Home Carl example essay topic

Although race is a constant theme in Langston Hughes's writings, critics note his ability to write about essentially racial themes while delineating the personal circumstances of each main character (Votteler 108). In "On the Way Home", Hughes relates a mans grief over the death of his mother without specifying the race of the characters (Votteler 108). A close critique of the story proves to be interesting. I will analyze "On the Way Home", by Langston Hughes, in terms of symbols, characters, and conflicts. First I will analyze On the Way Home in terms of symbols. For example, there is a symbol which appears throughout the story, the color yellow.

When I relate the color yellow to everyday life, I find that it means be careful, caution, or slow down. The symbol in the story was related to the same way. This symbol was a bottle of yellow wine. Remember, Carl was not what you would call a drinking man (Hughes 169). Carl purchased a bottle of wine after he receive the telegram from the Rossiter's about his mothers illness. He knew that his mother may die.

The bottle of wine was used as a false security of comfort for his grief over his mother. Carl promised his mother not to drink at all (Hughes 169). Carl knew that he should not drink but he decided to do it anyway. Carl's mother had always stressed to him not to drink. In the opening of the story, it was said that Carls father was a drunkard. Another symbols is Carls mother.

In the story, she represented a sense of security to Carl. She had raised him [Carl] with almost too much kindness (Hughes 169). The third symbol was a bath of warm water. The following passage from the story proves my point: The water in the tub was warm like the wine. He felt good [sitting in the tub remembering a dark grassy slope in a corner of his mothers yard... (Hughes 172).

Carl uses this as a security blanket to cover his guilt about drinking and his mother illness (Emanuel 133). The bath was a symbol of cleanliness to wash away all of his problems. His bath and drinking backfired and he ended up missing his bus home. Carl really needed to slowdown and think about what he was doing.

Next I will analyze On the Way Home, by Langston Hughes in terms of the characters. For example, the main character in "On the Way Home" is Carl Anderson. Carl is an office worker who has moved to Chicago from is home town of Sommerville. Lonely, sexually repressed, and something of a mama's boy, he returns home once a month to enjoy the old-fashioned pleasures of popcorn and cider with his mother (Hughes 133). Carl, being away from home, looked forward to a new era of independence. He wants to grow and resist growth at the same time (Hughes 133).

Another character is Carls mother. In the story she is gravely ill, on her death bed. It is implied that she was a bit over protective of Carl, even in his adulthood. She instilled moral and values in Carl as indicated in this passage: Be sweet Carl.

Be a good boy. Keep clean. Mother loves you. Be sweet- and remember what youre taught at home (Hughes 173). The last character was a bar room lady, possibly a hooker. After Carl realizes that he missed he bus home.

He decides to go into a bar a drink some more. He orders a drink and a lady wishes to join him. She tries to pick Carl up to go home with her as he orders a drink. Carl is drunk and confused during their conversation. This passage proves the point: Ill have to take you home to my house [said by the bar room lady], little boy... Home Carl said.

Home... Home... I Home... [then he wept like a kid] (Hughes 176). She knew that something was troubling Carl. She offers to get him home. Last I will analyze On the Way Home by Langston Hughes in terms of conflicts.

For example, the conflict in this story is the indivisibility of freedom and responsibility. Carl looks forward avidly to the new era of sexual freedom that his mother's death will make possible. But he is not prepared to give up the security his mother provided. James Emanuel, a critic of short stories, perceives the story as a myth of rebirth and renewal: "It is a story... of a man whom death brings painfully into the world a second time, in a rebirth made necessary by a superfluity of maternal love" (Emanuel 133). Another point is in Emanuel's interview with Hughes, Hughes stated: "I've known two of three people who in the presence of death go to pieces in a drunken way and think they " re having a good time" (Votteler 133). So basically from those remarks made, Carl is barred from manhood by his childish emotions.

He is substituting one form of a dependency for another [quote of James Emanuel] (Votteler 133). I have analyze "On the Way Home" in terms of symbols, characters, and conflicts. Although Hughes did not share the popular appeal of the more militant writers who began to emerge in the late 1960's. Nevertheless, critics commonly agree that Hughes holds a prominent place in American literature and among writers of short fiction. Arthur P. Davis stated: "His short stories from a world of fiction built with truth and a special love- a little civilization shaped high purpose and steadfast integrity" (Davis 108).