Dreams are the most precious things, which are always threatening to drift away if we ignored it. Time and energy consuming are what we need in order to keep our lives in motion. Sometimes when we try to keep up with this, our dreams get pushed back and are left unattended to. This thematic essay will illustrate how “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes, “Kitchenette Building”, and “A song in the Front yard” by Gwendolyn Brooks seem to revolve around the idea of deferred dream as their common ground theme, it will showcase how each text use different realistic imagery simile and metaphor to convey meaning to their poem, and it will also show the contrast between how they portray their dreams.
"Dream Deferred" poem addressed the possible consequences
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She want to experience what the other kids are experiencing. The girl dream of freedom and opportunity to be like one of the bad girl. The girl dream of having a live she want, was deferred by her mother. The author uses the metaphor of a front yard and a back yard to exemplify the girl’s life; which is the front that simplify the girl current life situation that is beautiful and the freedom of a different life she wishes to experience (the back). The author used the word “I Want” three times in the first two stanza “I want a peek at the back”, “I want to go in the back yard now”, and “I want a good time today.” (Brooks, line 2; line 5; line 8). Brooks establish the girl desire to escape her mother security and appropriate society, full of luxury and little burden. The line build in intensity with each repetition. The girl wanted to peek at the backyard at first, then she wants to go there, and she later reveal the desire to have a good time at the back yard. This tells the ideas that she is not content with the life she is living according to her mother dream. She want to live a dream that the other girls are living, and she is ready to give up everything she had to get what she desire, despite her mother warning of what the consequences might be, “But I say its fine. Honest, I do. And I’d like to be a bad woman, too,” (Brooks Line
The garden is the vehicle in which the narrator reveals her reluctance to leave behind the imaginary world of childhood and see the realities of the adult world. The evidence supporting this interpretation is the imagery of hiding. The narrator uses the garden to hide from reality and the
From the beginning of the whole excerpt, she starts off with a hateful or dissatisfied tone about always being locked away. As it progresses, until paragraph four, her tone and perception changes. For example, in paragraph four, her tone was more understanding and calmer, she is also is speaking about why she kind of appreciates being locked away because it keeps her from the other nightmarish things she sees outside through the small hole she found. This shows the audience that the little girl, in a way, is mature and has experienced a lot. The audience perceives her tone in the beginning, as disdain, dissatisfaction, or a hateful tone to show her unhappiness with her situation, to show that she really wants to travel outside and view the world freely, although, her change in tone shows that she sometimes appreciates being able to only stay in one place because she is hidden or away from the cruel things that happen outside.
She describes her children as “carving the mind up with the scalpels of their din”, highlighting the mental tolls of motherhood where the demand from the children are affecting her mental health. This is reinforced by her saying “They nearly drove me up the wall” which can suggest that she was on the verge of losing her sanity. The negative connotation in “In the park” of the two children “whining” and “bickering” whilst “tugging at her skirt” shares similar ideas of it being mentally exhausting and is literal imagery where the children symbolises the figurative burden of being tied down. The lack of identity in her children symbolises the mother’s omniscient and distant attitude towards her nameless and featureless children. The dialogue in stanza 2 of “Up the Wall” also discloses the characters feelings where she has “no one around here I can call” and states that “she is so alone” emphasising that she is isolated and has no support.
Janie trivializes the porches as she loses the sense of connection towards them. The porches don’t symbolize any significance to her, as no new opportunities can arise from them. Janie had believed she had her dream completed, but it was only temporary. Janie now realizes that she will never achieve the dream her younger self aspired to achieve and moves on from the reality. Once coming to this realization, Janie and other women around this time period had to pursue new interests and change their lives for the better.
