A Critical Analysis Of Langston Hughes Merry Go Round

A Critical Analysis of Langston Hughes’ â€Å"Merry-Go-Round† â€Å"Where Is The Jim Crow Section† Langston Hughes (1942) A little boy, accompanied by his mother, holds a ticket as he looks excitedly at a county fair’s carnival ride. As they get closer to the merry-go-round, he anticipates all the fun he will have, but then a puzzled look crosses his face.â€Å"Merry-Go-Round† by Langston Hughes criticizes the Jim Crow laws in the U.S. The justice system of Jim Crow were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern U.S., mandating racial segregation in all public facilities, in which the term â€Å"separate but equal† became common (Wikipedia). The main theme of the poem is that racism is senseless, even though it is a†¦show more content†¦Ultimately, the ride operator does not respond to the boy’s questions, perhaps because the adult may feel that they are unimportant and insignificant. Yet, this child’s feelings and puzzlement offer an adult message that needs close attention. In 1955, Emmett Till who was a 14-year-old Black victim of Jim Crow, received national and international attention. Born and raised in Chicago, he pla nned to visit relatives in Mississippi. Before he went on his trip, it is likely that his family told him about the South’s Jim Crow laws. During his visit, he was accused of offending a White woman in her family’s grocery store by â€Å"flirting† and â€Å"whistling† at her. What actually happened in the store has been disputed. Till’s reported behavior violated the Jim Crow laws at that time. Whatever the circumstance, the teen probably understood about restrictions for Blacks in public facilities like the little boy in the poem knew about the front and back sections of buses and that Blacks and Whites did not sit side by side. However, the teen may not have realized how arbitrary the laws were and their full ramifications. He may have merely made eye contact with the White woman or smiled during his transaction, and she became offended. She probably expected him to keep his eyes bowed and not make human contact with her. On the other hand, if a White teen had offended the White in the same way that Till had, the White counterpart likely would