Dreams, By Langston Hughes

Dreams are tools that can help people change their world in a positive or negative way. Hughes says, “Or does it explode?” (Hughes 11), just like the first line of the poem, this final line is a question directed to the reader making another connection. Unlike the rest of the lines in the poem, this one is italicized making the reader pay more attention to it and gives it more meaning. Hughes uses the word “explode” in a way that it can be seen as both a harmful and a peaceful way, but is determined by the reader. It creates the image of a bomb going off leaning an area in ruin or fireworks that make people excited to see, but can scare others. When it is thought as a bomb the thoughts of riots and violence come to mind saying that dreams that are ignored leads to suffering and chaos, while fireworks leave
It makes the readers think of pressure being stored over time and can no longer suppress this energy and just erupts. The final line feels almost like liberation, but also violence.
In Hughes other poem "Dreams" is an extremely short poem with two stanzas but still captures the importance of dreams. Hughes begins the first stanza of the poem with “Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” (Hughes 1) Hughes instructs the readers to hold on tightly to their dreams because without them, life is full of struggle or is one not worth living. The image of an injured bird symbolizes the struggles that many African Americans like Langston Hughes faced in life like racial discrimination. Hughes also leaves the idea that dreams are not physical objects implying that they can last as long the dreamer has faith in it and has the will to move forward. Hughes also tries to make the reader understand that to never limiting oneself will lead to one’s downfall. The second stanza Hughes says “Hold fast to dreams for when dreams go