Deferred Dreams In Harlem By Langston Hughes

Many people have dreamed their dreams since they were young, constantly believing that if they reach them they’ll achieve complete happiness. For many people, they follow a certain path with their dream in mind, and gear everything they have towards achieving it. Sometimes, however, when life gets in the way, people are required to push their dreams to the side in order to focus on things that are more important at the moment. If people have to do this for a long period of time, it usually begins to wear on them, and the effects of their deferred dreams begin to show.

In Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem”, he implies that these deferred dreams are toxic to the person that harbors them. He presents many ways in which a person can be affected by deferred dreams,
including comparing it to a syrupy sweet, suggesting that it sags like a heavy load, and asking if it explodes.
Hughes mentions that a dream can “crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet”, implying that while deferring the dream hasn’t been all bad, it still creates a hardened shell that one must scrape at to get rid of. An example of this lies with Beneatha Younger in the movie A Raisin in the Sun. Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor, but her father, Walter, wants her to marry rich. While marrying and living as a rich housewife would not be the end of the world, it’s far enough from her dream to scrape at her and create resent. If she did what her father wanted of her, she wouldn’t live a bad life, but she would never be truly happy. Another example of how a deferred dream eats away at you is visible in Ruth Younger’s characteristics and actions. In the film, Ruth wants to leave the shabby apartment she lives in and have a nice, easy life. As events unfold, however, she begins to realize that this dream is unattainable, and she becomes weary because she is suffering under the burden of a “heavy load”. Ruth begins to show how her deferred dream is tiresome, proving that it drains your energy and eventually causes you to lose your motivation. Lastly, Walter Younger
exemplifies what Hughes meant when he asked if a deferred dream explodes. Walter’s dream is to become wealthy, and when forces seem to work against him and prevent him from achieving his dream, he becomes angry and bitter. He resents the world for not allowing him to follow his dream and slowly takes his fury out on his family and friends. His vision becomes tunneled, causing him to prioritize money and business deals over his family’s needs. Not only does he explode with anger, but he also begins to lose himself and destroy his relationships with his loved ones bit by bit. Characteristics such as these begin to engulf people the more they push their dreams to the side, causing them to become poisonous and foul.

The dreams people have encompass their love for certain ideas or activities. They provide goals that project happiness, and they inspire individuals to strive for the best in order to achieve them. When people of all ages look into the future, they see themselves living their lives with their dreams fulfilled. When this is taken away, their souls and hearts are crushed, leaving them with a bad taste in their mouths and misery. Deferring a dream is like destroying a part of who you are, and for that reason, doing so is toxic.