"I, Too, Sing America"
When I try to read between the lines of Langston Hughes's, "I, Too, Sing America", I look for a double meaning in the words. The first word that I attempted to dissect occurs in the second line, where it reads, "I am the darker brother."
After I read the line the first time, I originally thought that darker literally meant dark, as in the color of the narrator's skin. But after thinking about the meaning a bit more deeply, I concluded that darker could also signify in this poem as perhaps being darker in spirit, emotions, or personality. Also when I think of the darker brother it brings to mind the good and the evil twin.
As in the good twin is shown to the world (the world symbolizing the "company" in the poem) while the evil twin is supposed to be concealed, meaning in the line, "They send me to eat in the kitchen." Although while the story of the good and evil twin is supposed to be two different people, the light and dark side of the poem represent two different sides of the same person.
In the second stanza where it reads, "Tomorrow, I'll be at the table when company comes"; sitting at the table represents not being shunned into the back where nobody can see the narrator, because the table is a symbol of finally being recognized by society.
Although the light and dark sides of the narrator are at first perceived to be an actual person, the very last line of the poem reads, "I, too, am America", meaning that the narrator does not actually represent a person at all, but the symbolism of America the country. Since the poem was written in 1925, at the height of the Harlem Renniassance, I took the poem to be a description of the primarily white based empowerment that was consumed by America, until the Renniassance took place, in which the "darker brother", or the black society of America was finally recognized as a potent figure.

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