hughes
...oo long, it will inevitably die. The same principle can apply to a dream left in the mind too long. The environment will kill the dream if it is left idle for a lengthy period of time. It will wither up and die, just like the raisin in the sun. Hughes continues to make his point through the symbols of inanimate objects as the poem progresses. In addition, all of the symbolic statements except the final one are similes. In lines four and five, the statement, "Or fester like a sore--And then run?" is extremely symbolic. The visual picture of a sore festering and then finally breaking open and running is again equal to the broken dream of racial equality. The dream of racial equality grows in the body like a sore. When the dream fails, it breaks open and could fall prey to outside poisons. These poisons can lead to destruction. Racial riots and other such instances are examples of this destruction. Hughes even furthers his use of symbolism in line six, "Does it stink like rotten meat?" A dream that is left out too long without the proper care it needs will start to stink like meat left out of the refrigerator. The final line, "Or does it explode?" is representing an explosion similar to one of a bomb. When something explodes, it is blown to pieces which cannot be put back together, or only with a great amount of time, labor, and difficulty. This is what happened to the "Dream Deferred". The title, "Dream Deferred", is a symbol in itself. It represents the dream of racial equality. It also can be used to represent the failure of any other signif...