Analysis Of The Poem Harlem By Langston Hughes

What is a dream? One might say it is a thought or feeling that people experience when they are asleep. Though this is true, a dream is also a wish someone hopes to accomplish. The real question is what happens if dreams are not pursued? In the poem, Harlem by Langston Hughes, the speaker is indirectly discussing what occurs when a dream is ignored.

First off, when analyzing the title of the poem, the reader can make a quick connection as to what the poem is about. Many people are familiar with Harlem the place in New York where African-American culture became very popular between World War I and the 1930s. Harlem then and today is heavily populated with African Americans and it is easy to associate the poem with the black community. The first line of the poem opens with,"What happens to a dream deferred?" This line sets the stage for the poem by putting the reader on the spot.The reader can assume this dream being deferred is equality for all races. This assumption is based on the title as well as the time period Langston Hughes wrote the poem. Langston Hughes wrote Harlem in the early 1950s, a time before the civil rights movement, when African Americans were segregated and not treated equally.

The

second line answers the opening question with, "does it dry up". From experience people know what happens to objects when they dry out. These objects become small and wither. In this time period, the African-American community felt small and powerless they felt as if they could not fight back to the injustice bestowed upon them.
Line 3 questions, "like a raisin in the sun?" We can think of this line in two different ways,both pertaining to the treatment of African Americans.

The first is the literal way. When we think of raisins in the sun we think of a raisin starting out as a grape and losing its juice. The raisin is not as succulent as the grape and when in the sun it becomes parched. This can be associated with the feelings of the African-Americans. With the inequality, the black community felt as if their rights were being sucked out of them causing them to feel hopeless and demotivated. The second way to think of this line is in a literary way. The play, "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry captured the deferred dreams of a black family living in Chicago during the

1950s.
Line 4 states, "Or fester like a sore--" when examining this line the word fester stands out. Whenever we hear the word fester we can't help but to think of a horrific wound that is infected. According to dictionary.com, The word fester means to "become worse or more intense especially through long-term neglect". The African-American people had gained their freedom through the Civil War back in the 1860s but never fully gained their equality. Overtime the issue got worse. The African-American children for example we're not being educated in the same way. The African-American people were always getting the short end of the stick. They felt they had waited long enough and yet the issue was always ignored never fixed.
In line 5 the speaker questions, "and then run?" The speaker is continuing the wound image, detailing how infectious this wound is while comparing it to the ongoing problem of discrimination and inequality in America.
Line 6 questions, "does it stink like rotten meat?" Here a new image is brought to our attention yet the same idea is still present. Dreams linger in our minds as rotten meat does when it sits out too long. This putrid smell is often what reminds us to throw it away. When a dream is heavily on our mind it serves as constant reminder to do something to accomplish that dream. It was very aggravating for African Americans because they had this dream of equality in their minds and they wanted things to change and yet the people in charge were not going to change this issue. The speaker reminds us that a deferred dream is not to cancel dream and that it is engraved in a persons head. No matter how strong the person's actions are if their dream is ignored it will never be accomplished.
In Line 7 and 8 the speaker says "or crust and sugar over-- like a sugary sweet". When we think of things being crusted over we think of things that are left out in the open and not properly preserved. For example, Donuts are usually sweet and delicious the first day you get them but if you ignore them and leave them out of the box, they will become crusted over and not as delicious as before. The same rules apply with dreams, they seem attainable at first but over time if the dream is not pursued or in progress, it fades and causes the illusion that it can't be achieved.This line causes the reader to question if a dream can be preserved if not pursued? It also gives the reader an insight of how African-Americans felt when they were hopeless and didn't think change was going to happen.
Lines 9 and 10 states, "maybe it just sags like a heavy load."The word sag can be used to explain things that are old as well as heavy. Think about a book sack filled with many things, when worn it sags. In this way the speaker could be pointing out how important dreams are in the weight they hold in our minds. The more they are ignored the more of a burden they carry on us. If a dream is in progress or is accomplished, our minds begin to forget that we even had a dream and that heavy load that sags is lifted.
The last line of the poem questions,"or does it explode?" When something explodes it normally gathers pressure over time and can no longer suppress this energy. When we think back to the African American community and their dream for equal rights, we think about how they could no longer take the injustice and discriminate behavior towards them. They had to act upon this dream. They were tired of waiting for things to change but they were not going to change. Though this last line feels liberating, it also feels violent. Though we know from history that the civil rights movement was a peaceful form of protest, at time this poem was made,before the movement occurred, the line can be thought of like a warning. The African-Americans were going to change this issue of inequality in America no matter the cost,even if it meant violence.