Langston Hughes was the most famous poet from Harlem, writing during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Hughes wanted to show the lives of the black community through his poems and the things they faced in America at that time like racism. He would compare the ways African American experience was different from the white Americans. At the time he was writing, slavery was over for sixty years already, but blacks were still treated unequally everyday. African Americans had a dream that was being held back from them, called a deferred dream. What is a dream deferred? Langston Hughes relates his sequence of poems, “Lenox Avenue Mural,” to this question. It is said that, “The “dream deferred” is the dream of African Americans: a dream of freedom, equality,
Using personification Brooks describes how the “backyards” compare to a person who does take risks and a person who does not take risks. Starting with a person who lives “Where it’s rough and untended and hungry weeds grow,” normally weeds are not hungry to grow, but this refers to the girl’s growing desire to go into the backyard (1). The rough and untended yard refers to how people take risks which can make their futures less clear than one who lives in the front yard. A person who has a “rough life” may have experienced the negative effects of taking risks because all risks may not benefit one’s life, but one can learn from a mistake. On the contrary, the “front yard” is more tended to and smooth which refers to people who do not take risks, so their lives have a clear direction. Then, the girl envisions herself in the back yard “[wearing] the brave stockings of night
(P. 53). This quote shows how mama's plant represents her having a garden which is a major part of her dream. Her having a plant instead of a garden shows the family's constraints from the being in poverty. Mama’s plant symbolizes hope. This is shown when “Mama grabs her plant and exits the apartment for the last time.”
The short but inspirational poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes addresses what happens to aspirations that are postponed or lost. The brief, mind provoking questions posed throughout the poem allow the readers to reflect--on the effects of delaying our dreams. In addition, the questions give indications about Hughes' views on deferred dreams.
The fear depicted here is ambiguous. A girl always has a fear that she could get attacked or raped or many other things that could happen that men never have to consider. Smith uses the phrases such as “engines Idling”, “relentless bass”, “bottles cinched”, “open windows” (5-9) and so on to provide the visual imagery of the plot that the girl is staying in. The girl is in the house with an open window from where any sound or person can get in. The public sphere where the girl is living is a very frightening and fraught place to stay especially during the night time. At this instance of fear, the poet wants to make the girl feel secure and safe by taking her away to some place where she could laugh and be happy. The poet uses phrases “Down into the street where her parents are live again” to depict that the girl is an orphan. The poet wants to take the girl to some orphanage or foster care where she could get a new parent. The poet wants to make the girl feel secure and carry her away from the fear that she had in her mind. Though ambiguous, the poet in this part states number of things the girl
The American dream is often strived for by everyone, but the attainment of this dream is relatively harder for people with lower income and also for colored people.. The chance to achieve one’s dreams is a thing that not many people get. In A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family strives to achieve their own versions of the American dream. Langston Hughes’ poem ‘Harlem’ accurately represents each member of the family in their effort to achieve their dream. Although all their dreams are achievable, Mama’s dream is the one that is mostly likely to be achieved.
Her obsession with the wallpaper quickly begins to take over her life. In her diary entries, she explains her progression in discovering the secrets of its pattern. From the windows of the nursery, the narrator is able to see the bay, the overgrown garden, and a shaded lane where she imagines that she can see people walking. She starts to grow extremely paranoid about Jennie and John’s intentions, and suspects that it is the wallpaper’s fault. She thinks that the figure is a mysterious woman who is trapped behind the bars of the pattern.
In this poem, Hughes is focusing on deeper meaning of "dreams" rather than trivial daydreams, or dreams left to be forgotten while only our minds are awake. These deferred dreams are the ones that engrave in young minds and pave the way for future endeavors. The dream postponed in this poem is one many share for the Black Americans, the right to life, equality and liberty. Due to Hughes prominent and personal involvement with the Black Americans and
This is just the beginning of his thought process about the unknown world he refers to as “Outside.” The perspective of the narrator allows the reader to begin to understand the mind of a child. The author chooses to use this unique point-of-view to give the audience the chance to think of what it would be like to be in a situation like this. It makes a person reflect and think about their childhood, how it was different, and what they
She refers to the house as if it acts as a restraint when the yard is the opposite. The reader also knows that the yard gives them a sense of comfort as she described it as an extended living room. The yard represents comfort and is a symbol of a space of freedom for the
The author uses the background physically and spiritually creating an ambience of family life. Contrastingly, the author utilizes a scene in which the boy is able to spend time in his favourite pursuit of hunting, this creates a sense of identity and self-satisfaction. This creates a conflict that appears in the story as a matter of choice. The girl forces an ultimatum, in which he is made to chooses the family or hunting, “If you want a family you’re going to have to choose”. (Carver,1988) Subsequently makes his priority clear, and chooses the girl and daughter.