Harlem Langston Hughes Analysis

Langston Hughes’ poetry frequently cites the “American Dream” from the perspective of those who were disenfranchised in American, such as the Native Americans, African Americans, poor farmers, and oppressed immigrants. The American Dream was defined by James Truslow Adams as, “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (Langston Hughes). Hughes’ poetry portrays the glories of equality, liberty, and the “American Dream” as the disenfranchised were trapped beneath oppression, poverty, and prejudice. Whose dreams are smothered and buried in a life characterized by the anguish of survival.

Thesis statement: Hughes wrote this when Jim Crow laws were still imposing an bitter segregated society in the South. There were still lynchings of innocent African Americans, there was no Civil Rights Movement, there was no Civil Rights legislation yet, and Blacks couldn't eat at lunch counters in the South. Harlem, however, was not at all like the South in terms of blatant, legal segregation. However, racism was very much in place in many places in America. Blacks were second class citizens, their children attended schools that were ill-equipped, and the dreams of Black citizens were not being realized in this period.

The short but inspirational poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes addresses what happens to aspirations that are postponed or lost. The brief, mind provoking questions posed throughout the poem allow the readers to reflect--on the effects of delaying our dreams. In addition, the questions give indications about Hughes' views on deferred dreams.

     Their dreams become dried up like a raisin in the sun. Not just dreams are dried up though; Walter Lee and Ruth’s marriage became dried up also. Their marriage was no longer of much importance, like a dream it was post-poned and it became dry. Their struggle for happiness dried up because they had to concentrate all of their energies on surviving. Their needs seem no longer to be satisfied by each other. But they

Langston Hughes uses a unique style, language, and diction to portray his point about dreams. “Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun?”(2-3) This symbolizes a hardening, from a grape to a raisin. If a dream is destroyed it hardens the heart. It becomes useless just the like the dried up raisin. Hughes also suggests that maybe unrealized dreams are a "heavy load" which symbolizes a burden, something to heavy to bear, something that weighs a person down always. This poem is like the American Dream, if you do not pursue your dream right away it may slip away from you and eventually it will be gone. The American Dream can be fulfilled through hard word work and passion, it will not come easy. Everyone has the opportunity to grasp the chance to become successful through dreams and goals. Langston Hughes realized the importance of dreams and having those dreams torn apart. His poem, "Dream Deferred", uses strong images to create a picture of a negative and destructive outcome for a dreamer left unable to dream. “Nothing can stop a man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude”, Thomas Jefferson.

Langston Hughes, a gentleman of color who was a leader to the African American community is a poet, who according to an editor of “Harlem Renaissance” portrayed the truth rather than a sugar-coated version of how life was in Harlem, the hub of the black community. Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem” describes how colored people live in poverty, in the poem “Dream Variations” Hughes’ dream was symbolized by nature, and in the short story “Slave on the Block,” racism and life of a domestic slave are shown from his point of view. The time when these pieces of work were created was an era when black artistry was opening the eyes of white America to how poorly Afro Americans were treated; this movement was called the Harlem Renaissance, as said in “Harlem Renaissance”. In this movement, Hughes was a force of nature that pursued equality among all races, yet still maintaining integrity and pride. White America was not a welcoming place for people of melanin, white people were not sentimental or generous with them so people say it was more described as, “The cold, uncaring atmosphere of the United States were for blacks discrimination, racism, and often brutal treatment were a feature of everyday life” (“Dream”). Not only did Hughes have to endure the pain of this treatment but so did all colored people.

Although completely different in structure, the poem “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes and the song “Juicy” by Notorious B.I.G share similar themes. Both discuss the struggle in achieving their dreams and ponder on the aspects of life that obstruct their goals. Dreams are depicted as a pivotal decision that can either benefit you or consume you with negativity. However, they are obtainable despite hindering adversity. Both Hughes and Notorious B.I.G use imagery to portray the hope behind dreams.

