Afro- American Fragment | Major English - XII | Grade 12 Major English Note

Afro- American Fragment

Langston Hughes

Important Questions and Answers

1.    What does the term ‘Afro-American’ mean?

The term ‘Afro-American’ is used to describe black people in the USA. It is considered polite. The term ‘Negro’ is considered to be insulting if used by white people but more acceptable if used by blacks themselves.

2.    Why is the poem a "fragment"? or Why does Langston Hughes describe his poem a fragment? Why is it Afro-American?
The poet says that this poem is only a fragment. It is a part which is broken off, detached or incomplete. It is not the perfect whole. It represents his feelings of dislocation. His forefathers were brought into America from Africa as slaves, and now, in America, he is not properly behaved. He feels that he is neither an American nor an African. He is split into two parts— African and American. By soul and mind he belongs to his ancestral Africa but physically he is in America. The poem is an expression of longing for his home, Africa. This poem has been called a 'fragment' because of the split position of the poet -African and American. 

3.    What is created by history books?
History books tell us about American history that in the 17th-19th centuries slavery became a mainstay of an agricultural factory economy. The African in America brought to work on plantations as slaves. Slavery was abolished in the USA at the end of the Civil War 1863-65. The US constitution guaranteed citizenship and civil rights to former slaves.

4.    Why does the poet feel dislocated?
The poet feels dislocated. The blacks in America are not properly respected. They are dominated there. They are treated as non-human foreigners, etc. They are not taken there as human beings. They are living under the white domination. The poet does not entertain the life there. Negroes in America can’t go their ancestral home that is Africa. So he feels that he has been lost there without his own place and home.

The poet means to say that their song was originated in Africa. It had been unseen for many generations, but it has reappeared in the poet's mind. This song is the glorious past of the Afro—American people in their native land Africa. The black feels very proud of their happy past and their free life. The poet feels dislocated in white America because the blacks are not properly respected. They are treated as non—human. Negroes in America can't go to their ancestral home Africa.

5.    Give the central idea of the poem.
The poem ‘Afro-American Fragment’ shows that African blacks are staying in America as fragments. They try to get their home but it is only their imagination. Their ancestors were brought there. Black Americans do not remember anything about their past. They have not been properly treated in the land of the whites and they can't now go back to Africa.

6.    What is refrain?

Refrain is a phrase or a line or part of a line which is repeated at intervals in a poem or a song. It sometimes occurs with slight changes and usually comes at the end of each stanza. Refrain may help to establish the matter of a poem, indicates its tone or re-establish its atmosphere. Refrain is a frequent element in Elizabethan songs.