One Friday Morning Essay

The short story One Friday Morning by Langston Hughes is about a young black fille, Nancy downwind, who recently moved out of the South with her p bents so they may provide her with a better life and schooling. Very talented in water colour in painting, she wanted to make that her major in college. Regrettably, there are some people in the world that are precisely blinded by race and forget how America was supposed to be a baffle for equal rights without tyranny.Nancy Lee may be a colored girl, but at times in her new school she forgets that she has different discase color than the rest of the students. Her peers would overlook her race as well, and they saw her as a young and talented individual. This epitomises foreshadowing that she was not seen as colored although she was. Nancy Lee had piebald an award winning piece worthy of a scholarship to an art institute. The painting was of her grandmother sitting on a park bench facial expression at the American flag on a sharp su nny day.Unfortunately, the art institute didnt realize that Nancy Lee was a colored girl at the time they chose her painting. When it was made known, they decided to give the scholarship to a white student as they felt if Nancy Lee were to attend the Institute it would rush controversy amongst others. The day Nancy was to receive the award, she was told by her principal, Miss Oshay, that she would not acquire this magnificent prize because of the color of her skin.Miss OShay unfortunately informed the talented girl that When the committee learned that you were colored, they changed their plans. Nancy Lee looked up at her principal and noticed the bright spring day it was outside just like in her painting. At the weekly assembly, Nancy Lee took her seat along with 3000 other students, turned her head, and said the pledge to the flag that is supposed to symbolismize exemption and equal rights with Liberty and justice for all.She then decided that even though she was not accepting the award, which was rightfully hers, she would fight to make a leaving in the future so no other young girls would go through what she was currently enduring. One gloomy day the principal, Miss OShay called Nancy Lee into her office after school. Miss OShay made Nancy Lee aware that her painting had won the contest but also asked her to defend it a secret until the assembly on Friday when she was to accept the award.She was not supposed to tell Nancy Lee, however, Miss OShay felt it would be in Nancy Lees best interest to know ahead of time so she wouldnt be taken off guard and could remain composure at the time of the acceptance. The irony in this is that if Miss OShay did not tell Nancy Lee of her winning then, on the day of the assembly, Nancy Lee would not accept to be called into the office to receive the disturbing news that she would not be called on stage to accept the award because of the color of her skin.Even though Nancy Lee, as well as her peers, would sometimes for get that she was a brown girl, the committee couldnt see past her skin color. Nancy Lee went from being a bright eyed, brown colored girl to a dark girl that day. Within the context of the story Langston Hughes portrays the stars on the American Flag as a symbol of hope to all. Not only in the 1950s but also in todays society the stars on our flag of freedom represent what all Americans are about, liberation and equal rights for all.Our ancestors came to this country to make a better life for themselves as well as their children. Even during our national anthem The Star Spangled Banner the last verse says Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, oer the land of the free and the home of the brave The stars on the flag will always mean the same regardless the year whether its 1814 when the national anthem was written, the 1950s when this story took place, or in the year 2012. fanaticism is something that we all have to deal with. Some people are so scared of change and anyth ing different.Even though we all have the same rights as humans, some people just cant see past the color of a persons skin not just the outer(a) difference, but also religious beliefs as well. We live in a society that no matter how much a person can hang in through discrimination there is always going to be someone to try and hold them back. In my point of view, intolerance of someone that is different is a disgrace to all mankind. This is something that Langston Hughes illustrates very well in the story. Nancy Lee, a very talented young girl, deserved to win the scholarship but because of the color of her skin she was denied what was rightfully hers.