English Department Final Exam
Fall 2021

Due Date:
By the end of Friday, Dec. 17

In the early 1930s, the poet Langston Hughes wrote a poem called “Tired,” in which he said:

I am so tired of waiting,
Aren’t you,
For the world to become good
And beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
And cut the world in two –
And see what worms are eating
At the rind.

Last month, Bloomberg News reported that just three men in the U.S. – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett – have more money than the 165 million Americans who make up the bottom 50% of the population.

They also reported that 40 million Americans need food stamps to eat, and that 25% of homeless people actually have regular jobs.

It is a fact that Cuba has a significantly longer life expectancy than the U.S.

More than half of all Americans do not have even $400 available for emergencies.

* * * * *

Write an essay where you connect Langston Hughes’ poem “Tired” to the economic facts listed below his poem.