Friday, March 27, 2015

Where do the stories in The Ways of White Folks take place?

There is a wide variety of settings for these stories by Langston Hughes, and each deals with interactions between black and white people in the early 20th century.  
"Cora Unashamed" takes place in a small town in Iowa.
"Slave on the Block" is set in Greenwich Village in New York City.
"Home" is about a man returning to the southern US from Europe.
The man writing the letter in "Passing" mentions that he lives in Chicago and that he'd like to leave for New York or San Francisco. 
"A Good Job Done" is set in New York City. The main character goes to Columbia University, and many other areas of/surrounding New York are mentioned. 
In "The Blues I'm Playing," Oceola is studying in Paris, and we also learn about her life before this in New York.
"Red-Headed Baby" takes place in a town on the coast of Southern Florida.
"Poor Little Black Fellow" follows Arnie, the son of black servants, who is adopted by a white family in New England. They take him to Europe, where he ultimately decides to stay in Paris. 
I don't believe "Little Dog" ever gives us a specific location, but Miss Briggs lives in a place close to a park by a lake, and eventually moves "downtown."
"Berry" is about a black man coming from Jersey City to work at Dr. Renfield's Summer Home For Crippled Children, which is near a beach in the countryside.
"Mother and Child" takes place somewhere in Ohio. 
In "One Christmas Eve," Arcie mentions living in a "small town," presumably somewhere on the East Coast.
"Father and Son" is set on a plantation in Georgia. 

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