"Harlem"

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                   Dreams are supposed to be ideal and pleasant hopes that one thinks of. However in "Harlem", Langston Hughes describes them with words such as “fester” and “dry”. This greatly contrasts the common view. Hughes writes that dreams fall away in Harlem and are no longer at the forefront of one’s mind. This poem  depicts the results of letting one’s dreams fall to the wayside.  Hughes suggests that they may be “Like a raisin in the sun” and “fester like a sore” (3-4) or “stink like rotten meat” and “crust and sugar over- / like a syrupy sweet” (6-8). His pairing of these images, which are quite different from how dreams are typically envisioned, contrast each other greatly. Juxtaposing dried with festering and rotten with sweet shows all the ways in which a dream can die. It provides a great deal of imagery in a variety of ways.  Dreams may shrivel up and fall to the wayside as raisins do, or they may become annoying and eat away at a person.  Dreams may slowly be spoiled by reality, and one may realize that they are no longer attainable. Perhaps, one’s hopes will turn into a sweet and distant memory.  Hughes ends the poem by asking, “Or does it explode” (11). I took this to mean that all the dreams will simply disappear. However, I enjoyed the idea that they may “explode” into some sort of revolution, such as the Harlem Renaissance. As these dreams get shoved into Harlem, they created a fantastic explosion of culture and expression.