Merry-Go-Round by Langston Hughes - 512 Words

â€Å"Merry-Go-Round† is a poem about a little colored child that goes to the carnival. The child wants to ride the merry-go-round, but has a problem finding the back. From where the child comes from, Jim Crow laws segregate the blacks from the whites. This poem has a lot of depth and meaning, although it sounds very simple. It also tells us the mindset of most blacks in the South in the days of segregation. I chose this poem because the boy’s innocence was touching and its deep meaning was very powerful. In the beginning, the child asks, â€Å"Where is the Jim Crow section on this merry-go-round, mister, cause I want to ride?† in lines 1-3. Jim Crow laws are laws that segregate the blacks from the whites, so you can infer that the Jim Crow section is solely for the blacks. If you go to a carnival right now, colored children won’t be asking for the direction to the Jim Crow section. This points out that in the old days, blacks had to sit in different secti ons than the whites. The child then continues to say, â€Å"Down South where I come from white and colored can’t sit side by side.† In lines 4-6. As I said above, blacks had to sit in separate sections away from the whites down in the South. In addition, this tells you how sever racism was in the South because even a child knows that blacks and whites were supposed to be segregated. The child continues on and says, â€Å"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 aShow MoreRelatedThe Poem Merry Go Round By Langston Hughes1357 Words   |  6 PagesAround and Around In the poem, Merry-Go-Round by Langston Hughes, the first line exhbits a child asking the question, â€Å"Where is the Jim Crow section?† ( Hughes, 1). This line refers to the Jim Crow of the South that was established during the late 1800s to the 1960s. After the Civil War, freed slaves were given opportunities to become real class citizens. 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