Power of Langston Hughes' Harlem (A Dream Deferred) Essay

Another instance a dream is lost is when the family finds out the money has been stolen. Walter's sister, Beneatha, realizes her dream of going to medical school is now on hold. Benetha, being very angry at her brother, starts talking badly to him. Mama steps in and tells her not to speak badly to her brother. Beneatha replies, “Bad? Say anything bad to him? No – I told him he was a sweet boy and full of dreams and everything is strictly peachy keen, as the ofay kids say!”(Hansberry 138). In this instance, the reader can feel the emotion that Beneatha expresses. We feel the heavy load on his shoulders only become heavier, just as in the poem the author offers “Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.”(Hughes).

“What happens to a dream deferred?” Is a question from Langston Hughes, “A Dream Deferred” asks one what happens to a forgotten dream. This idea connects two well-known American plays, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry and Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, in the sense that each character has a dream deferred. A dream deferred is a forgotten dream or one that has been left behind. The two father figures, Walter and Willy, share many comparisons such as having a big dream reaching for success in business, leaving them behind, and their reactions.

People often feel that it is impossible to fulfill their dreams. As shown in the Great Depression of the 1930s, the pressure of achieving goals when faced with economic conflict makes dreams even harder to reach. If dreams aren't fulfilled one often falls under a melancholy state; or state of depression. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and “A Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes both portray, by using imagery, that if a person delays his dreams, the chances of his vision becoming a reality are greatly reduced.

He asks whether the dream would “dry up/ like a raisin in the sun” (ll. 2-3). In other words, he ponders if it would go away forever and never be achieved. Right after, he asks whether it would “fester like a sore” (l. 4). Many people who do not or cannot pursue their dreams think about their ideal life and resent their current status. Hughes continues thinking about what happens to dreams deferred by making the effects of living an unsatisfied life more tangible through comparisons. For instance, he asks whether the dream would rot like meat, spoil like sweets, or sag like it is holding something heavy. Finally, Hughes sets apart a final thought italicized in a new stanza when he writes, “[o]r does [the dream] explode?” (l. 11). Though not exactly a simile, it does conjure up images of something going off like a bomb. When something is ignored so long, or if an entire group of people is continuously discriminated against, it is only a matter of time before something has to

In Langston Hughes’ poem, the author gives us vivid examples of how dreams get lost in the weariness of everyday life. The author uses words like dry, fester, rot, and stink, to give us a picture of how something that was originally intended for good, could end up in defeat. Throughout the play, I was able to feel how each character seemed to have their dreams that fell apart as the story went on. I believe the central theme of the play has everything to do with the pain each character goes thru after losing control of the plans they had in mind. I will attempt to break down each character’s dream and how they each fell apart as the play went on.

In the poem “Harlem” Langston Hues asks the question: “What happens to a dream deferred?” Hughes wonders if a dream deferred shrivels up like a raisin or if it festers like a sore. In other words Hughes speculates about what happens to dreams that haven’t come true after years and years of one searching unsuccessfully for their dreams. At first Hughes wonders about whether the feeling of failure of one’s dreams are similar to a constant nagging feeling of disappointment and inferiority. However I find the last line to be the most important part of the poem.

In Hughes poem Harlem a series of similes are used in the poem to compare a dream deferred to rotting, aging or burdensome items. A dream deferred is compared to a raisin, a sore, rotten meat, a syrupy sweet, and a heavy load. The actions linked to these items suggest what might happen to the dream, such as rotting and dying or weighing down the conscience of the people. The poem ends with a single metaphor with the line "Or does it explode?" (Hughes 10).

