The Consequences Of A Dream Deferred In 'Harlem' By Langston Hughes

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The Consequences Of A Dream Deferred In 'Harlem' By Langston Hughes

The consequences of a Dream Deferred In the poem “Harlem ( A Dream Deferred)” by Langston Hughes, he talks about dreams; dreams that society has, dreams that he has. Not a dream that you have while you're sleeping but a dream that you have and want to pursue. He addresses the questions of what happens when a person's dreams are destroyed. The author uses a lot of visual, descriptive language to try and show that nothing good can come from not achieving your dreams. For example, he compares not realizing a dream to the stench of rotten meat, which suggest the consequence is negative. None of the language in the poem reflects anything positive about a dream deferred. I found a connection between what Hughes is talking about in the 1950’s
and our situation today with world peace. World peace is something that everyone dreams about. There is so much war and terrorism in the world and each time a new attack has been carried out just like the one most recently in Paris, it tears down our dreams for world peace. It seems like the idea of world peace is a dream deferred and is very hard or almost impossible to reach. There are so many competing ideas, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and other factors that keep this dream from being able to be realized. The dream of world peace has been going on well before the 1950’s and still continues on today, which is another reason why it feels like it will never be realized.

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