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Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Colonel Thomas Norwood, a rich White Southerner, waits for his illegitimate son, Bert, to come home. For 30 years, the Colonel has had a secret relationship with Coralee Lewis, a Black woman who helps him run his estate. Bert, the youngest of their biracial children, is handsome and quick witted and has always challenged authority. After six years at boarding school and college, Bert comes home for the summer, and the Colonel is conflicted about his arrival: “Colonel Norwood never would have admitted, even to himself, that he was standing in his doorway waiting for his half-Negro son to come home” (207). The Colonel goes in his study, where he plans to stay for hours to show everyone Bert’s arrival doesn’t mean anything to him. Soon after, he hears commotion. Bert is home. The Colonel remembers beating Bert as a child for calling him “papa” when White guests were over. When the Colonel finally says hello to Bert, he refuses to shake his son’s hand.
Coralee reflects on her relationship with the Colonel. Their affair started when the Colonel was married to a White woman. The Colonel and his wife never had children, and his wife died young.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
I look at the world
Langston Hughes
I, Too
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Tired
Langston Hughes