Finding Langston

Langston’s last name is left out of the novel (as is his father’s). Taking into account that identity is an important theme in Langston’s story, explain why the author identifies Langston and Henry only by their first names.

Although Langston’s father occasionally quotes the Bible, Langston suggests that he and Henry are not particularly devout because their “faith got buried right along with Mama” (40). What is Langston’s relationship with his religion, and how does it actually contribute to his growth throughout the novel?

Langston is the novel’s first-person narrator, who, at age 11, is a relatively uncritical observer of the racial inequalities that pervade his world. What impact did racism have on Langston’s life in Alabama? How does racism affect the lives of Langston and Henry after they move to Chicago? Is Chicago a better home for Langston? Why or why not?

The first time Langston visits the library in Chicago and asks if he can read a book, he notes that his voice sounds as “squeaky as a girl’s” (21). On a subsequent visit, he sees several portraits of African American women writers and thinks, “I never knew women wrote books, ’specially colored women” (66). Discuss Langston’s ideas about gender, reading, and writing. How does his understanding of how gender relates to reading and writing transform by the end of the novel?

When Langston introduces Miss Fulton, he compares her to his mother, observing that “[s]he’s just about my mama’s age, just as pretty” (3). Develop this comparison between the two women, considering what Langston learns about each of them during the narrative. How are the women similar? How have their shared racial and gender identities shaped their individual lives very differently, and why?

While reading Langston Hughes’s poetry late at night, Langston comes across the following lines of verse: “Folks, I come up North / Cause they told me de North was fine. / I come up North / Cause they told me de North was fine. / Been up here six months— / I’m about to lose my mind” (39). In response, Langston thinks, “I’m not the only Langston was lied to” (39). Why does Langston think he was lied to, and does he still believe this at the end of the novel?

In Chapter 13 Langston discovers a few lines of poetry in his mother’s letters to his father. Later, while reading Hughes’s book The Weary Blues, he sees the same lines: “My black one / Thou art not beautiful / Yet thou hast / A loveliness / Surpassing beauty” (81). Why might Lesa Cline-Ransome have chosen these lines for Langston to find in his mother’s letters? How do they relate to important themes in the novel?

Following his confrontation with Lymon over his library book, Langston reflects, “Lymon don’t scare me near what he used to. We learned a lot about each other in the school yard today” (88). What did they learn about each other? Do you think Lymon will continue to be a bully? Why or why not?