The Effects of Poverty and Racism in “Why You Reckon?” by Langston Hughes (Essay Example)

Society believes that people who uphold a certain privilege are happy and have no other problems. Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes challenges this belief in his short story “Why, You Reckon?”. This story also speaks about the effects of poverty and racism. “Why, You Reckon?” is based around two broke hungry African American men who rob a seemingly rich, happy white man. 

The story starts out with the man saying“ Well sir, I ain't never been mixed up in nothing wrong before nor since, and I don’t intend to be again, but I was hongry that night. Indeed I was!”. This story was set during the Great Depression where racism was also very high so the narrator did not have any money.  Another man pulls up by him on the road and asks him if he wanted to make a little money then suggests that they rob one of the white men coming out of a local speakeasy. The writer uses common conditions to bring the characters together for a particular outcome. The narrator says no at first, then the man in the car pressures him by telling him that if you want something you have to take it and by suggesting that white folks do not care about him so he should not care about them. 

The narrator must choose to either rob the man or risk going hungry another night. With the persuasion from the man in the car and his extreme hunger the man agrees with the plan. Poverty breeds stress and hunger which can cause someone to make bad decisions. The man in the car then starts to devise a plan to rob the men, he says “ Now, listen, now. I live right here, sleep on the ash pile back of the furnace down in this basement. Don’t nobody never come down there after dark. They let me stay here for keepin’ the furnace goin’ at night. Now, you grab this here guy we pick out, push him down to the basement door, right here, I’ll pull him in, we’ll drag him on back yonder to the furnace room and rob him, money, watch, clothes, and all. Then push him out in the rear court. If he hollers—and he sure will

holler when that cold air hits him—folks’ll just think he’s some drunken white man. But by that time we’ll be long gone. What do you say, boy?”

Party starts and the men set their eyes on their target. A man named Edward was walking towards Lenox to get something for his wife and the men nabbed him. They take Edward and make him sent on lumps of coal. The man that was in the car starts to think they should hold him for ransom but quickly decides against it.  The narrator says that they never intended to kidnap Edward; but they just wanted to take some of his money and belongings for food. Edward gave the men some of his luxury belongings then the man that was in the car starts to take some of his frustration with his circumstances out on Edward. “Don’t you know,” the colored fellow went on, “that I been walkin’ up and down Lenox Avenue for three or four months tryin’ to find some way to earn money to get my shoes half-soled? Here, look at ’em.” He held up the palms of his feet for the white boy to see. There were sure big holes in his shoes. “Looka here!” he said to that white boy. “ The man that was in the car is taking his anger out at Edward because he is poor and Edward is rich. 

The man that was in the car then leaves with all of Edwards belongings, leaving the narrator with what he had at the beginning– nothing. The narrator runs after him asking “Ain’t you gonna gimme none?” I hollered, runnin’ after him down the dark hall. “Where’s my part?, the man keeps running and never comes back. Edward tells the narrator that this was the most exciting thing that ever happened to him. The narrator is confused because this white man seemingly has it all. He is white, rich, and surrounded by beautiful women.  The narrator tells Edward that if he had his money he would be happy all the time and Edward replies he would not. Hughes shows in this story that whether you are rich or poor, the way you see life depends on you. 

In this story, Hughes shows that whether you live in a mansion or on the street you will not experience happiness or fulfillment until you learn to enjoy the simple things in life. The narrator questions at the end “What do you suppose is the matter with rich white folks? Why you reckon they ain’t happy?”.  Edward had everything the two men wanted and was still no more satisfied with life than they were. Sometimes people in poverty resort to crime to get something they need. The narrator would normally not agree with something like this but because he was so hungry, cold and tired he went along with it. The narrator was then used by the man that was in the car to jack Edward. The man that persuaded the narrator to rob Edward left him with nothing.