Research Paper on:
Black Male Identity as Viewed by Dorothy West and Langston Hughes

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the first half of the twentieth century searched for identity and a respected place in a society that was intent in relegating them to servitude and second-class status. While  this is the basic theme to both narratives, the stories are very different. Nevertheless, examination of these works shows that strategies employed in both instances are ultimately unproductive and fail  to aid these men in achieving what they so earnestly desire. This is particularly -- and heartbreakingly -- true in Wests short story. The protagonist is a black man  of fifty-some years. The reader learns his last name, which is Hicks, from reference to his daughter, but the man himself remains unnamed until he creates his alter-ego of "J.  Lucius Jones." The anonymous quality of his true self fits with his overall conception of himself -- as someone who has failed to achieve his dreams. When Hicks first traveled  North as a seventeen-year-old, he was cocky and full of ambition. He wanted to be a businessman and sit behind a mahogany desk. However, black men did not readily succeed  in business in America in the 1940s. When the story opens, a succession of jobs -- "bellboy, porter, waiter, cook and, finally, janitor in a downtown office building" -- have  taken their toil, making the man seem much older then his years (West 122). His oldest daughter practices incessantly on a rented typewriter, and the sound of the machine  annoys the man until one night when his daughter suggests that he help her practice by dictating a letter. To add verisimilitude to the situation, the father invents the  alter-ego of "J. Lucius Jones," because "All them real big doin men use their middle names" (West 125). An elaborate fantasy life quickly evolves for this beleaguered man. For a