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In the short story "Big Meeting," author Langston Hughes portrays the sorrow of powerlessness that African-Americans felt because of their low social position in society. Black Americans, including the mother of the narrator, a young man, and the narrator's friend named Bud have had a tough life. Instead of living for themselves, they have to work all day for others. The narrator says, "They came home for a few hours' sleep before getting up at dawn to go cook and scrub and clean for others" (35). Even though they work hard for White Americans, these individuals neglect and look down upon them instead of being thankful to them. In the story "Big Meeting," a White woman who observes the rituals of the Blacks in a car bombards them with rough words. She sneers, calling them "darkies" (33).
The "Big Meeting," which is composed of testimonials, song services, sermons, and prayer is very meaningful for the Black Americans who had to endure tough times and racial discriminatio--it is the only place where they can express their sufferings and pain by singing. As they gather, they sing words such as
"I am a Po' pilgrim of Sorrow Out in this wide world alone," (34) and "Sometimes I am tossed and driven, sometimes I don't know where to go...." (34). As one particular Black woman talks about her past sufferings, the White woman in the car scoffs at her. Also, she makes a fool of the narrator's mother (because of a dance she does) and says, "My, Lord, John, it's better than a show" (35). Because of the White woman's disrespectful attitude, the narrator's blood boils. Furthermore, the narrator says, "I didn't want any white folks, especially whites who wouldn't let a Negro drink a glass of soda in their drugstore or give one a job, sitting in a car laughing at Mama" (35). Through the saying, readers can assume how serious racial discrimination in American society was.
Readers can see that Black Americans rely on religion passionately. In the "Big Meeting," the participants spend most of their time in prayer, listening to a preacher's sermon, and talking about the death of Jesus and the betrayal of Judas. The Blacks weep inconsolably in the "Big Meeting" because of their agony in life.
The characters in the story depend on religion because it has the power of soothing and comforting their sorrows and sufferings that they undergo while they work all day for the White Americans. Furthermore, they needed their own place, the meeting place, to express their sorrows of being powerlessness and the troubles of life that they have had to hide from the mainstream society.
Their meeting is a place of catharsis. The Whites, who represent the dominant culture, sneer and snicker, though they look at the meeting from the outside and without empathy or understanding. Many definitions of racism require that the racist have some type of power over the victim. In the time of Langston Hughes' writing, Jim Crow laws were in effect, so the dominant White majority had power in this story (Urofsky 1). This made their insults even more offensive and painful to the Blacks in the meeting. The Whites from the dominant group could not understand why the Blacks needed this time so much. They simply laughed at them, making them feel foolish and powerless. The biggest factor that actually makes the Blacks sad is not their low social position in American society, but the Whites' disrespectful attitudes toward them. For the Black Americans in the story, gathering together with someone who shares the same grief and sorrow is their way of soothing the sorrow they feel as powerless members of a society.
Works Cited
Urofsky, Melvin I. "Jim Crow law" Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica,
Inc, 2015. Web. 13 Feb. 2015