Which lines from the story "there's a man in the habit of hitting me on the head with an umbrella" indicate that the narrator is conflicted in his feelings about the man with the umbrella? "his nose was bleeding and, at that moment, i felt sorry for him. i felt remorse for having hit him so hard." "as we all know, when a fly lands on your forehead, you don't feel any pain whatsoever; what you feel is annoyance." "the man was huffing and puffing and gasping so that i thought, if i continued to force him to run at that speed, my tormenter would drop dead right then and there." "still and all, our relations have not always been good. i've asked him, on many occasions, and in all possible tones, to explain his behavior to me."

The harlem renaissance dawned in an era of pervasive racism and segregation. although legally "free," many african americans were still bound by ideas that had their roots in the slavery of earlier centuries. identity and freedom are important ideas presented in many of the poems from the harlem renaissance. furthermore, the values of identity and freedom are not unique to particular times and places. as hughes expresses in "dream variations," all humans want to be able to develop their identities in freedom. what role does freedom play in the poems you read in this unit? what is required of a society to enable each individual to be true to his or her identity and be free to live by that identity? write about at least three of the poems, describing how the poet uses imagery to depict freedom and identity, the lack of it, or the desire for it.