How Does Langston Hughes Use A Direct Metaphor In Oppression

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The poem, “Oppression” by Langston Hughes conveys his idea of what it is like to be oppressed. To begin, Hughes expresses that oppression removes what one may find most comforting. In the poem, Hughes writes, “Now dreams / Are not available / To the dreamers” (1-3). Dreamers long for their thoughts, it is when they are not able to have the freedom to dream that they start to feel trapped. That feeling is the direct metaphor Hughes uses to reveal what it is like to be opressed. In the same way, Langston Hughes uses another metaphor to display how hope can come from this state of oppression. The poem reads, “But the dream / Will come back, / And the song / Break / Its jail” (10-14). Through this poem, Hughes is showing the hope that ensues in

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