高中英语选修课：英语文学欣赏 Langston Hughes作品分析(教师讲稿)

The Negro Speaks of Rivers was written when Langston Hughes was still a student. Hughes graduated from middle school at the age of 17. His mother hoped that he could work to help support the family, yet the divorced father expected him to attend university. Langston had wished to get rid of the family, so the best way is to go to university. When the train was passing through a bridge over the Mississippi River, looking at the river, Langston just wondered what the Mississippi River meant to the black people. In the past years, the black slaves were sold to different places, and he still remembered Abraham Lincoln once went down the River to New Orleans [ɔ:ˈliənz], and on the way Lincoln just witnessed the miserable life of the black slaves and thus wanted to get rid of slavery. From the Mississippi River Hughes thought of some other rivers which nourished human civilization and black culture such as the Congo, the Nile and so on. Thus came the famous poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers, only in 10 minutes, but obviously will be remembered from generation to generation.

We always mention the word“dream”, which represents happiness and our best wishes, and we always emphasize if there is no dream, our life will lose its direction and our life will not be as colorful as ever. Hughes’ poem Dreams just describes such a topic. Yet here the dreams contain more, it contains black people’s dreams about freedom, equality and human rights. Because of such dreams, the black people just hold on and continue to fight for what they want, and at last succeed! Dreams

梦想

紧紧抓住梦想（把握梦想），如果梦想消失，生命将是折翼之鸟，无法飞翔。

紧紧抓住梦想（把握梦想），如果梦想逝去，生命将是一片荒原，大雪冰封。

“Me and the Mule”我和骡子As the leader of the Harlem Renaissance, all he described in his poems have something to do with the black people, the River, field, tower, or mule. The mule he describes is obedient, kind, just like the old slave Uncle Tom. He has always got a grin on his face, and always obeying his owner’s orders, almost forgetting the intuition of his own race. Hughes has great feeling for this mule, because it is just the same as him. Both have the black skin. Hughes has never been shameful about being a black, on the contrary, he has stated many times he is proud to be a black.

Don’t give a damn: 根本不在乎

“Early Autumn", Langston Hughes's novel: many years later, broken lovers coincidently met each other---full of memories, passing time, happiness, sorrow and regret, all down to their courtesy-like smile. Their distance became closer and then further and further. Early autumn comes every year.

"Early Autumn" includes many features of short stories. First you get some general information, for example "[...] they had been in love." (l. 1), which are important for the following situation. This short exposition is really typical for short stories. Afterwards, the reader gets directly thrown into the situation, without any previous knowledge about where the characters came from. This fact lets the atmosphere seem to be as spontaneous as the meeting. Another argument to prove that this story is a short story is that there are just a few minutes between the beginning and the climax. Moreover there are only two characters and one setting. The dialogue between Mary and Bill covers most of the story. That is another criterion and gives the reader the impression being a part of the situation. "Early Autumn" is a very good example of a short story because it includes all the criteria.

Explain how Hughes uses setting to reveal the characters’ psychological states and to convey their sense of loss. The short story is a good example of a story that describes everyday life. Hughes uses this story to show how people can make one irrational decision that can result in a time of sadness. The author uses the end of fall, beginning of winter to help the reader be able to visualize the stillness, the coldness and the emptiness between the two characters. In the story, the author tells us about two young people who were in love, but for no good reason fell out of love and moved on with their lives. This can be symbolized with “the leaves that fell slowly from the trees in the square. With no wind”. The author also, describes to us the cold feeling outside, this can describe the feeling that are between the two young people after they grew apart from one another. Another point that Hughes brings to our attention is that for a short time they were surrounded by people they did not know, and space between them. This can lead the reader to have an open imagination to believe that for a moment Mary and Bill are the only people there at that moment. This also can be perceived that the people they do not know could be the same as their relationship that once kindled in slowly walking away, and the space between them is the farther apart they move away from each other without moving. In the end, this story shows that time and space slowly changes people. Bill and Mary were once in love but like the leaves of the autumn evening they have fell away from their root that brought them together in the beginning to show two different people.