The right-handed twin lives in the sky-world and he is content with the world he to create. the left-handed twin lives in the world below. he, too, is content with the world of men. he delights in the sounds of warfare and suffering. these two beings rule the world and look after the affairs of men. during the day people have rituals to honor the right-handed twin. at night they dance and sing for the left-handed twin. according to this excerpt, the two brothers represent gods and men. life and afterlife. good and evil. sky and earth.

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.