“What happens to a dream deferred?” In the poem “Dream Deferred”, by Langston Hughes; the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck; and the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, it talks about what dreams are like and what happens to dreams. Langston Hughes is questioning what happens to dreams that are forgotten. John Steinbeck is telling a person to strive for his/her goals and to not forget or give up on dreams. In Hansberry’s opinion, she is implying that dreams can come true if a person tries hard, even if he/

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, unforeseen obstacles will always prevent one’s dreams.

“Harlem [Dream Deferred]” by Langston Hughes may seem like an insignificant poem at first glance. It contains only 11 lines and the diction is simple enough, but it is much more profound upon further exploration and understanding. Hughes applies the theme of frustration and use of metaphor, simile, and imagery to express the important issues of this time. The community of Harlem was primarily black, and this poem articulates the struggle of these people during the Civil Rights Movement. People of this time were left with injustice and their dreams were very much deferred.

In “Dream Deferred,” by Langston Hughes, he explains through profound imagery that when a dream is left alone for a long time, it will die. Hughes compared dreams with foods, and the ways that they change over time: “Does it stink like rotten meat? / Or crust and sugar over-- / Like a syrupy sweet?” (Hughes lines 6-8). Here, Hughes is asking the question, what happens to a dream deferred? The answer is that dreams simply die when left alone, as shown by Madame Loisel’s dream in The Necklace. Madame Loisel spent her entire life in debt. She was always earning money, which she immediately gave away to people she owed for her mistake. All of the work she labored over had changed her: “At the end of ten years, everything was paid off, everything, the usurer’s charges and the accumulation of superimposed interest. Madame Loisel looked old now” (de Maupassant 5). Clearly, her lack of ability to follow her dream prevented Madame Loisel from achieving it. She herself, “stank like rotten meat”, as Hughes would put it. These examples show that when left alone, a dream simply becomes a memory, and the memory is lost over time. Throughout the time of one’s life, friends are made, which are also preventative towards the American

Everyone has dreams, whether it’s from a small dream somebody had last night to a reoccuring dream that they continue to try and make a reality. In “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe, “Ain’t I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck all of the main characters have a dream that they try to accomplish. These dreams range from equality among gender and race to owning a small farm. In these three pieces of writing the dreams and goals are never accomplished, communicating that all dreams are impossible and shouldn’t be encouraged.

In our journey through life, we all have certain expectations of how we would like our lives to be. All of us strive to reach a certain level of self-actulization and acceptance. It could thus be said that all of us live a dream. Some of these individual dreams inevitably become the collective dream of many people. In "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)", Langston Hughes makes use of symbolism as well as powerful sensory imagery to show us the emotions that he and his people go through in their quest for freedom and equality. By using questions he builds the poem towards an exciting climax.

Langston Hughes's poem "Dream Deferred" is basically about what happens to dreams when they are put on hold. Hughes probably intended for the poem to focus on the dreams of African-American in particular. However, it is just as easy to read the poem as being about dreams in general and what happens when people postpone making them come true. What I got from the poem was that the longer you put your dreams on hold, the more the dreams will change and the less likely they will come true.

According to Biography, James Mercer Langston Hughes is considered to be an African American poet who is college educated and comes from a middle-class family (Langston Hughes Biography). He attended college in New York City and became influential during the Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes Biography). Although Hughes was a talented writer, he faced some challenges early on and it was stated that his “early work was roundly criticized by many black intellectuals for portraying what they thought to be an unattractive view of black life” (Langston Hughes. American Poet). They believed that his work helps the spread the stereotypes of African Americans. “Hughes, more than any other black poet or writer, recorded faithfully the nuances of black life and its frustrations” (Langston Hughes. American Poet). Langston Hughes’s poems “The Negro Mother”, “Let America be America Again” and “The Weary Blues” were influenced by his life during the Harlem Renaissance and the racial inequality experienced in the late 1920s through the 1960s.