Where Dreams Go to Die

"Dream Deferred"

Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up

      like a raisin in the sun?

      Or fester like a sore—

      And then run?

      Does it stink like rotten meat?

      Or crust and sugar over—

      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags

      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?

Everybody has dreams.  Some dreams are big, elaborate and far fetched, while others are simple and within reach.  Throughout life, roadblocks and obstacles get in the way of dreams.  Tragedy strikes.  Babies are born.  Dreams are deferred.  Poet Langston Hughes addresses this concept of dreams being deferred in his poem "Dream Deferred".  Knowing that Hughes was an black American living in a deeply segregated America, one can deduce that he was forced to defer some of his dream because of the color of his skin.  A combination of tasteful rhetorical questions and vivid imagery in "Dream Deferred", forces readers to think and examine their lives and the dreams they may have deferred.

Rhetorical questions are the backbone of this poem.  Right from the start, the speaker, presumably a black America, poses the question "what happens to a dream deferred?" (1). In addition to immediately captivating the reader's attention and inadvertently forcing them to ponder the question, it also introduces the central purpose of the poem which, to restate, is, what happens to those dreams that are indefinitely reserved for someday ?  After a stylistic break in the lines, there is a series of rhetorical questions from lines 2-8 regarding what happens to a dream deferred.  Unlike the starting rhetorical question, these other questions present possible scenarios of what happens to dreams that are deferred.  However, what is most notable about these questions is the imagery - visual, olfactory, and tactile - used and the emotion it evokes.

The rhetorical questions which serve as the backbone of this poem are developed using vivid imagery.  The metaphor "like a raisin in the sun" (3) creates an image of something very shriveled and dead.  Raisins are infamously very dry and wrinkled, so the placement of them in the sun further enforces the image of death.  Next ,the speaker wonders if "a dream deferred" (1) "fester[s] like a sore" (4).  The word "fester" with its harsh s sound evokes a squeamish feeling.  The image of a wound festering brings up thoughts of yellow pus and oozing skin.  Not pleasant.  Another metaphor is used in conjunction with olfactory imagery, but this time the question is "does it stink like rotten meat ?" (6).  The idea of rotting meat evokes a very negative reaction from a reader.  The stink of rot is associated with death and biologically humans have an aversion to the smell.  Although less vomit inducing, having a dream deferred "crust and sugar over" (7) still creates a negative image.  The word "crust" brings to mind images of stale cotton candy left on the ground at the fair.  To conclude the poem, a final rhetorical question is presented, "or does it explode?" (11).  This last image is more frightening and violent than the rest.  It is likely to resonate with readers.

Throughout the poem, imagery and rhetorical questions are prevalent.  The images and emotional reactions that the imagery produces are across the board negative.  This is indicative of the message the author is trying to convey: dreams that are deferred die.