The American Dream By Langston Hughes

A variety of Langston Hughes’s poems, accentuate the possession of hopefulness of African Americans in correlation to the Great Migration, from the south to the flourishing north, between the 1920s and 1960s. African Americans, seeking for occupational and life opportunities, drift to the north, where economy exists to be blooming and thriving. Hughes’s idiosyncratic style of fabrication of metaphors highlights African Americans’ possession of high hopes while entering the land of opportunities and a better and equal life. In addition Hughes’s domestic imagery conjures a dejected mood as the dreams and hope seem to be too far to reach. The African Americans consist to be chasing the idealized American Dream and yearning for acceptance from
In the beginning the poem mentions: “For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.” This metaphor serves to compare the flightless bird to an African American who contains to be bound by social principles. Then the poem mentions: “For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.” This metaphor serves to acknowledge that once someone loses hope and dream, life consists to possess no meaning. Basically meaning that a life with a unobtainable dream exists to be better when comparing it to a life without dreams or goals. In addition there consists to be anaphora of “Hold fast to dreams”, as if to say that dreams die easily. Once you give up and lose hope, your dreams disappear and fade away just like life. African Americans, brimming with high hopes arrive in the flourishing northern part of America. They work to achieve acceptance from the white establishment and a possible chance of accomplishing the American Dream. They acknowledge the fact that their acceptance into the white society exists to be nearly impossible, however they strive for this dream. This dream and hope consists to be their motivation not to give up in life and break though, because once there consists to be no more dream there will be no purpose to
He questions the world and its standards. A common motif shared by these three poems above consist to be dream, the dream that every African American embrace. African Americans’ migration from the south to the north in high hopes, believing that life will be better in the north, result in the downfall of many of them. They all believe that once they reach the north, everything would change for them and they will reach the requirements of the white society. In addition to that, African Americans also endeavor the chase for the American Dream. Some also believe that once they become rich and wealthy, the white society will acknowledge them as one of them and welcome them into their world. However no matter how hard they try, this dream exists to be impossible. The African Americans, after a period of time of failure of their accomplishment, began to slowly accept the fact that this American Dreams of theirs doesn’t exist. Langston’s poems also correlates to our time period as well. Although we say that racism doesn’t exist today, deep down we still judge people and place them into categories and stereotypes. One example being the payment for workers per hour. We say that there contains to be no racism or discrimination yet the payment per hour work varies among different races and genders. We, similar to the African Americans during the 1920s and 1960s try to encourage ourselves that this will