In the poem, write 3-5 sentences that explains the "theme of English B"
Theme for English B
by Langston Hughes The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
5 Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it’s that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
10 I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem, through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y1, the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
15 up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
20 (I hear New York, too.) Me—who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.
25 I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races. So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
30 a part of you, instructor. You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.