A dream deferred analysis
A dream is a goal in life, not just dreams experienced during sleep. Most people use their dreams as a way of setting future goals for themselves. Dreams can help to assist people in getting further in life because it becomes a personal accomplishment. Langston Hughes's poem "Dream Deferred" speaks about what happens to dreams when they are put on hold. The poem leaves it up to the reader to decide what dream is being questioned. The poem A Dream Deferred discusses the many potential consequences that can occur when a dream is not realized soon enough. These six moments illustrate the different ways that a deferred dream can die, and consequently harm its dreamer. Langston Hughes, the speaker of the poem, expresses his concern over his deferred dreams as they relate to his many ruined goals. The dream may perish in six hypothetical ways, all of which are quite damaging to Hughes as the dreamer.
Hughes shows his fear of having his dreams deferred by portraying only negative possibilities. He speculates that deferred dreams may dry, fester, stink, crust, sag or explode. Hughes never supposes that his dream may wait, patiently and without damage, for its moment to be realized because he thinks this to be impossible. This learned helplessness was likely conditioned when Hughes was a young boy, trying to succeed as the only black student in a white school. While he dreamed to be treated as the other students were, “the teacher singled him out for his brownness, and several of his classmates would climax the day by throwing stones or epithets at him” (Presley, page 2) Hughes had to work harder than the other students to earn the respect of his biased teachers...
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...Hughes finds that he is unable to accomplish what he wishes to, his confidence in himself will perish as do his dreams in the poem. As a writer and as a person, Hughes is composed of his literary successes and failures, or his dreams for success and nightmares of failure. “The poem does not choose the dream but leaves it up to the reader.” From the reflective nature of the poem, a reader can infer that the dream about which the poem is written is of Hughes himself, and his success. In his poem, Hughes considers the many ways that his dreams, and in turn and he, can die.
Langston Hughes explains in his poem that dreams that are not actualized quickly will inevitably die. Though the content of Hughes’ dream is not stated specifically, all dreams are a mirror image of their dreamer. Hughes worries for his own future and expresses that worry through rhyme and similes.
Hughes wants to know what happens when a dream is put off to be achieved later. Hughes says, “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?” (1-3).
...ow this dream, once big and important is turned into a merely bothersome thought. This shows how the poet is no longer inspired to achieve this dream. Moreover, the phrase ‘I’m folding up my little dreams tonight, within my heart’ further describes her desperation (7). The act of folding describes her urge to make the dream disappear and tuck it out of her sight. This obviously shows how she does not want to confront it any longer.
This statement is an excellent attention-getter. It tells about a dream that everyone would like without singling out any group of people to blame for the dream not coming true. Then as the poem goes on, he gets more and more specific. Hughes then goes on to dream that everyone “ll know sweet freedoms,/Where greed no longer saps the soul. Here Hughes is wishing to abolish greed.
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes is a poem that talks about what happens when we postpones our dreams. The poem is made up of a series of similes and it ends with a metaphor. The objective of the poem is to get us to think about what happens to a dream that is put off, postponed; what happens when we create our very own shelve of dreams? The “dream” refers to a goal in life, not the dreams we have while sleeping, but our deepest desires. There are many ways to understand this poem; it varies from person to person. Some may see this poem as talking about just dreams in general. Others may see it as African-American’s dreams.
Dreams deferred usually end up being diminished from existence. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the characters dreams, which are put on, hold all get destroyed. Lennie's dream was to live on the land in which he owned and to tend the rabbits (pg.14). He finally was almost about to achieve his dream in a month but after working in a ranch for a few days he killed Curly's wife by accident (pg.94) so he dies and also loses all his dreams so his dreams are pessimistic. Also with Lennie's dream being destroyed also George's dream was which was also to live on a ranch so (pg.7). This happens because he can't make his dream reality without Lennie showing pessimistic out view on dreams. Dreams only can bring you so far it all depends on what your destiny is. This is because even though Lennie and George's dreams were crushed even though they tried there hardest to reach them also Candy, Crooks and Curly's wife dreams were ruined too.
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.
