📖 Not Without Laughter

Sandy is a young boy from a very poor family in Stanton, Kansas, who lives with his mother Annjee, his aunt Harriet, and his grandmother Aunt Hager. However, his father, Jimboy, is often occupied travelling the country working multiple jobs, while his other aunt, Tempy, has married into black high-society to imitate whites to become "acceptable." When Annjee leaves to be with Jimboy and Aunt Harriet leaves home after a conflict with Aunt Hager, Aunt Hager is responsible to raise Sandy right and pushes him to be in school, employed, and a "great man" with big dreams. She is also a serious Christian who brings him to church and keeps him well behaved. After Aunt Hager dies, however, Sandy must live with his Aunt Tempy, since his mother cannot afford to raise Sandy, and he continues to go to the Episcopal Church with her, since she wants to erase her dialect and lower-class past. Eventually, Annjee finds a job for Sandy as a bellboy and wants him to pursue that job for life. Meanwhile, Aunt Harriet has been working hard to become a regional blues singing star, so Sandy and Annjee go see her in Chicago, but Harriet gets furious at Annjee when she finds out she has discontinued Sandy's education, which was Aunt Hager's dream for him. Therefore, Harriet immediately continues Sandy's education. Set around 1912 and 1918 during the World War 1 period, "Not Without Laughter" is Langston Hughes's debut novel into the Harlem Renaissance. This novel is semi-autobiographical to Hughes's own childhood, as the fictional town of Stanton is based off of his hometown in Lawrence, Kansas, and his grandmother also had a strong influence on him when his father was absent. His motivation was to write a realistic story, without a dramatic plot or climax, of a "typical Negro family in the Middle West," and wanted to move from the traumatic narratives of segregation, poverty, and the Great Migration and instead focus on the blues music, community, and "laughter" Black families used to cope with racism. In the novel, there are many slick literary devices included, such as the Black vernacular dialect of local idioms and mimicry of jazz and blues rhythm. In addition, character foil between the three aunts to show the different reactions to systemic racism. These all contributed to the themes of class, resilience, impact of racism, and importance of music, art, and joy. I truly enjoyed the perspective of focusing on the resilient and joyful side of such a dark time, the overall atmosphere without dramatic plot twists, and the way Sandy's innocence and dreams were kept throughout the novel. This book genuinely had such a heartwarming and inspiring effect on me!

桑迪(Sandy)是堪萨斯州斯坦顿(Stanton)一个贫困家庭的男孩,与母亲安吉(Annjee)、哈丽特姨妈(Harriet)以及祖母哈格尔(Hager)住在一起。他的父亲吉姆博伊(Jimboy)常年在外奔波,身兼数职;他的另一位姨妈坦皮(Tempy)嫁入了黑人上流社会;她极力模仿白人,以求获得主流社会的"接纳"。 当母亲安吉离开家去追随父亲吉姆博伊,哈丽特姨妈也因与祖母发生冲突而离家出走,抚养桑迪成人的重任便落在了祖母肩上。她督促桑迪上学、工作,并期望他能怀揣宏大梦想,成为一个"了不起的人"。作为一名虔诚的基督徒,她还经常带桑迪去教堂,教导他举止端庄。 祖母去世后,由于母亲安吉无力独自抚养桑迪,他不得不搬去与坦皮姨妈同住。坦皮姨妈一心想抹去自己的方言口音和底层出身背景,因此继续带着桑迪去圣公会教堂参加礼拜。后来,母亲为桑迪找了一份酒店侍者(bellboy)的工作,并希望他以此为终身职业。与此同时,哈丽特姨妈正努力成为一名蓝调歌手;当桑迪和安吉前往芝加哥探望她时,哈丽特姨妈得知桑迪的母亲中断了他的学业——而这正是祖母生前对桑迪的期望——因而大为光火。于是,哈丽特姨妈当即安排桑迪重返校园,继续接受教育。 这是作者兰斯顿·休斯(Langston Hughes)在"哈莱姆文艺复(Harlem Renaissance)"时期的首部小说,故事背景设定在1912年至1918年第一次世界大战期间。这部小说带有半自传性质,反映了休斯本人的童年经历:书中的虚构小镇"斯坦顿"(Stanton)是以他位于堪萨斯州劳伦斯(Lawrence)的家乡为原型构建的;而在父亲缺席的日子里,他的祖母也对他产生了深远的影响。休斯的创作初衷是讲述一个关于"中西部典型黑人家庭"的写实故事,他不追求戏剧性的情节或高潮,而是试图跳出种族隔离、贫困和大迁徙等充满创伤的叙事框架,转而聚焦于黑人家庭如何利用蓝调音乐、社区纽带以及"欢笑"来应对种族主义。 小说运用了许多带有地方习语特色的黑人方言,并模仿爵士乐与蓝调音乐的节奏感。通过三位姨妈之间的性格反差来展现她们面对系统性种族主义时的不同反应。这些元素共同深化了作品的主题,探讨了阶级、韧性、种族主义的影响,以及音乐、艺术与快乐的重要性。 我非常欣赏这种视角——在那个黑暗的时代背景下,着重展现人们坚韧与快乐的一面;小说没有那些戏剧性情节反转,却着重描述了桑迪(Sandy)的纯真与梦想;这部小说带给我一种温暖且充满力量的感受!