# The New Cabaret Girl explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Langston Hughes.

## What happens

A speaker observes a mixed-race woman with blue-green eyes in a cabaret, noting her uncertain origins and her sadness despite the lively setting, and urges her to change her way of living.

## Themes in this chapter

### Racial Identity and Oppression

The poem highlights the ambiguity of racial identity through the 'little yaller gal' with blue-green eyes, suggesting a white father, and her disconnection from her origins.

### Urban Life and Alienation

The cabaret setting underscores the alienation of the woman, who sits crying in a place meant for entertainment, unable to participate in the joy around her.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker who observes and addresses the new cabaret girl.

### Ruby Brown

The new cabaret girl, described as a 'little yaller gal' with blue-green eyes, crying in the cabaret.

## Key lines

> That little yaller gal Wid blue-green eyes: If her daddy ain’t white Would be a surprise.

That light-skinned girl with blue-green eyes almost certainly has a white father.

_The speaker speculates on the woman's mixed racial heritage based on her appearance._

> An’ she say, Honey, I don’t know Where I come from Or where I go.

She replies that she is uncertain of her origins and her future.

_The woman expresses a profound sense of dislocation and rootlessness._

> My God, I says, You can’t live that way! Babe, you can’t Live that way!

The speaker exclaims that she cannot continue living in such a sad and aimless manner.

_The speaker's urgent plea reflects concern and a call for change._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/the-new-cabaret-girl
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters