Interpretation and Analysis of the Poem “What happens to a dream deferred?”

            The poem “What happens to a dream deferred?” by Langston Hughes’ talks about a dream which was deferred, where he questions if the dream is like a raisin which dries up when in the sun or the dream irritates as a sore which then runs. He also asks if the dream is sweet or it stinks as meat which is rotten. Finally, he partially agrees that it sags like a heavy load (Barker 116). This essay gives an interpretation and an analysis of Langston Hughes’ poem ”What happens to a dream deferred?“

            Through this poem, Langston Hughes’ addressed the increased anger and frustration that the African Americans were going through as they were being denied their right to equality due to racial injustice in the United States. This poem applies where justice was deserved, but then it was dismissed (Davis 225). It has been an extended period when justice has been neglected whereas the African Americans are suffering.

            Institutions which were believed and expected to be at the forefront, for instance, religious institutions, are busy focusing on their development and do not think of responding to the injustice society. This means that they have followed a similar path of deferral which was practiced by the early generation who supported racism in the United States (Davis 226). This began to change when Christians from Palestine challenged churches from the United States, which then through debating proposals they removed United States companies that continued to carry out business illegally within the territories of Palestine.

            It is indeed essential for each individual and institutions to know that they have a weapon of choice to fight back legally and in a non-violent way, all kinds of injustices in the society without delay, since justice delayed is justice denied.

Works Cited

Barker, T. ”What Happens to a Dream Deferred.“Dissent, vol. 60, no. 4, 2013, pp. 116-116, doi:10.1353/dss.2013.0080.

Davis, A. P. ”Langston Hughes, Montage of a Dream Deferred.“The Journal of Negro History, vol. 36, no. 2, 2011, pp. 224-226, doi:10.2307/2715428.