Throughout the poem, Hughes narrates with the four diverse voices of a tenant, a landlord, the police, and the press. Each of these voices has its own perspective on the action of the poem and serves to dramatize the experience of a black man in a white-dominated society. Additionally, “Ballad of a Landlord” is a poem in which an African American tries to talk to his white landlord about his living conditions. The main voice of the poem, the tenant, is characterized in the opening stanza by his informal speech: “Don't you remember I told you about it/Last week? The tenant tries to let the landlord know that there is a leak in his roof. He continues by complaining about the state of the stairs; “Owner, owner/ These steps are broken/ When you climb up yourself/ it’s a wonder you don’t fall.” The African American wants to let him know that his living conditions are unacceptable and after being ignored several times, the tenant states that he will not pay the rent until these problems are resolved. A shift in tone can be seen in the fourth stanza when the tenant begins to react more emotionally after the landlord threatens to evict him. Finally, from the fifth stanza, it becomes clear that the tenant is angry: “Um-huh! You speak loud and clear./Speak until you're done./You won't be able to say a word/If I put my fist on you. For the first time in the poem, the tenant raises his voice, which is represented by the first exclamation point. Additionally, he threatens to resort to violence as the argument becomes more and more heated and he gets tired of not getting what he wants. In the sixth stanza, Hughes introduces a new voice, that of the owner: “Police! Police!/ Come get this man!/ He's trying to ruin the government/ And overthrow the country! The owner's tone is frantic, which is clearly a response to a little threat. Rather than dealing directly with the tenant