Wandering Stylishly

I enjoy Langston Hughes' writing style because it's very sincere and descriptive. The diction he uses is not simple, but it is not assuming or overly complex. Hughes wants to be understood by his reader. This makes his writing very clear and his ideas comprehendible.

When he and Zell arrive in Cap Haitien I think the main rhetorical mode that Hughes employs is ethos. When they are staying in the capital, Hughes tells the reader that, while Zell tried to learn Spanish, he "devoted [him]self to the local patois" (20). The use of the word devoted shows the reader that Hughes did not just have a vague interest in the language nor did he try for a few days and then give up. The fact that Hughes devoted himself to patois tells us that he did not give up until he learned it. Just the choice of that one word gives the reader information on Hughes' personality and cultural sensitivity. 

This trait of Hughes' shows up many times as he describes his time in Cap Haitien, and it is one of the reasons I like him so much. As he describes the Haitian conga dance he creates a picture of men and women "solemnly enticing each other as though in a trace... Too self-centered to be vulgar" (22). This description caught my attention because many other American travelers may have just left that description at "a sex dance undisguised," yet Hughes was careful to be accurate and sensitive in his description of this scene (22). He chose his diction carefully to portray this image of Haitian culture exactly as he saw it. 

Hughes' sincerity and sensitivity shows through his precise and clear diction. He is careful about what he says and how he says it and this makes reading his work enjoyable.