The document is a short story titled "On the Road" by Langston Hughes. It describes a man named Sargeant who gets off a freight train late one evening during the Depression. Though it is snowing, Sargeant does not notice the snow falling on him as he is too hungry, tired, and sleepy. The Reverend Mr. Dorset sees Sargeant standing at his door with snow on his face, appearing as "a human piece of night with snow on his face." The story explores imagery and symbolism through its description of the characters and setting.

1. “On the Road”
By Langston Hughes

2. Imagery
He was not interested in snow. When he got off the freight, one early evening during the
depression, Sargeant never even noticed the snow. But he must have felt it seeping down his
neck, cold, wet, sopping in his shoes. But if you had asked him, he wouldn't have known it was
snowing. Sargeant didn't see the snow, not even under the bright lights of the main street, falling
white and flaky against the night. He was too hungry, too sleepy, too tired.
The Reverend Mr. Dorset, however, saw the snow when he switched on his porch light, opened
the front door of his parsonage, and found standing there before him a big black man with snow
on his face, a human piece of night with snow on his face-obviously unemployed.
Yellow= imagery or figurative language. Words that evoke sensory perceptionsight, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling
Green= diction. Words that the author uses in a powerful way to set the tone of the story.
What do we know about the story from the opening paragraph?

3. Symbolism and Diction
• Christ
• Stone
• The church- a building or a
religious practice?
• The colors black and white
• Doors- what do they
represent
• Sarcasm
• Humor
• Words that identify the
setting
• Words that show a shift in
the narrative of the story

4. Directions
• As we read, highlight the imagery.
• Take notes on the symbolism and the diction
(word choice) that Hughes chooses to achieve
his purpose
• Think about- what is Hughes’s purpose for
writing this story? What is he trying to tell his
audience? How?
• Complete the 4 assignments upon completion
of the story

5. Scenario
• Role- You are a movie production company that wants
to produce “On the Road” as a film
• Audience- You want it to be a short so your audience
will be independent film fans. You don’t want to make
money necessarily, you want to make art.
• Format- You will present a 6 frame storyboard, a movie
poster and a paragraph to explain your intentions (like
a pitch- what you are going for and why.)
• Topic- Your task is to memorialize Langston Hughes’
imagery, diction, symbolism in a story that reflects the
modernist time period of American Literature as part
of a Black History film exhibit at a museum.

6. Assignments
• 10 points- Turn in your story for a 10 point grade
that shows how well you critically read the storyhighlights should identify imagery and notes
should identify symbolism and imagery
• 10 points- With a partner, you will make a
storyboard with 6 images that show how you
would film this story. Would you film it in black
and white? Update to a modern time? Would it
be animation or real?

7. Assignments
• 25 points- Use the storyboard to create a
movie poster. You must have a single image, a
title, a tag line, the cast (Sargeant, Mr. Dorset,
Jesus and others), and a song title that you
feel best fits the story. Your poster must be
neat, well organized and turned in on time
• 10 points- Write a detailed, neat paragraph
that explains your thinking in artistic choice,
symbolism, casting, song choice and tag line.