hughes and mckay

An obvious fact about both of the poets is that they both compare the white and black races to each other. Another item of business that both authors felt they needed to address was what life was like back in Africa and how it compares to here. Though they both discuss these things, they go about it a different way. Claude Mckay uses sonnets to convey his message to the people in order to show a sense of high class. Sonnets are the same form of writing Shakespeare did, which is why that type of writing was looked upon so highly. Langston Hughes didn’t really stick to form of writing and didn’t really focus on making sure it rhymed or not. Both of the authors both had different messages in addition to the difference in how they conveyed their messages. Mckay talked about how the black race was basically better than the white race. The black race can do all of the things that the white people do but they choose not to; they choose to be the better people because they feel that fighting back would just continue a horrible cycle. Langston, on the other hand, said that blacks and whites trying to live together at all is just a lost cause. He thinks that it’s worthless trying to force these two races to live together when clearly both of the races hate each other. He feels sort of the same way DuBois felt about the African Americans. Both DuBois and Hughes felt that the blacks should just start a new community because the two races will never be able to live together in harmony.