Not Without Laughter (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Langston Hughes
- First Published: 1930
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: 1912-1918
- Setting: Stanton, Kansas, and Chicago
- Principal Characters: James (Sandy) Rogers, Annjee, Harriett, Tempy
- Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: African Americans, Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Racism, Midwest, 1910’s, Chicago, Singing or singers, Kansas
- Locales: Chicago, IL, Kansas, Illinois, Stanton, KS
The Novel
Not Without Laughter concentrates on the childhood and adolescent years of Sandy Rogers, a sensitive and highly intelligent black boy growing up in a small Kansas town. His grandmother, known to the community as Aunt Hager, is the center of his life. She washes clothes for the Reinharts, a white family, and she takes care of him while his mother works for Mrs. J. J. Rice, a snobbish upper-class white woman. Later, Hager becomes Sandy’s sole guardian after his mother, Annjee, leaves to join her husband in Detroit and Harriett, the last daughter to remain at...
[The entire page is 2353 words long]
