Read this excerpt from the outsiders

what is the universal theme of this excerpt?

tabout decided i didn't like it so much, though, when!

spotted that red corvair trailing me i was almost two

blocks from home then, so i started walking a little faster

had never been jumped, but i had seen johnny after four

socs got hold of him, and it wasn't pretty johnny was

scared of his own shadow after that johnny was sixteen

then

hard work pays off

love conquers all

dramatic life events cause change

things are seldom what they seem

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.