"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," Vocabulary from the essay

In a response to George Schuyler's essay "The Negro-Art Hokum," Langston Hughes argues for a separate and better African-American artistic tradition. Let's look at some of the words that echo with the values of the Harlem Renaissance.

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. subconscious
    just below the level of awareness
    One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, “I want to be a poet—not a Negro poet,” meaning, I believe, “I want to write like a white poet”; meaning subconsciously, “I would like to be a white poet”; meaning behind that, “I would like to be white.”
  2. mold
    the distinctive form in which a thing is made
    But this is the mountain standing in the way of any true Negro art in America—this urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible.
    Compare with the definition and example sentence of "distinctive." Although the adjective is in the definition of the noun, the two words are used to contrast moldy sameness with distinctive individuality. Here, "mold" also suggests the image of a "container into which liquid is poured to create a shape." The mold might have a distinctive form in comparison to the liquid, but all the shapes created from the mold would be the same.
  3. smug
    marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction
    His family is of what I suppose one would call the Negro middle class: people who are by no means rich yet never uncomfortable nor hungry—smug, contented, respectable folk, members of the Baptist church.
  4. frequent
    coming at short intervals or habitually
    A frequent phrase from the father is, “Look how well a white man does things.”
  5. virtue
    any admirable quality or attribute
    And so the word white comes to be unconsciously a symbol of all virtues.
  6. interpret
    create an image or likeness of
    One sees immediately how difficult it would be for an artist born in such a home to interest himself in interpreting the beauty of his own people.
  7. ecstasy
    a state of elated bliss
    Their joy runs, bang! into ecstasy. Their religion soars to a shout. Work maybe a little today, rest a little tomorrow. Play awhile. Sing awhile. O, let’s dance!
  8. brethren
    the lay members of a male religious order
    These common people are not afraid of spirituals, as for a long time their more intellectual brethren were, and jazz is their child.
    "Brethren" is an obsolete plural of "brother" (used between the 13th-17th centuries). As the definition shows, it is now used mostly in a religious sense, but the example sentence uses it to describe both members of the same church (as suggested by the spirituals) and members of the same race. The phrase "intellectual brethren" has a negative tone that contrasts with "the low-down folks, the so-called common element, and they are the majority—may the Lord be praised!"
  9. distinctive
    of a feature that helps to identify a person or thing
    They furnish a wealth of colorful, distinctive material for any artist because they still hold their own individuality in the face of American standardizations.
  10. restriction
    a principle that limits the extent of something
    Certainly there is, for the American Negro artist who can escape the restrictions the more advanced among his own group would put upon him, a great field of unused material ready for his art.
  11. sufficient
    of a quantity that can fulfill a need or requirement
    Without going outside his race, and even among the better classes with their “white” culture and conscious American manners, but still Negro enough to be different, there is sufficient matter to furnish a black artist with a lifetime of creative work.
  12. innumerable
    too many to be counted
    And when he chooses to touch on the relations between Negroes and whites in this country, with their innumerable overtones and undertones, surely, and especially for literature and the drama, there is an inexhaustible supply of themes at hand.
    "Innumerable" and "inexhaustible" ("that cannot be entirely consumed or used up") are synonymous adjectives that emphasize the many ideas that can inspire a Negro artist. In his focus on overtones and undertones in literature and drama, Hughes is suggesting that the supply of themes would come from the endless conflicts that arise from the complicated relations between Negroes and whites in this country.
  13. incongruous
    lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness
    To these the Negro artist can give his racial individuality, his heritage of rhythm and warmth, and his incongruous humor that so often, as in the Blues, becomes ironic laughter mixed with tears.
    "Incongruous" and "ironic" can be synonymous adjectives. Humor that is ironic focuses on the incongruity between what is expected and what is. Irony can also be sarcastic, mocking, and hurtful, where one person is laughing while another is crying, but the image of "ironic laughter mixed with tears" suggests that a person is both crying and laughing about how far his life is from his expectations and dreams.
  14. spiritual
    religious song originated by African-Americans in the South
    And many an upper-class Negro church, even now, would not dream of employing a spiritual in its services.
  15. drab
    lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
    The drab melodies in white folks’ hymnbooks are much to be preferred.
    "Drab" used to refer to the color of natural, undyed cloth (it has the same root as "drape"). This connection to color can be seen in another definition: "lacking brightness or color; dull." Although "drab" can also be used to describe "a dull greyish to yellowish or light olive brown" or "a light brownish green color," the example sentence uses it to suggest an absence of both figurative and literal color (lively musical and skin tones).
Created on 五月 6, 2015 (updated 五月 11, 2015)

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