Dream Deferred by: Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
- Langston Hughes, 1951
- Deferred: to put off; postpone; delay
- postponing one’s dreams
- all rhetoric questions à helps analyze what speaker believes
- any goal (=dream) that is delayed has negative affects
- Everyone has a dream they want to accomplish, but what if something gets in the way? Setbacks?
- The life goal of a person makes them a part of society. But what if the person isn’t allowed to reach that goal? He must wait for society to change so he can reach his goal.
- “raisin in the sun:” usually nutritious but when left in the sun, it dries up and is impossible to eat. à No longer useful!
- What if, during his lifetime society doesn’t change and he can’t reach this goal? Now, it’s dried up and unusable.
- If it doesn’t dry up, maybe it will “fester like a sore, and then run?” If you have a sore you want it to dry up so it can heal, but if it festers and runs, that means it will take longer to heal.
-A dream that festers might become infected with restlessness and dissatisfaction with yourself.
- “Does it stink like rotten meat?” Dead animal that goes unused starts to rot and smell awful. If a dream isn’t realized in a timely fashion, it may decay and die off.
- The dream may “crust and sugar over, like a syrupy sweet?”
- If you leave sweets to sit out long enough, they eventually harden and crust over, therefore, becoming unusable.
- The dream that is forced to sit and harden, simply turns into just thoughts, completely separated from the goals. The dream is now crusted over with despair, hate, anger, and doubt.
- “Maybe a dream just sags like a heavy load.”
- A heavy load makes someone walk slowly. The dream not realized becomes hard to bear because it still weighs on your mind. Constant thoughts of the dream like: “what might have been” “if only” and “I guess I’ll never know.”
- All these useless thoughts of the past weigh heavy on a mind that has had to defer a dream.
- “Does it explode?”
- bombs explode and cause great destruction. If the person who’s dream is deferred, loses all hope, they might “explode” with despair and regret.
- More aggressive and active ending: someone wants the dream so bad that they explode inside à rebelling, violent movement, gaining freedom (black panthers)
Discussion Questions:
1) What does deferred mean?
2) What was happening in society that disabled Hughes from reaching his goal?
3) What is the dream Hughes is referring to?
4) Why might his dream explode rather than dry up?
5) Have you ever had a dream that was put off? What effect did this have on you?
I, Too by: Langston Hughes
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed -
I, too, am America.
- Langston Hughes, 1925
- About the segregation of African Americans and how they should be treated equally.
- “I Too” means not only whites are Americans, but African Americans are too. All citizens should be treated equally.
- “I am the Darker Brother:” his skin color may be darker, but he’s still an American
- The next five meters show that African Americans do not worry about what is being done, but how they will grow stronger as segregation continues. They know they will be equal soon.
- The third stanza shows what the future will be like. Shows that the African American community will soon rise and be one with the rest of America.
- “Besides, they’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed:” Once blacks are recognized as equals, everyone will begin to see that they are an important part of America.
- His constant use of “I” reiterates that he is too American and will not be run down by society. He should be equal to everyone else.
Discussion Questions:
1) What is the overall tone of this poem? Explain.
2) Why is the “darker brother” sent in the kitchen to eat?
3) How does Hughes respond to this treatment? Why would he choose to respond this way?
4) Why does Hughes repeatedly use “I?” What point does this reiterate?