BALLAD OF THE LANDLORD

By
Langston Hughes

Theme:
Racial Discrimination
Suppression of black American by the white American.

Ballad: A narrative poem. A poem that narrates a story.

The poem highlights the pathetic living condition of the African-American and suppression of
the legal rights of the black American.
It also highlights the racial prejudice against the black American.
The black African-American are fighting for their basic rights.
The black American are forced to live in colonies meant exclusively for black people and
immigrants. Most of them live in dilapidated houses that are badly in need of repair.
The rich landlords who live in posh locality are never bothered about the sufferings and
problems of the poor tenant.

SUMMARY

The poem is a ballad that is in the form of a dialogue between an African-American tenant and a white
American Landlord. The poem begins with the tenant complaining to the landlord about the leaky roof
and broken stairs. He had already complaint about it to the landlord earlier but no action was taken to
fix the problems. The landlord is concerned only about the rent (money) but not with the problems of
the tenant. He chooses to ignore the problems of the tenant. The landlord demands ten dollars that the
tenant owed him. But, the tenant tells him that he will not give him any money until he fixes his house.

The landlord threatens to give him eviction orders, get his electricity connection cut off, and throw his
furniture on the street. The threats anger the tenant and he threatens to beat him up so as to silence
him. This provokes the landlord to call the police. He complains that the tenant is trying to defy the law
of the land.

The tenant is immediately arrested, his request for bail is also rejected and finally the tenant is
sentenced to three months imprisonment. The police, the media and the judiciary collude to send the
innocent tenant to jail for no fault.