Message of Empowerment in Dream Deferred, Dreams,

¶ … Message of Empowerment in Dream Deferred, Dreams, and Daystar

Dream Deferred (Harlem) by Langston Hughes, Dreams by Nikki Giovanni, and Daystar by Rita Dove are most often categorized as poetry offering insight into the frustration of African-Americans because of societies continuous oppression of their hopes, desires, and dreams. This is correct, but upon further examination one finds there is a deeper, more universal message among the prose...personal empowerment.

A person's individual capability must be fully developed before embarking on a revolution. Langston Hughes in A Dream Deferred warns of the danger involved when potential is subjugated. "What happens to dreams deferred" (Line 1) he asks. "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" Or fester like a sore and run" (Lines 3-5) The imagery is vivid, bringing a tangibility to the emotional death caused by a crushed spirit. The inevitable result of burying potential is a powder keg of emotional guilt. "Maybe it just sags like a heavy load... Or does it explode?" (Lines 9-11) Hughes is definitely discussing the plight of many African-Americans whose dreams have been quashed by society but he is also addressing all who have put aside their dreams because of their own imagined inadequacies. This type of repression breeds anger and a combative spirit that may cause a person to lose the innocence of youth.

Nikki Giovanni in Dreams aptly expresses the way all of us are born empowered. At birth the world is our canvas, which we are able to paint with our dreams. The possibility to do anything we wish with our lives is at our fingertips "In my younger years...I wanted to be a raelet." (Lines 1, 5-6) As a person matures they often modify their goals in life, becoming more "realistic" in their desires. "Then as I grew and matured I became more sensible and decided I would settle down and just become a sweet inspiration" (Lines 14-19) Modification of a dream often necessary but disempowerment can occur when a dream is completely abandoned. Giovanni is challenging us to live up to the adage "to thyne self be true." Giovanni also expresses that the loss of empowerment often occurs when others destroy it, as expressed in the lines "before I learned black people aren't supposed to dream" (Lines 2-4) Daystar teaches us that any adversity is conquerable.

True to herself is the woman portrayed in Daystar by Rita Dove. Dove is trying to explain that outsiders may view an individual as inferior because of his/her race, family, or socio-economic status but this ignorance will not discourage a person who possesses the self-confidence to define oneself on his/her own terms. This is expressed by the line "And just what was mother doing out back with the field mice? Why building a palace." (Lines 14-16) Dove also shows us that the road to empowerment is not always easy "Sometimes there were things to watch" (Line 6) "Other days she stared..."(Lines 8-9) but once it is achieved no one can take it away. "She would open her eyes and think of the place that was hers for an hour-where she was nothing pure nothing in the middle of the sky"(Lines18-22)