Can someone help me to interpet the poem I, Too?

Question

I, too sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am American.

If someone really doesnt mind can you please help me to interpet this poem. Tell the technique, rhyme scheme & literary term. I really donno how to really interpet it. So I will really appreicate if someone can help me.

Answer 1

Shame on you for not telling us first who wrote this poem!

Always tell the reader who's poem you are quoting!
Look up the poet online and you can get a background on their writing style and so forth, but it seems to be "free style" actually because even thought the first and last lines seem to repeat the same idea, the poem does not rhyme, and the "eat in the kitchen" (Lines 3 and 13) is repeated but probably only for emphasis of wanting to break out of that "kitchen" . lines 4 and 10 "when company comes" is repeated more for the strong feeling of being isolated away from other people. When you are reading the poem later, notice the punctuation. Line 7 has a period, then line 10 does too. This puts added effect on the words when they are spoken aloud at poetry readings. If this is Langston Hughes he was famous for having pieces who needed to be read out loud! Especially the passionate opening words line 1 and the final words of lines15-18. It's wistful, hopeful, and ready to demand equality!
This is a strong message poem of Black rights.But it can also be used to explain the terrible way Chinese were treated in the early 1900s of California or even the sad way Native Americans were treated by the U.S. Government.
The speaker is saying to anyone who will hear exactly what the last line is saying (line 18), "I am also American", just as worthy a person as the white people (I will assume they are probably) with their narrow minds and prejudices which keep him or her in the kitchen!
Instead of eating at the table like a regular member of the family or a well-respected guest in the house at meals the speaker, who may or may not be the actual author, is saying he/she is plotting and waiting for the right time (line6-7).

Now,a side note: the kitchen they say is the heart of any large home. you must eat to live, so if they, the family who is openly eating the food but is not willing to share the table and his/her company are denying the speaker--the worker in their home, the cook of all their meals, then they are going to see the difference one day when the meal time arrives but the food isn't prepared! "Tomorrow"(Line8 ), refers to the future, not necessarily one day after the dinner discussed by the speaker.
How do you think slave masters' wives felt when their cooking sevants all up and left the house? Many of the wives never learned to cook because they always had "help" in the kitchen. But, If you can't cook, then you are going to make a lot of lousy unappetizing meals before you can sit down and appreciate eating anything again. And where does that lack of nourishing food leave your heart? Wishing for the time when you had food and could eat.
part of what the speaker wants is due appreciation and acceptance for being a hard working individual and the rights to enjoy "the fruits of his/her labor". This whole poem can leave the "kitchen" and you as the writer of the comparison can make parallels for other jobs too. How many other jobs can you think of where there were other races behind the scenes and white's took the credit in the end? Building the transcontinental railroad perhaps? Many many chinese and blacks and poor irish whites too were out there doing the hard labor of laying the ties, while the big company rail road men were making all the profits. The first line, "i sing America" can mean among other things that when he's at church the same spirituals are going to God. The same pride goes thru his heart at seeing the state and country flag flying on the steps of the local school or court house. And the songs he/she sings thru the day ....sort of a whistle while you work attitude, are also just as valid as American tunes because this person wants acceptance for being who he/she is; born here, raised here, & oppressed by prejudice, but heart and soul just as American as the people eating dinner.
When company comes(Line 10) can be interpreted to mean the freedom of emancipation from slavery.


I think I did a lot of the work for you, now you can put it together in a paragraph or two in your own words, using your own examples. good luck. hope you get a good grade.