A deeper investigation of the poem, however, presents a different understanding of the poet’s purpose in expressing his message through questions. By using questions, Hughes indicates that the answers can go either way, positive or negative. The open-endedness of the questions provide an opportunity for optimistic responses and, therefore, generate a sense of hope beyond the simple agreement that neglected dreams decay and disappear. He gives the impression that forsaken dreams do not have to remain withered and forgotten; everyone has the choice of restoring their dreams. Langston Hughes addresses the readers of the poem, asking them to find the hope in their dreams to achieve the revival of the Harlem

A dream is an aspiration or a vision that drives us throughout our lives. It is the distant light in the long dim journey of life that guides us. A dream can provide hope and help establish goals throughout our lives. When a dream is deferred, or put off, it loses value and it becomes more challenging to achieve. However, every dream musy be achieved within a certain time frame, thus not all dreams are equal. Some of them can be put off and still be attainable, whereas others are a once in a lifetime opportunity. A dream deferred eventually becomes a burden for oneself and it “sags like a heavy load” (Hughes). Without a dream or a purpose, what drives an individual throughout life?

Hughes sets up a series of similes that compare the dream to various items that are rotten and burdensome. By doing this, he is showing the reader the costs of deferring a dream that is so deeply rooted in African-American culture as it dates all the way back to

Guilt, shame, remorse, regret, sadness, anger, and wonder are all likely possibilities; however Hughes uses analogies such as ‘fester like a sore’ and ‘crust and sugar over’ to show the reader what happens to dreams that are not lived out to their potential. By having the reader compare sores and stinking meat to the failure of dreams not sought out, he sends the reader’s thoughts to disappointing results. In a few words Hughes gives a pep-talk to his readers, encouraging them to pursue any and all their dreams, which are not to ever be wasted. With Harlem being the title of this poem, it’s easy to see how this vision of not letting go of your dreams was directed at the Harlem community. Harlem was the hub of African American residency, culture, and art.

The poem by Langston Hughes is a short poem, with only eleven lines. This poem was written 1951 when African Americans where still racially segregated and where still facing prejudice as well as economic hardships. The speaker, not clear if male or female makes correlations of the outcome of the “dream deferred”. He or she wonders if it dried up, festered, or is stinking up, crusting over, or exploding.

For example the speaker says, “Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?/ or fester like a sore--/ and then run?” This quote suggests that much like raisins , dreams shrivel up when left alone. Additionally, this quote shows that an ignored dream is physically painful. Much like sores, they can become contaminated if medicine is not applied. The image of a shriveling raisin left in the sun evokes the image of a flower that has not been watered in days. The image of the raisin reinforces the idea that dreams decay and no preservatives will prevent the natural process of time. Furthermore, the speaker asks, “Does it stink like rotten meat?/ Or crust and sugar over-- like a sugary sweet?” This line is indirectly saying that when dreams are ignored, they will eventually disappear. But the scent (thought) of it never will. On the other hand, the second line supports the conclusion that dreams are only useful when they are brand new; ] once pushed off to the side, they lose their

I most related to Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem.” The idea of what happens to lost dreams crosses my mind fairly often, as the different paths that arise in my life all lead towards different dreams. I’m left wondering if I’ll ever make it as a full-time artist or if I’ll fall into another career path. Much like the poem’s questions, I wonder if my dreams will wither or explode on me if I don’t follow them. Similarly, my consideration of the topic isn’t extensive, and neither is the poem; the only way for me to know the answer is to keep moving forward. All of the possibilities in the poem are pertinent to my life, and I wonder which outcome my dreams will fall

As a child, oblivious and ignorant, Hughes thought he lived in a world full of opportunity. Although true for whites in the day, the same couldn’t be said about blacks. Symbolizing that he is black and that his race, or in other word challenge, is the wall blocking him from his dream Hughes embellishes “The wall./ Shadow./I am black./ I lie down in the shadow” giving the idea that he is now no longer able to see his happiness by the light of his dream (lines 13-15). In these times, blacks lived under white supremacy, therefore racial discrimination was often apparent. Consequently, blacks could not live out their dreams. Hughes see the symbol of the sun bursting, “Into a thousand lights of sun,/ Into a thousand whirling dreams/ Of sun!” Hughes describes that his dream is a representation of the sun based on its brightness (lines 27-29). He dreams for racial acceptance, equality, and for blacks to have the same opportunities as whites. Unfortunately, given the circumstances, this dream seems impossible and merely as only a hope. Blocked from the light of his dream it seems as if the dream had been lost, but truth tells that it has only been covered by a shadow. Therefore, it is implied that Hughes still wishes to break this wall and reach his bright dream of a world full of