Unit Four Essay Outline

I. Introduction
A. Thesis statement: Hughes always tells a story using rhymes, image, and
repetition to clarify the life that he was pushed down by social classes as he
was a black people among the whites.

II. Body Paragraph #2 (Poem #2): Cross

A. Topic sentence: Rhymes create connections, sequences, and changes of
tone throughout stories that Langston wants to tell.
B. Supporting evidence:
I. My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
It shows the relationships between the second line and the fourth line. It
stated that if he curses the white, he would be cursed back, which shows the
position of the black people in the society of white. They were looked down
as the lower class of the white people, so they were insulted.

II. If ever I cursed my black old mother

And wished she were in hell,
I'm sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well
The second and the third lines of this stanza shows the comparison of
Langston Hughes’s wish. He used to curse his mom to hell, but now he
changed his mind that he wish his mother is well. So, this emphasize the
change from bad to good.

III. My old man died in a fine big house.

My ma died in a shack.
I wonder where I'm going to die,
Being neither white nor black?

The end rhymes of the second and the last lines makes the connection
saying that the black died in the shack. The device help draw attention to the
point of the line

C. Clincher sentence: As rhyming is a good device to help establish the

connection, mood, and tone of the story, it is a good tool that the author
chose to use it to accomplish the story of black people in a white people
society.

III. Body Paragraph #1 (Poem #1): I, Too

A. Topic sentence: Imagery point out the way how black people were classified
by putting images into the readers’ heads.
B. Supporting evidence:
I. At first, he started the poem with a phrase “ I am a darker brother”
which put a picture of a dark person among the whites.
 II. Then, he stated a photo of the person eating in a kitchen according to
the statement “ They send me to eat in the kitchen”
III. Coming to the ending part, he mentioned the phrase “ Say to me, Eat in
the kitchen then” which draw a picture of the same person walking back into
the kitchen, and eat in the same place.

C. Clincher sentence: Putting figure into the audiences’ heads will makes the
story more understandable, and enable the readers to feel the feelings
launched in a poem.

IV. Body Paragraph #3 (Poem #3):

A. Topic sentence: Repetition emphasizes the strong feelings of the author as being
leveled lower in social class because of his black skin.
B. Supporting evidence:
I. Too many years
Beatin' at the door
I done beat my
both fists sore.
The stanza began with the phrase “ Too many years” to indicate the time which
means that its been a long time.

II. Too many years

Tryin' to get up there —
Done broke my ankles down,
Got nowhere.
In this stanza, the phrase “ Too many years” is repeated to emphasize that it had
been continuing for a long period.

III. Too many years

Climbin' that hill,
'Bout out of breath.
I got my fill.
The phrase is repeated again to reiterate that it had taken a long time which
declare the tired feeling of the author.

C. Clincher sentence: The phrase was restated again and again to declare the
feeling of the author especially for his tiredness of unsuccessfulness.

V. Conclusion
A. Rephrased thesis statement