Dreams in Harlem by Langston Hughes Essay -- Harlem, Langston Hughes

"Harlem" by Langston Hughes uses similes in everyday life to make sense of what can happen to a deferred dream. There are many different possible outcomes. Harlem has been known, prior to the twentieth century for being an African American community stricken with crime and poverty. Now it is a booming cultural and business center and they are experiencing a social and economic renaissance. The poem mentions in the first line a deferred dream (line 1). A dream that is postponed or delayed, and asks what happens to that dream. There are many things that could become of it, such as it drying up like a raisin in the sun, (lines 2 and 3) as if cramping up to be something dry of the hope and deliciousness it once had. But nevertheless it still exists. It could also mean that the dream is perfected by sitting for a while in a person’s heart like a sun dried raisin is perfected by being in the sun. The deferred dream could fester like a sore (lines 4 and 5) bubbling up in someone’s mind and expanding, then busting and running out. This dream could slowly leak out and then be gone, but ...