31 pages • 1 hour read
Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Cora Unashamed” explores the interdependent relationship between a Black woman and a white employer and confronts the perception that Black survival requires dependence on white society and cooperation with an unjust economic system. Hughes’s personal life and economic views provide contextual layers to the story’s message about this relationship. Though he denied being a communist, his sympathy for communist philosophy suggests a critical view of America’s segregated capitalist system. He portrays the lack of economic opportunity for African Americans through Cora Jenkins, whose character arc reflects this thematic message.
In the initial stage of Cora’s character arc, she believes she has no better option than to work for a white employer who treats her terribly. The narrator states, “She worked for the Studevants, who treated her like a dog. She stood it. Had to stand it; or work for poorer white folks who would treat her worse; or go jobless” (3-4). Because of this belief, Cora responds to their abuse with meekness and docility, answering always, “Yes, ma’m” (4). The Studevants take the belief even further; they see the relationship as one of ownership. The narrator states, “The Studevants thought they owned her, and they were perfectly right: they did” (4).
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
Langston Hughes
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Langston Hughes