Merry-go-round
Merry-go-round - meaning Summary
Segregation on the Merry-go-round
Hughes presents a child’s voice confronting Jim Crow segregation by asking where the segregated section is on a merry-go-round. The poem contrasts rigid racial separations in trains and buses with the riding machine’s refusal to be partitioned, exposing the absurdity and cruelty of enforced separation. Its simple question highlights longing for equal participation and the injustice that denies Black children ordinary pleasures, reflecting Hughes’s experience of racial discrimination.
Read Complete AnalysesWhere is the Jim Crow section On this merry-go-round, Mister, cause I want to ride? Down South where I come from White and colored Can't sit side by side. Down South on the train There's a Jim Crow car. On the bus we're put in the back— But there ain't no back To a merry-go-round! Where's the horse For a kid that's black?
Feel free to be first to leave comment.