The Ways of White Folks

I’ve never read Langston Hughes until my American Literature class where we learned about the Harlem Renaissance.  I read some of his poetry.  I was surprised at how easy it was to read and how unpretentious it was.  Poetry can be hard to read sometimes.  It’s a literary art form that I’ve never really gotten into.  I need to sometime though.  Anyway, I found out that Langston wrote a book of short stories.  I love short stories so I definitely had to read it.  The Ways of White Folks is easy to read and full of interesting stories about racial conflict.  Three stories stood out to me.  The Blues I’m playing is about an African American pianist who has a rich patron but cares more about romance than music, something her patron doesn’t understand.  Little Dog is about a middle-aged woman who has a crush on a black man.  She asks him for dog bones as an excuse for his company.  The final story though is pretty cool.  Father and Son is about a mixed boy who refuses to let his white father have control over him.  The story ends pretty tragically.   The stories were interesting and it was involving enough that I read it within a few days.  I definitely need to look more into Langston Hughes’ poetry.  4/5