Langston Hughes is considered by many readers to be the most significant black poet of the twentieth century. Except for a few examples, all his poems are about social injustice in America. The somber tone of his writing often reflected his mood. Race relations were present in almost his whole career, following him from his first poem to his last.
             The poem “Doorknobs” was written in 1961 after his subpoena to appear before Senator McCarthy for subversive activities. Although many other poems by Hughes deal with prejudice, race, or politics, “Doorknobs” deals with life itself. Hughes’ anger over the political attacks are seen on many of his poems. Hughes’ “Doorknob” describes a child who seems to be afraid of life and afraid of the adults in his life… By the end of the poem this child is now an adult himself who appears to be insecure, and perhaps, afraid of life itself.
             This man portrays a sad, non-confident, scared life as we can see on the lines 1 to 3. We experience first hand the lack of control, the terrorizing feelings this door holds for this child:
             The simple silly terror of a doorknob
             on a door that turns to let in life
             From lines 4 to 10, we can assume that we are reading of a child who is terrorized of the grownups that live with him; perhaps he is an abused child:
             Lines 11 to 15 reinforce the terror this child is feeling and carrying with him. It is apparent that the child is experiencing some kind of abuse, either mental or physical:
             when the door from out there opened
             ...