Ethics

The word "ethics" means a set of moral principles, esp. ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct. For most people, your ethics are determined on what kind of group you tend to involve yourself, what kind of heritage you come from, and what your elders/parents/teachers tell you what is right and wrong. There are simplistic and taboo ethics like don't steal, cheat, kill people, etc. But when looked at more closely, there might be complications to these taboo ethics like you can't kill people, UNLESS they are trying to kill you or even it's o.k. to steal things, BECAUSE I need them to survive. These loopholes are influenced by the environment that you or some other force surrounds yourself in.
For me, I generally try to surround myself with people who have good intent. I have my share of generally taboo ethics like the ones that they teach me in church. These include don't be covetous, don't kill, don't cheat, etc. I try to obey these things and be a somewhat good-natured person, but not all moral principles are as clear cut and have a definite demarcation line to it. This normally happens when your peers or parents take hypocritical decisions. If your parents say not to do something and you see them doing it anyway, your perspective on the subject could completely change. Thoughts might come up like if it's o.k. for them to steal or cheat, then I can steal or cheat too, or because they are hypocritical and they don't put any worth into their teachings, why should I learn from them? The actions of others can greatly impact your ethics and either lead you down a good or bad path. A wise man once said, "A fool learns by his own mistakes, a wise man learns from others' mistakes." This implies that you should learn from your friends' and parents' guidance but you should do as they say, not do as they do. Follow their teachings and make your own decisions based on others' thoughts and opinions.

Hughes and McKay

Langston Hughes and Claude McKay are two great poets who have both similarities and differences between their works. Structurally, McKay’s poems have more of a very defined arrangement of ten syllables per line. Hughes is trying to have his poems look Shakespearean, and trying to add more worth to his poems to show to the white men. Hughes’s poems don’t really have much of a structure, like take for example “Mulatto.” The writing seems somewhat scattered about the page, but it ends up working out in an odd way. Hughes’s writing seems more laid back, like in “Theme for English B.” The poem seems almost like a half-assed poem turned in for English class, but it ends up having a twist ending.
Twist endings are actually a major similarity between Hughes and McKay their poems also discuss important African American issues (which makes sense because they are both African American poets/writers) during the Harlem Renaissance. Both of them talk about the city Harlem itself, both in their own way.
In most of McKay’s writings such as “America,” “To the White Friends,” and “If We Must Die,” he discusses how Blacks need to fight and prove to the whites that they mean business and want to be a part of this country. In “If We Must Die,” he states, “If we die, O let us nobly die, So that our precious blood may not be shed In vain; then even the monsters we defy Shall be constrained to honor us through dead!” (1007) Hughes’s poems seem to disagree with McKay, and most of his pieces display the beauty of African race like in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “The Weary Blues.” Hughes also discusses how they (the Blacks) should ask the whites how they could get along and succeed in arts. In “You are white- yet a part of me, as I am a pat of you. That’s American. Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that’s true! As I learn from you,? I guess you learn from me- although you’re older-and white- and somewhat more free.” (1310) Hughes is supporting the unity of the whites and blacks, and that is what he feels America is all founded on.