The Blues I’m Playing (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Langston Hughes
- First Published: 1934
- Type of Work: Short story
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, United States or Americans, Blacks, Twentieth century, Music or musicians, Prejudices or antipathies, Widows or widowers, Piano music
“The Blues I’m Playing,” first published in Esquire magazine (1934), is anthologized in Hughes's collection of fourteen short stories, The Ways of White Folks. This story, like the others in the collection, depicts the racial attitudes that surface when whites and blacks interact. The central character, Oceola Jones, is a young black music teacher, herself a gifted jazz and classical musician with insufficient time and money to pursue her art. Mrs. Dora Ellsworth, an aging, wealthy, childless widow, is kind and generous, but she cannot discern great art.
...[The entire page is 865 words long]
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