Home (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, Racism, Blacks, South or Southerners, Twentieth century, Music or musicians, Interracial relationships, Prejudices or antipathies, Lynching
- Locales: South (U.S.), New York
“Home,” first published in Esquire magazine in 1934, juxtaposes the sensitivity of a young, black classical violinist and jazz musician returning home ill from Europe against the unconcealed racism of his small southern hometown. Hughes subtly puts the story in a historical context by telling the reader that the musician, Roy Williams, landed in New York “on the day that Hoover drove the veterans out of Washington.”
Williams arrives home, formally dressed, and becomes aware that he is home when he hears the racial slurs of the white men at the train station. He is...
[The entire page is 902 words long]
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