lifeFrom lines 4 to 10, we can assume that we are reading of a child who is terrorized of the grownups that plump with him perhaps he is an abused childon two feet standing,walking, talking, wearing dress or trousers, perchance drunk or maybe sober,maybe smiling, laughing, happy,maybe tangled in the terrorof a yesterday agone grandpaLines 11 to 15 reinforce the terror this child is feeling and carrying with him. It is apparent that the child is experiencing some kind of abuse, either mental or physicalwhen the door from out there openedinto here where I, antenna, receiving system of your coming,received the talking imageof the simple silly terrorFrom lines 16-25 Hughes repeats the first stanza of the poem with minor changes to the order of t the words this perhaps is now when the child is now remembering his past. Another interpretation is that when the child became a grownup instead of being afraid of the adults in his life, he is afraid now of life itself, and death.of a door that opensat the turning of a knob