Langston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance

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Langston Hughes was recognized as an important literary figure during the 1920s, a time period that was a part of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual movement that ignited new black cultural identity. Before the Harlem Renaissance there was the Great Migration. With the Great Migration millions of African Americans relocated from the rural South to cities in the North, one of the most popular being New York, home of Harlem. Blacks left the south to escape from inadequate economic opportunities and harsh segregation laws. In the north, in search for and following their dream, that seemed promised, of freedom, equality, opportunity, and success the African Americans were left disappointed. After WWI, before migration,…show more content…
Hughes begins his poem about Harlem with a question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” What happens to any aspiration, goal, or desire that continues to be postponed and put off? Hughes responds to his question with similes to illustrate different pictures of time and the emotions along with it. He mentions a “raison in the sun” creating the image of a grape losing its juices in the sun just like dreams lose some of its liveliness when its attainment is deferred for a long time. Following, there is a “fester like a sore” which creates an image of infection and pain and maybe a wound that is not healing causing growing resentment, anger and frustration. The “stink like rotten meat” brings the idea of disgust and expiration of hope. Attainment of dreams become less appealing. The idea that all is well when it is not is portrayed in “crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet”. Lastly before he concludes, the “sag like a heavy load” references to defeat, fatigue, deflection and or deformation. Possibly, becoming old and giving up hope can be a…show more content…
The excerpt is from the prologue of the Novel. It starts off by saying, “I am an invisible man”. The narrator starts off this way because he is emphasizing how he feels and believes that he is not one with American society because he is removed. “No, I am not a spook like those who haunted…” creates an image of a ghost. Yes, he is invisible, but the reason you cannot see him is not because he is a ghost. He is not dead physically but metaphorically to the rest of the world. He is a haunting; a reminder of the memory of the past. African Americans have always been below all else and even with the evolution of time, circumstances were made a little better, but evolution of time did not result in equality by any means. He says, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorted glass.” During this time of the Harlem Renaissance, new black urban culture is created but not valued outside of the African American race. Racism and segregation run unbridled. People refuse to see him because he is African American and he is faced with prejudice that leaves him feeling invisible. He moves on to say, “That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come into contact. A matter of
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