Student Question

What is the narrator's frustration in the poem "Harlem" and how is it expressed through metaphors or symbolism?

Quick answer:

The narrator's frustration in "Harlem" is expressed through metaphors and symbolism of a "dream deferred" as various forms of suffering. These include a dried raisin, suggesting desiccation; rotten meat, implying decay; and a heavy load, indicating burden. These images symbolize the African American experience of partial freedom and unfulfilled rights. The poem evokes the biblical proverb "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" and resonates with Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Expert Answers

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For the speaker in this poem, the frustration of a dream deferred is like a wound. But is it an old wound that has scarred over, as the image of the dry raisin suggests. Or is it open and festering, stinking like rotten meat? Or is it scabbed over, which could be a sign of healing, but could also be ripped off to reveal the open wound again. Could it be something chronic, a heavy load you have to live with? Or will it explode into anger and rage?

In these few lines he is expressing the African American experience of having been given their freedom, but not being fully free to enjoy all the rights they are entitled to along with everyone else.

The poem calls to mind Proverbs 13:12: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick,/ But desire fulfilled is a tree of life" (NASB)

It also calls to mind Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have a Dream" speech, which King gave in 1963, twelve years after Hughes wrote this poem. One sentence from that speech seems to put Hughes's poem in a nutshell: "Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual."

As for similes, metaphors, and other poetic devices used in the poem, because it is so brief, I'll refer you to the Guide to Literary Terms so that you can identify those for yourself.

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