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Harlem Langston Hughes Through the turbulent decades of the 1920 s through the 1960 s many of the black Americans went through difficult hardships and found comfort only in dreaming. Those especially who lived in the ghettos of Harlem would dream about a better place for them, their families, and their futures. Langston Hughes discusses dreams and what they could do in one of his poems, Harlem. Hughes poem begins: What happens to a dream deferred Hughes is asking what happens to a dream that is being put off. What do these dreams do, do they do good, do they do bad, or do they do neither good nor bad? He continues by stating this simile: Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Using this simile he is stating that dreaming can be good or bad. A raisin is a grape that has been dehydrated by the sun. Hughes is conveying that dreams can suck the life out of a person, mentally dehydrating them. However a raisin is not necessarily bad. When the grape is dehydrated by the sun it turns the grape into a raisin, a sweet and delightful front which can furnish life when eaten. A dream can be just like a raisin.
A person may feed off the idea of the dream in order to strive and strive to achieve the dream. Hughes continues his poem by stating more on dreams that have been put off in lines four and five, he states: Or fester like a sore and then run? Here, Hughes uses a sore as a simile for dreams that have been put off. He wonders if these delayed dreams get worser and worser over time that they just disappear from the person.
Hughes continues his questioning by using another simile for postponed dreams, Does it stink like rotten meat? Hughes is trying to convey that over a period of time a person may become so tired of the dream that they have postponed that it would actually start to stink, they would start to hate it, and want to get rid of it just as if someone would want to get rid of a piece of rotten meat. He continues by using another simile for postponed dreams: Or crust and sugar like a syrupy sweet? Here, Langston Hughes states of a dream that could be so good and so sweet, but over time the dream has gotten old and bad just like a syrupy sweet could crust and sugar over time. Hughes advances with another simile for defined dreams: Maybe it just sags like a heavy load Here, Hughes states of a dream that is so huge and farfetched that it could never happen. He ends his poem by saying, Or does it explore?
Langston Hughes relays that deferred dreams can do many things, though they mostly do worse than help you. He is trying to convey that you really should not postpone your dreams dont set them aside, for your dreams may crust, rott, and dry up over time. Instead of setting your dreams to the side take control and work at accomplishing the dreams while you have the time During the decades where the black Americans remained low in the social class, Langston Hughes spoke out about the despair of economic and social conditions under which they lived. Through his poems, in which he expressed their conditions, he helped bring justice returning the black Americans to their rightful social stature.
Langston Hughes is one of the most controversial and influen sive names in American poetry. To many he remains a hero for having the courage to speak out for his fellow Americans while they deferred to speak out.
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Research essay sample on Langston Hughes Black Americans
