Critical Comment on ‘Dinner Guest: Me’ by Langston Hughes
The speaker of the poem appears to believe the fact that he is the ‘Negro Problem’. He seems to
say that this has been enforced upon him as his identity. It looks like he has been invited to a
sumptuous and luxurious dinner, not with the intention of good-will, but so that he may answer
the ignorant questions that white people have about the lives of African-Americans.
The poet makes use of words such as ‘demurely’, ‘to probe’ and ‘polite’ in two consecutive lines
to show how superficial the white man’s approach to the black man’s problems is. Although the
host appears to be ‘demure’ and ‘polite’, he seems to ‘Probe’ the guest with questions that the
guest may or may not be comfortable talking about.
The superficiality of the host extends to such a high level that he pretends to wonder how the
situation of African-Americans could have degraded so much in a democratic country like theirs.
He even tries to express his shame and embarrassment by stating that he is ashamed of being
white.
The speaker of the poem describes that the lobster, wine and damask table are all fabulous, and
yet he is the centre of attention at dinner. He makes a sarcastic comment on how it is not really
that bad to be a part of the ‘Negro Problem’ considering the ‘compassion’ and ‘empathy’ one
receives due to it. He also states how solutions to the problems faced by his community are yet to
be worked upon.
The poem does not have a fixed rhyme scheme and hence can be considered to be one of
free-verse. The stanzas are not even, the first stanza is long and seems to be more descriptive of
the events that took place at dinner as compared to the second stanza which is short and reflects
upon the speaker’s introspection with respect to the dinner and the attitude of his host towards
the issue of racial discrimination.