Dreams, though abstract in nature and, often, in content, seem to have very concrete and applicable roles for their possessors. Whether serving as a driving force behind the achievement of one's goals or simply conjuring vague and forgotten traces of the subconscious, a dream's idealized purpose is hazy at best. But it is this condition that lends dreams their tremendous versatility. Particularly, dreams may have the capacity, due to their occasionally revelatory nature, to spur active manifestation. Namely, Langston Hughes' "Deferred Dreams," Rita Dove's "Daystar" and Nikki Giovanni's "Dreams" collectively illustrate the role of dreams as vehicles through which to achieve empowerment. There is evidence in all three of the aforementioned pieces to suggest that, through modes such as self-honesty, resistance to racism and persistence in the face of external negativity, dreams may be unparalleled in their effectiveness as tools to self-empowerment.
Such empowerment may be difficult to perceive immediately when addressing the works in question. Particularly, this is true of the Hughes and Dove pieces,...
And while there is certainly the presence of a defiant confidence in Giovanni's piece, it is somewhat shrouded by her own concession to reality. When she dryly observes that "I learned black people aren't supposed to dream," Giovanni forces herself into an ironic face-off with the misconceptions of her younger days. Fundamentally, the three pieces find unity in their insistence upon honesty as a method to better understanding the real circumstances presented to their originators. Just as Dove forges a woman powerful enough to recognize, perhaps against her own preference, the futility and social subjugation of her situation, so does Hughes illustrate a reluctant understanding that to deny one's dreams will ultimately render him purposeless and unfulfilled. It is only, the underlying message would suggest, through acceptance of these realities that a change may be executed.
By way of cultural context, the poems in question also spark an inherent relationship between the realization of dreams and a resistance…
