The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
"The Ways of White Folks" by Langston Hughes is a poignant collection of fourteen short stories that delve into the complex dynamics between Black individuals and white society in America. Inspired by Hughes's fascination with D.H. Lawrence's storytelling during his travels in 1931, the collection explores themes of exploitation, identity, and interpersonal relationships. The title story, "Berry," captures the frustrations of a young Black handyman who grapples with the inequities he faces in his work environment. Throughout the narratives, Hughes addresses the broader struggles of the Black community, highlighting how they are often dehumanized and not recognized as individuals by white society.
For instance, "Slave on the Block" humorously portrays a young Black artist's rebellion against the expectations imposed by a white couple, while "Father and Son" presents a tragic confrontation with racism that leads to devastating consequences. Other stories, like "The Blues I'm Playing," emphasize the cultural clash between artistic expression rooted in Black heritage and the attempts of white patrons to reshape that expression into something more palatable. Overall, Hughes's work paints a vivid picture of the misunderstandings and injustices that characterize Black-white interactions, urging readers to reflect on the societal dynamics at play. This collection serves as a powerful commentary on race relations, resonating with themes that remain relevant today.
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Subject Terms
The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
First published: 1934
The Work
During Langston Hughes’s travels to Russia in 1931, he became intensely interested in D. H. Lawrence’s short fiction. As he later described in I Wonder as I Wander, he had never read Lawrence before and remarked that both “The Rocking Horse Winner” and “The Lovely Lady” had made his “hair stand on end.” “I could not put the book down,” he wrote. Furthermore, he wrote: “If D. H. Lawrence can write such psychologically powerful accounts of folks in England . . . maybe I could write stories like his about folks in America.”
This fascination led to The Ways of White Folks, a collection of fourteen stories. The title is derived from the story “Berry,” an account of a young black man who works as a handyman in a home for handicapped children. Berry is exploited and does more than his share of work for a pittance. He cannot understand why this happens and remarks, “The ways of white folks, I mean some white folks, is too much for me. I rekon they must be a few good ones, but most of em ain’t good—least wise they don’t treat me good. And Lawd knows, I ain’t never done nothin’ to them, nothin’ a-tall.”
Overall, the stories comment on the suffering the black community endures at the hands of white society. “Slave on the Block,” for example, details how a white couple strives to make a young black artist fit into their aesthetic mold. Humorously, the young man, rebelling, runs off with the cook. In “Father and Son,” Bert, a college student, returns home to the South but does not relinquish his independence. Despite warnings to respect white society, Bert ignores them and finds himself and his father hunted by a lynch mob. To save themselves from the disgrace of public hanging, Bert kills his father and himself before the mob overtakes them.
In “Home,” Hughes writes of an elderly musician who has returned home; while his career had been successful elsewhere, he is murdered by locals offended by his talking to a white woman. “The Blues I’m Playing” describes how a white patron, a spinster who collects artists, tries to mold a talented black woman into a respectable classical pianist. While the young woman plays exceptional music, she often reverts to her first loves: gospel and blues. Oceola tells her patron, “This is mine. . . . Listen! . . . How sad and gay it is. Blue and happy—laughing and crying. . . . How white like you and black like me.” Her music is rooted in “bass notes [that] throb like tomtoms deep in the earth.” Her patron, who cannot understand this music’s value, prefers looking at the stars, which are unattainable, futile, and distant.
Underlying most of this collection is the difficulty of black-white relationships. Hughes illustrates how blacks are never regarded as individuals but rather as members of a group, how they are always treated with mistrust and hate. Hughes makes it clear in The Ways of White Folks that white people do not comprehend their own actions.
Bibliography
Emanuel, James A. Langston Hughes. New York: Twayne, 1967.
Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.