Message Of Empowerment In Dream Deferred, Dreams, Term Paper

PAGES
2
WORDS
654
Cite

¶ … 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...

...

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…

Cite this Document:

"Message Of Empowerment In Dream Deferred Dreams " (2002, April 02) Retrieved April 23, 2024, from
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/message-of-empowerment-in-dream-deferred-129071

"Message Of Empowerment In Dream Deferred Dreams " 02 April 2002. Web.23 April. 2024. <
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/message-of-empowerment-in-dream-deferred-129071>

"Message Of Empowerment In Dream Deferred Dreams ", 02 April 2002, Accessed.23 April. 2024,
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/message-of-empowerment-in-dream-deferred-129071

Related Documents

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

Sports Sociology
PAGES 10 WORDS 3108

sport has come to be the leading definer of masculinity in mass culture." Bob Connell, 1995 This statement covers such a huge amount of sociological assertions, a doctoral dissertation would not be able to do it justice. What is "masculinity" defined as and how has that definition evolved? What about "mass culture?" How far back shall we trace "historically recent times," and what was the situation before said times? What

" James a.S. McPeek further blames Jonson for this corruption: "No one can read this dainty song to Celia without feeling that Jonson is indecorous in putting it in the mouth of such a thoroughgoing scoundrel as Volpone." Shelburne asserts that the usual view of Jonson's use of the Catullan poem is distorted by an insufficient understanding of Catullus' carmina, which comes from critics' willingness to adhere to a conventional -- yet incorrect

Soft Systems Techniques in the Preparation of Information Technology as a Systems Manager Company Systems Consulting process and model Systems approach, client relationships Company Culture Client defenses, attachments to existing systems Interaction with the company culture in order to facilitate change System and Culture working together Dependancy issues Lewin Company Systems Consulting process and model Systems approach, client relationships Company Culture Client defenses, attachments to existing systems Interaction with the company culture in order to facilitate change System and Culture working together Dependency issues Lewin's model of

Jack Welch Leadership Strategies Jack Welch is rated as the greatest CEO of the current generation and one of the greatest business leaders of all times. The legendary leader, donned the top post in General Electric (GE) from April 1981 to September 2001, taking the company from mediocre levels to the very top levels, in the process turning the very basic concepts on which businesses were run till then. When he

Steps were also taken to organize a stock market in Lahore (Burki, 1999, pp.127-128). Also organized during this period were the Pakistan Industrial and Credit Investment Corporation (PICIC) and the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP), both of which were important to industrial development, obtaining "large amounts of capital from the World Bank, the former for investment in large industries, the latter in relatively smaller enterprises" (Burki, 1999, p. 128). This