Essay on 'One Friday Morning' by Langston Hughes

One may reject their culture or societal beliefs to form their identity and develop a unique character. In the short story “Names Nombres” by Julia Alvarez, she describes the struggles of being an immigrant in New York City. People mispronounced her name, the Alvarez family held different social etiquette than accepted in the United States, and she was treated like a strange, new creature rather than an individual. Over time, she comes to accept the mispronunciations and nicknames others bestow on her to fit into American society. After being alienated by others because of her Dominican name, her “initial desire to be known by my correct Dominican name faded. I just wanted to be Judy and merge with the Sallys and Janes in my class.” (Alvarez) She is starting to loathe the Dominican name that she was given because other students are calling attention to her heritage, making her uncomfortable. By giving into societal pressures regarding her name, one may observe that Alvarez is losing touch with her identity and values; however, that is only the surface of her personality. Alvarez reveals that nicknames are non-essential, furthermore, one should not let what others call them affect how they see themselves individually. At the commencement ceremony, Julia learns to accept her new name, while still retaining the unique culture, heritage, and values of her native name. On the contrary, in the short story “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri, the Das family takes a trip to India, and it is revealed that they are ignorant of their Indian heritage and are completely Americanized. When their tour guide, Mr. Kapasi inquires of Mr. Das about his travels to India, he takes pride in his status as a foreigner “with an air of sudden confidence. ‘Born and raised. Our parents live here now, in Asansol. They retired. We visit them every couple of years.’” Their American side blinds them from gaining a more meaningful trip to India because they don't visit often and most of their family is in India. This reveals that they identify more as American than Indian, so they don't see the value in learning about their history. Nancy Lee, Julia Alvarez, and Judith Cofer would disagree with the Das family’s ideals about their heritage because they have all been targeted due to their race and ethnicity. Many believe that one’s culture is insignificant and there is no need to learn about their roots, however, a major step in understanding one’s identity is understanding their history. Nancy Lee learned about her African American heritage at a young age and was able to express her love for her ancestors in her painting, as “She could see the old woman in her picture (really her grandmother in the South) lifting her head to the bright stars on the flag in the distance. A Negro in America! Often hurt, discriminated against, sometimes lynched—but always there were the stars on the blue body of the flag. Was there any other flag in the world that had so many stars?”(Hughes) By learning her history she knew where she came from and the struggles of her ancestors to get her to where she was now. Understanding their sacrifices and struggles gave her more meaning to look forward in life and give each day her best even when she was faced with negativity and racism. Alvarez and Cofer both reciprocate this point when they both hold onto their heritage and their culture because it is a part of their identity. Throughout their lives, they both face discrimination and prejudice but they never resent or forget about where they came from because it is something special that bonds them to the ones they love and it is an undeniable fact that no one can take away from them. Also, by learning about their native culture it promotes communication among their family, something that the Das’s lacks. Since there is no communication in the Das family, it is what ultimately leads to their downfall.

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To converse with Alvarez’s idea of not allowing a culture to change who you are, Judith Cortez faces a similar struggle of dominance, regarding her cultural and personal identity. In the short personal narrative “The Story of My Body” by Judith Cofer, she explores the countless times she faced prejudice throughout her life. Cofer shares how society's cruel and racial stereotypical ways distorted her perceptions of self-value. After realizing that she was too focused on how society thought of her looks, “My studies, later my writing, the respect of people who saw me as a person they cared about, these were the criteria for my sense of self-worth that I would concentrate on in my adult life” (Cofer). Once Judith became an adult, she recognized that she was becoming someone she wasn’t. She began to see the irony now that she was older how men flocked to her as an adult and considered her desirable, but in her high school years, she was made fun of and humiliated because of her looks. This pushed her to decide her self-worth and respect over having a social life. One does not have to be defined by their culture to express themselves. “Saboteur” by Ha Jin, conveys a similar idea that when society wrongs an individual, they may reject their culture and do things based on their ideas and beliefs. During his time in jail, Mr. Chiu’s perspective of self-worth rapidly decreases and his hate for Muji policemen takes him down a villainous path. Once a scholar professor, he goes against his cultural values and becomes a terrorist to enact revenge on the Muji policemen. After his release, he and his lawyer Fenji go from ramen shop to ramen shop and eat while “Fenjin was baffled by his teacher, who looked ferocious and muttered to himself mysteriously, and whose jaundiced face was covered with dark puckers. For the first time Fenjin thought of Mr. Chiu as an ugly man”(Jin). Fenjin recorded how much Mr. Chiu’s time in jail had changed him, to the point it affected his looks. Mr. Chiu’s appearance reveals that he is no longer the same Mr. Chiu from the beginning. A noble, heroic, brave, intelligent professor. Now he is muttering to himself and has changed to the brink of insanity. Another example of the corruption of power can be seen in “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes. The directors in charge of the awards used their authority to unfairly deny Nancy Lee her award, because of her race. Nancy Lee, oppositely feels no malice even though she has been wronged. She rejects American culture and refuses to let their biases change who she is. After finding the strength within herself, “'There will be other awards,” Nancy Lee thought. “There’re schools in other cities. This won’t keep me down. But when I’m a woman, I’ll fight to see that these things don’t happen to other girls as this has happened to me. And men and women like Miss O’Shay will help me.”(Hughes) Nancy Lee keeps a positive attitude and is not overcome with darkness and she develops for the better. To build off of Langston Hughes’s ideas regarding abuse of power, the structure of certain societies allows crimes and injustice to go unnoticed while the perpetrators go unpunished and the bystanders do nothing to help or don’t speak up in the victim’s defense. In “Saboteur” by Ha Jin, Mr. Muji, a Chinese scholar professor, is the victim of police brutality and is unfairly taken into police custody. Since it is after the Cultural Revolution, it is a general belief in society “that all citizens were equal before the law. The police ought to be a law-abiding model for common people”(Jin). Mr. Chui was a member of the Communist Party and he vouched for equality of all people, so he believed that he was going to be treated fairly with the police. His beliefs are quickly shredded when the bystanders take the Muji policemen’s side in the witness accounts. In “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes, “Names Nombres” by Julia Alvarez, and “The Story of My Body” by Judith Cofer, they all express living in a society where injustice is a part of their lives and it mostly goes unnoticed by others. However, in “The Story of My Body” by Judith Cofer and “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes, when Nancy Lee and Judith face inequality, some other people close to them witness this and try to help, even though it is not much besides emotional support. After her crush called off their dance because of her Puerto Rican name. She “recalled the darkness of my room that sleepless night and the heaviness of my blanket in which I wrapped myself like a shroud. And I remember my parents’ respect for my pain and their gentleness towards me that weekend. My mother did not say ‘I warned you’ and I was grateful for her understanding silence”(Cofer). The meaning of silence can also be conveyed in “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri. The Das family is culturally, socially, and emotionally disconnected. The lack of communication among them does not reflect understanding, love, or empathy as it did for Judith Cofer and her mother. It oppositely reflects the distance and emphasizes the troubles and tensions between the family members. This reveals that social and cultural beliefs don't define a person, and it is whatever an individual makes out of their opportunities or circumstances that define their character.