Bop 

     Langston Hughes was a poet and social activist. Hughes is most remembered for being the leader of the Harlem Renaissance in New York. In his essay Bop, Hughes creates the story of a narrator talking to their neighbor about the new be-bop music that has recently become popular. At first the narrator doesn’t understand the appeal to the music but once he learns the music’s back story he begins to appreciate it. Hughes uses narration and symbolism to explore the problem of racial inequality between whites and blacks.

     Hughes writes this essay for people who are unaware of black discrimination and the effects it has culturally on the black community. This is seen with the first person point of view; the narrator of the essay is very naïve and ignorant towards the topic of racial issues. When his friend, Simple tells him “re-bop was an imitation like most of the white boys play. Be-bop is the real thing like the colored boys play” (190) he complains that Simple always “bring race into everything” (190). The narrator doesn’t want to believe that race is this huge issue that affects everything in a black person’s life. He tries to remain ignorant at the beginning of the conversation and quickly tries to change the conversation topic so he won’t have to deal with it.

     Hughes then tries to show the contrast between white people and black people by using be-bop music as a symbol of their differences. He wrote, “the ones that sing tried to make up new Be-Bop words, but them white folks don’t know what they are singing about” (191). To white people be-bop is just a genre of music and form of entertainment, because of this every time they tried to recreate be-bop it didn’t end up working out. Then for black people, be-bop is their culture and their history. Simple says to the narrator, “folks who ain’t suffered much cannot play Bop” (191). White people didn’t have to deal with the same hardships as black people; this makes them unable to comprehend the true history behind the music.

Bopper's Delight Album Cover
(Indiana Public Media)