Preview

Summary Of Harlem By Langston Hughes

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
243 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of Harlem By Langston Hughes
“Harlem,” by Langston Hughes was written in 1951. During the 1950’s America was still discriminative towards African Americans. Although it is not stated in the poem whether Hughes is talking about a specific dream, the poem does have a melancholy and dark atmosphere to it. Some of the lines in the poem are, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”, and“Or fester like a sore and the run?” Therefore, in my opinion, he is more than likely talking about African Americans not being able to pursue a dream they have due to the cruel setting around them that took place throughout this era. I assume Hughes wanted to describe or simply speak about the struggles African Americans were facing the time he published this poem. How when they aspire to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Dreams change whether we want them to or not, but how might dreams change if they are ignored? Langston Hughes describes a dream deferred in his poem, "Harlem: A Dream Deferred", "What happens to a dream deferred?”; “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" He compares a dream deferred to various concepts. In connection to the play, written by Lorraine Hansberry, "A Raisin in the Sun" the Younger family, an impecunious African-American family, struggle in achieving their dreams, having to postpone them. Although the Younger family each face the same challenge, character Walter Younger is unalike the rest as his dreams deferred impact his personality and his actions. I argue that Walter Younger best illustrates the central theme of Hughes’…

    • 134 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The poem “Harlem” tries to define what happens to a “Dream’s Deferred”. Foremost the poem explores the problems within trying to find the American dream by asking what happen to a dream over time. Nerveless, the poem has descripted imagery that can be interpreted to try to answer the question. The poem explores the problems with finding the American dream by asking questions that all interpret to what happens to those dreams that never come true.…

    • 142 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hughes touches on the experiences in his life in many occasions when he talks about the life a Negro, slave, worker, singer, and a victim. Hughes spoke on being a slave in lines 4-6 when said, “I’ve been a slave: / Caesar told me to keep his door-steps clean. / I brushed the boots of Washington.” On lines 14-17 Hughes emphasizes the difficulties of Negros all over the world when he says, “I’ve been a victim: / The Belgians cut of my hands in Congo. /They lynch me still in Mississippi.” He illustrated the even though slavery is over in America that the African-Americans have freedom but they have to fight for their lives because of the hatred they face in the southern…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    He believe that his experience as an African America has “never been equal for him.” (Line 15) Hughes felt that he was never completely free in this “homeland of the free.” (Line 16) Hughes also gave a sense of a positive tone in his poem. Then directly after purposely use diction to betray the claim. Let it be “that great strong land of love,” Hughes said. Express the little sense of hope he had in America but, Hughes being the poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance, he used the thought of “Kings connive” and “tyrants’ scheme”(Line 8) to point out the reality of the people being taking for granted instead of been give equal…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “To Negro Writers” Langston Hughes advised African American writers to expose the hardships and dilemmas which they faced daily. Hughes instructed writers to unveil the truth about the unfair treatments they were subject to. African Americans faced persecution in a variety of forms. Not only were African American citizens mistreated by groups such as religious organizations and the American Legion, African American soldiers were also disrespected simply for the color of their skin. Hughes told his readers that they must fight for themselves because no one else would fight for them. Hughes encouraged African American writers to establish a common ground with the working white class (who also faced struggles) so that they could unite in an…

    • 241 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hughes’ writings generally focused on African-Americans and the opportunities that they deserved to have. In “Let America be America Again”, Hughes believes “there’s never been equality for me, nor freedom in this homeland of the free” (Hughes 14-15) and if he did not do anything to try and change that then he failed the goal that he set. America as a country was created on the basis that all men shall be equal, however African-Americans did not share that right. In the same poem, Hughes said that he wanted for the people to “Let America be America again / Let it be the dream it used to be.” (Hughes…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout the poem, Hughes “Pleads for fulfillment of a Dream that never was” (Presley). Hughes discusses what America is supposed to mean, but then states “It was never America to me” (189). It was never America for him because the moral beliefs and social liberties that are granted by simply being American did not apply to him because of his race. However, the social neglect does not only apply to the African American community, but to all communities that are not deemed as the upper class white American community. Therefore, Hughes presents that “The American Dream is bruised and often made a travesty for Negroes and other underdogs” (Presley). Hughes writes “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars. I am the red man driven from the land. I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek” (190). As Hughes ironically depicts, the American Dream built upon the hopes of foreigners and American minorities should be remanded to the Rich White Male Reality, for they are the sole group that can attain such dream in America. The majority of America, poor farmer, African Americans, Native American, and immigrants from all around the world, are stepped on and pushed to the side so that the minority can reach success and attain the glory that beams with the American…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance brought about uniqueness amongst African Americans; everything was new. The visual art, the jazz music, fashion and literature took a cultural spin. During this time writer Langston Hughes seemed to outshine the rest with amazing works.…

    • 1691 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance is known for many unique objectives, but one of the most important objectives that it was well known for is how many wonderful artists’ and writers came about during that time period. One of the most famous writers or what many consider a “prolific and versatile writer” (Beckman 65) was Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, and play writer whose African-American themes made him a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s” (“Langston Hughes Bio.”). Hughes was born February 1, 1902, In Joplin Missouri and sadly died May 22, 1967. During his time he first started off writing about ordinary African Americans. He was said to be a “Major creative force in the Harlem Renaissance”…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We as humans are born a different race, but we are still the same. In Langston Hughes "Theme for English B" his diction created an atmospherical representation of the world that he lived in and the world where we wanted and hoped to live. The speaker in the poem explains that although he is black and the instructor is white they are still the same.…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Langston Hughes's poem "Dream Deferred" is basically about what happens to dreams when they are put on hold. Hughes probably intended for the poem to focus on the dreams of African-Americans in particular because he originally entitled the poem "Harlem," which is the capital of African American life in the United States; however, it is just as easy to read the poem as being about dreams in general and what happens when people postpone making them come true. Ultimately, Hughes uses a carefully arranged series of images that also function as figures of speech to suggest that people should not delay their dreams because the more they postpone them, the more the dreams will change and the less likely they will come true.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The lifelong teacher of Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan once said that, "Every renaissance comes to the world with a cry, the cry of the human spirit to be free. " The Harlem Renaissance is no exception to that. Each artist, writer, and philosopher's work during the Harlem Renaissance was a way for them to be free from the prevalent racism in the United States at that time. There is much debate on when the Harlem Renaissance actually began with most saying it started in the 1910s and ended in the mid 1930s when the stock market crash hit and the Great Depression settled in.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From my point of view I felt Hughes put more of his focus on the importance of culture. He wanted the present day african-americans to be proud of their culture. For one he states numerous times where he has witnessed people denying their own racial identity. We hear about this when he tells us about a time a young poet told him “I want to be a poet--not a negro poet”(para 1). As we read on we…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Beta

    • 285 Words
    • 1 Page

    “Harlem” is a sad poem. The way the poem states what happens to a dream which has been given up. it says that once a dream is given up that people forget about their dream and it is never pursued ever again. Words such as, explode, rotten, and sore give negative feelings. It says that the dream starts to die because there is no drive to pursue it.…

    • 285 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is his way of saying that he is not included in with the “average” American because he is colored. His job is merely a servant compared to others and he in incapable of singing his work proudy. Hughes disagrees completely and shows that he, too, sings his work loud and proud even if his work is considered less than the others. At the end of the poem, Hughes finishes with, “They’ll see how beautiful I am/ And be ashamed”. This was his way of saying that one day in the future, people will be ashamed that they ever treated him and others different and they will see his true colors shine through.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays