49 pages • 1 hour read
Langston HughesThe Ways of White Folks
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1934A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Racism Creates a Cycle of Pain and Hatred
Every story in The Ways of White Folks tackles racism in some way. By tackling the same issue with each story, Hughes addresses the topic of racism from a variety of vantage points, revealing new insights with each story. Stories like “Cora Unashamed” and “Berry” depict Black characters at the bottom of the economic totem pole. Their tales find them trapped in exploitive jobs, where they are treated as subhuman. Their feelings are discredited by those in power, even though they are both caring people. In “Home,” “The Blues I’m Playing,” “Poor Little Black Fellow,” and “Father and Son,” Hughes crafts tales centered on Black characters with more economic advantages, and yet these characters suffer, too. Roy Williams, Bert Lewis, and Willie Lewis are all lynched by the end of their stories. While they have more economic power than the poorer characters, they still become victims of hateful and violent cultural norms. Each of these stories shows the main characters working hard and leading with strong moral centers, but many of them end up losing their jobs or dying, even if they did nothing wrong. Such endings create a somber tone for much of the collection and show the author wants to tackle racism with a serious and critical lens.
Hughes also shows how his White characters suffer from their own biases and racist views. “Slave on the Block,” “The Blues I’m Playing,” and “Poor Little White Fellow” all feature rich White characters helping poorer Black characters. In various ways, their generosity is tainted with racist thinking. The Carraways don’t want to help Black people; they only want to use them as art props and use their culture for their own entertainment. Mrs. Ellsworth doesn’t consider Oceola’s longing for her own community, valuing art above family and happiness. The Pembertons raise Arnie out of forced kindness; they pity Arnie rather than try to love him. In these stories, the behavior of the rich White characters isn’t violent or hateful, but it is nonetheless unequal. Their actions push people away, often leaving them unfulfilled. Additionally, Miss Briggs in “Little Dog” never has any explicitly racist thoughts, but her inability to be around Joe motivates her to move, and she ends up alone, forgotten by her neighbors.
Hughes also includes more violent and spiteful racist characters in the collection. Clarence in “Red-Headed Baby” and Colonel Tom Norwood in “Father and Son” are angry and unhappy men. Their opinions of Black people are spiteful and, in Colonel Tom’s case, laced with violence. Their flawed thinking moves them to decisions that impact them negatively. Clarence and the Colonel both deny their biracial children. Clarence flees a moment of happiness, and the Colonel tries to force Bert to be something he isn’t. In both cases, their suffering is a manifestation of their own doing. By including these characters and perspectives, Hughes shows the multiple layers of pain racism causes.
Economic Barriers Hold People Back
Hughes includes information about the wealth gap in each story. The poorer characters reveal environments of exploitation. Cora drops out of school to help her family. Luther poses unclothed for the Carraways because he needs money. Berry performs hard work for a low wage and is happy just to be eating on a regular basis. In “One Christmas Eve,” Arcie also works tirelessly, but her paycheck barely keeps her family afloat. Each character tolerates a form of abuse for money. Also, each character struggles to save money. Often, their inability to escape poverty doesn’t come from unemployment. They all have jobs, but their wages are so low that they’ll never earn enough to escape their exploitive situations. The characters who do leave their bad jobs are always forced to leave for unfair reasons, showing how difficult climbing the economic ladder can be.
Additionally, there is hardly any Black ownership in The Ways of White Folks. The Black characters always work for the White characters. The exception is in Harlem, a neighborhood with a strong Black community. Harlem is where Luther and Mattie go to escape the strangeness of the Carraways and where Oceola wishes to be instead of the posh environment promoted by Mrs. Ellsworth. With Harlem, Hughes briefly shows a setting where the Black characters can find some reprieve from exploitation.
The wealthier characters in The Ways of White Folks often don’t find happiness either. Roy Williams returns home, fancily dressed and successful, only to be greeted with racist slurs and hostility. Mrs. Ellsworth offers Oceola an apartment, dresses, and a comfortable life, but Oceola chooses Pete over material wealth. In “Poor Little Black Fellow,” Arnie has a privileged childhood and is treated to a trip to Paris before going to college, only to reject his home, declaring to Mrs. Pemberton, “I hate America” (156). Lastly, in “Father and Son,” Bert Lewis gets an education because he is the Colonel’s illegitimate son, but his education isn’t enough. He demands real, meaningful respect, and that desire ends up getting him killed. The rich White characters, too, never end up happier in their stories than how they started.
The tragic endings for many of the wealthier characters shows that wealth isn’t enough to achieve happiness. Hughes proposes few solutions. The happiest ending is Oceola’s in “The Blues I’m Playing.” She breaks off from Mrs. Ellsworth without hate or malice, and she is excited to start a new life. Her happy ending comes not from being wealthy, but from finding love, suggesting that Hughes values love more than the pursuit of material goods and money.
Passing for White Brings Its Own Pain
Several of the stories address passing, featuring Black or biracial characters who can pass as White. These stories shine additional light on the effects of racism while also showing that passing bares a heavy price. In “Passing,” Jack enjoys the economic stability passing for White allows him. His job pays well, he’s dating a beautiful girl, and he is thinking of buying a house. Jack acknowledges the underlying pain of his situation, however, when he writes to his mother: “But, Ma, I felt mighty bad about last night. The first time we’d met in public that way. That’s the kind of thing that makes passing hard, having to deny your own family when you see them” (52-53). Jack chooses passing for White over his family, which his own mother suggested he do, but his happiness and economic stability are tinged with sadness and shame: “I love you, Ma, and I hate to do it, even if you say you don’t mind” (52-53).
Bert Lewis from “Father and Son” doesn’t pass as easily as Jack, but his story shows how his biracial heritage can be met with hostility. When Bert corrects a clerk about the amount of change he was given, the clerk looks at him hatefully: “She looked at Bert—light near-white n***** with grey-blue eyes. You gotta be harder on those kind than you on the black ones” (234). Later, Bert insists to the townsfolk that his last name isn’t Lewis; it’s Norwood. Afterall, he’s the Colonel’s son, but everyone else, including the Colonel, rejects Bert’s wish. In “Passing,” Jack rejects his family, and in “Father and Son,” Bert is rejected. Both situations cause the main characters pain and depict the various difficulties of passing.
Eugene Lesche’s ability to pass contrasts with Jack and Bert. He uses his looks to exploit the rich. Jack and Bert are tormented by their familial issues, whereas Eugene never mentions having a family of any kind. Free of the painful burdens shown in “Passing” and “Father and Son,” Eugene has no inner trauma to grapple with, so he turns his time to womanizing and commodifying Black culture to sell to the rich. Because Eugene can pass, he can exploit, previously seen only with White characters in The Ways of White Folks, and his willingness to be opportunistic and profit-driven brings him success. Eugene’s downfall makes his story a cautionary one; just because someone can be opportunistic and exploitive doesn’t mean they should be. Eugene demonstrates that passing can lead to new opportunities, but those opportunities should be carefully considered, and a strong moral foundation is still important.
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By Langston Hughes
