Journal #11

Luani of the Jungles by Langston Hughes
Poets share an intellectual bond that non-poets cannot fully grasp. The poet in this story is comfortable telling another poet about his love. Luani was a natural, wild beauty from an African tribe. The poet was a white Frenchmen. When they met they were fascinated with each other. This fascination quickly grew to obsession when he accompanies her to her homeland. "The jungle will take you and you'll stay there forever," she warns him. She is his jungle, as he never wants to leave.

He becomes transfixed by Luani and succumbs to her every wish. When he accompanies her to her village in the junfle hecannot understand her language or lifestyle. She takes off her European languages as she does her European clothes. She is multi-lingual and multi-cultured with the power to be able to transition between the two very different worlds that her lovers cannot possibly do. The Frenchmen represents the side of her that is refined, elegant and materialistic. He is the world of structure and order. But Awa Unabo, the chief's son, is a part of her first culture and language. Though she is fascinated by the poet, she cannot turn her back on her home or Ana Unabo because she is bonded with them. The poet cannot reason with himself or get over his attraction to her. She is every poem he writes and the torturous reminder that he cannot have her. Thus, he destroys his poems, for they are only bitter reminders of his loss. Neither can truly fit in to the other's life due to race and cultural differences. Did Luani know that she would never end up with him? Or did she think that she could possibly become a part of his world? Did she think that he would fit in to her own tribe? What might have happened if she had stayed with him?



Works Cited

Hughes, Langston. "Luami of the Jungle." The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. Ed. David Lewis. New York: 1995. 585-627.