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“I, Too” has a setting that is at once literal and figurative. On the literal level, the poem takes place in a house owned by a wealthy white family. We know the family has a substantial amount of money, since they employ at least one servant: namely, the poem’s speaker. The speaker notes that, as “the darker brother” (line 2), he is at once part of the family and not part of the family. Despite being a kind of sibling, his race and employment status both mark him as less than a full member of the family. As such, he is excluded from the table whenever company comes for dinner. On the figurative level, the white-owned house where the speaker works stands as a metaphor for American society at large. The race- and class-based hierarchy at play on the poem’s literal level also plays out on the figurative level. Just as the Black house servant is less than a full family member in the house where he works, he’s also considered less than a full citizen in the country where he lives.

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