Language

Style of language

In “One Friday Morning”, Langston Hughes uses mainly formal language in both the narration and the dialogue. Detailed descriptions using complex words suggest the academic environment of the high school: “So Nancy Lee was asked to think what she would say when the scholarship was conferred upon her a few days hence.” (p. 5, ll. 15-16). Moreover, as the narrator often adopts Nancy Lee’s perspective, the language in the narration reflects that Nancy Lee is an educated African-American girl with an artistic mind: “That was the wonderful thing about true creation. You made something nobody else on earth could make – but you.” (p. 2, ll. 14-16)

The author uses many adjectives and adverbs, usually with positive meanings: “the trees still leaflessly lacy against the sky, the new grass fresh and green” (p. 3, l. 15), “shook it warmly” (p. 5, l. 2), “kind, elderly vice-principal” (p. 5, l. 12); “deep and reverent” (p. 5, ll. 35-36), “bright sunlight” (p. 7, l. 12), etc. These help create an atmosphere of joy and harmony which suggests Nancy Lee’s idealistic personality and that, before being refused the prize,...