Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes is lauded as a diverse author of various literary styles. He was successful as a poet, lyricist, and journalist, to name a few. Even though he had performed medial jobs as a young man, he experienced accomplishment in his later years. I would imagine his exposure to the world, its people and their different cultures would have added to his content and subject material.

As I read his poetry, which I was able to understand somewhat better than previous poets, I could detect some of his lyrical writing ability. I sensed the pulse and rhyme in the lines as I read and could envision them being sung or recited in a musical manner. He did speak often of “the blues” and dreams gone astray.

I particularly found the story “On the Road” interesting. I was saddened to read of the reverend closing the door on Sargeant and refusing to help him. If anyone should be willing to help a needy individual, it should be the clergy. However, my interpretation of the event as it develops in the story is a depiction of the church and how it treats society. As Sargeant approached the church, the building, my first thought was it was there as a sanctuary for him, illustrated as a beautiful white solid place. The structure of the church would have provided him warm shelter from the elements of nature. But as he tried to enter, the doors were locked which unfortunately seems to represent the hearts of the many church people. As the church people saw him trying to enter the building, they became enraged and assaulted him, stating “A big black unemployed Negro holding onto our church! The idea!” What better thing for a person to hold onto in his time of need. Again, I believe this represents much of our society today. If anyone different tries to enter our comfort zones, we turn them away.

However, I was delighted as I read of Christ walking away with him from the rubble. I loved this part of the story. I think the story could be used as a sermon in many of our churches today to help us remember first how we treat others, and second, how Jesus is always with us, ready to help in our times of need. I thought it was interesting Christ’s praise of Sargeant releasing him from the cross and how the church has kept him there for the past two thousand years. It is what many of us Christians do. We learn about Him and say we live for him, but do we really ever let him into our heart and live among us? We don’t reach to help others as He did and still does. It doesn’t matter to Him race or any difference among us; we are all His and should love and care for each other.

The ending of the story was very disturbing for me. I hope when Hughes writes Sargeant’s line of “I wonder where Christ has gone?” that he is not asking from himself, as if he felt like Jesus wasn’t there for him. Even though Sargeant never really got away from the crowd, it seems Jesus was able to comfort him through the experience and take away some of the pain and humility brought on by the people.