With great dreams comes great sacrifices and the ultimate sacrifice is putting that dream on hold. There are many situations that get in the way that force individuals to step away from their dreams and take care of their personal issues. Everyone has the aspiration to fulfill their dreams, but sometimes dreams are set aside for various reason, and some people never return to continue fulfillment. In the poem Harlem, Hughes writes, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” (Hughes). One of the many sacrifices when in search of the American Dream or any dream in general is the potential of it being put off. Like Langston Hughes says, the dream may dry up like a raisin in the sun, but in actuality the dream is never lost, the remnants are still there. It is simply set aside so when the time is right to continue on with the dream the individual can pick up where they left off. As the dream sits on hold it loses its importance, or it dries up. Putting off a dream is one of the biggest sacrifices someone could make no matter the circumstance. People are sacrificing what their lives could have potentially been. Hughes talks about all of the feelings that come with putting off a dream and describes what could potentially happen to a differed dream. Ultimately, the poem is about the sacrifice of giving up this American Dream and choosing a different
What is a dream deferred? Is it something children imagine and lose as they grow up. Do dreams ever die, as we find out, the world is it what it seems. The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and Harlem by Langston Hughes talk about dreams deferred. It shows a African American family struggling to make their dreams a reality. Although Walter, Ruth, Mama, and Beneatha live in the same house, their dreams are all different from each other.
A common theme shared by "Dreams" and "A Dream Deferred" is that you should keep on working to fulfill your dreams because if you don't, you will never achieve them and your life will be miserable. Hughes uses imagery and figures of speech to showcase and develop this theme throughout the two poems. In "Dreams," Hughes writes,"Hold..." This decisive use if a metaphor illustrates how life would be much more difficult and sad if we gave up on our dreams. In "A Dream Deferred," Hughes writes,"Does...?"
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” This quote from Walt Disney addressing the concept of achieving dreams is very accurate, and can be seen throughout literature today and in the past. Dreams can give people power or take away hope, and influence how people live their lives based upon whether they have the determination to attack their dreams or not; as seen through characters like the speaker in Harlem by Langston Hughes and Lena and Walter Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in The Sun.
Hughes also uses imagery to show his theme. "Does it stink like rotten meat?" This use of imagery shows how a dream deferred simply rots into something that is no longer usable. This makes the reader imagine a slob of rotten meat with maggots crawling on it. This not only disgusts the reader, but makes them understand what Hughes is trying to say, which is that you give up on a dream, it cannot be used anymore. "Does it dry up? Like a raisin in the sun?" This use of imagery makes the reader imagine a fruit that you could have eaten fresh, but since you did not, it has dried up.
describing is simply a dream in what you want to achieve in life. And in the poem the dreams of the
Langston Hughes was an activist for the African-American community and made significant artistic contributions to the Harlem Renaissance throughout his career. In one of his most famous poems, “Harlem [Dream Deferred]”, he addresses the limitations and oppression of African Americans after the Great Depression. Many African Americans dreamed of equality, but often times that dream became neglected and pushed aside. In his poem, Hughes responds to a question about a deferred dream with a series of vivid similes, inquiring what happens to a constantly ignored dream.
Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Poems.org stated that Hughes’ parents were divorced when he was young. He was the offspring of two African American parents. His maternal grandmother raised him until he was 13. He then moved in with his mother and her husband in Cleveland. Hughes’ education consisted of studies at Columbia University. Without completing his education there, he left and took up many odd jobs. One such job included travelling abroad as a seaman. In his adult life, he lived in Washington D.C. Hughes’ poetry was influenced by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Walt Whitman, and Carl Sandburg. His love of jazz music also shaped some of his poetry (Academy of American Poets). Arnold Rampersad comments that “Hughes's sense of dedication was instilled in him most of all by his maternal grandmother.” Ramperstad also concluded that parental neglect impacted Hughes’ poetry. Langston Hughes died of prostate cancer on May 22, 1967. The glaring inequalities Hughes experienced throughout his lifetime became the subject of many of his poems.
... beings react when a dream dies. Edward J. Mullen notes that Hughes' poem represents the idea that, "the inhabitants of this 1951 Harlem seem to be seeking feverishly and forlornly for some simple yet apparently unattainable satisfaction in life" (142). Both Hansberry's play and Hughes' poem establish a powerful and human reaction to the death of a dream.