10 E As I Grew Older Analysis

Poem Analysis “As I Grew Older,” by Langston Hughes carries a theme that no matter what stands in the way of someone’s dream you can always find your dream and fight for it. Throughout the poem, Hughes refers to different symbols to show the barriers between blacks and whites in society. In the first stanza of this poem, Hughes writes that his dream was: “in front of me, bright like a sun—My dream.” Hughes’s dream is the dream of a non racist society in America and the freedom for anyone to do what they choose and be treated equally. At the same time, Hughes’s dream can also be treated as Hughes’s future. Hughes’s dream first appeared to be “bright like the sun” because when you’re a child, you aren’t aware of what’s actually happening around you. Children don’t know the true reasons for why their community is the way that it is and Hughes’s didn’t understand either. Hughes’s dream was bright because he wasn’t old enough to realize that there would be things in his way keeping him from his dream. Hughes’s dream describes how he wishes to have a good life and raise a family without the conflicts that he’s experienced in his own childhood. Also, it’s important to note that Hughes’s says “My dream” to show possession of the idea he holds. This is later related to other possessions Hughes’s describes in his poem. Another reason why Hughes’s writes “my dream” is because Hughes’s dream was different from a white man at the time. Facing discrimination throughout his life, Hughes’s continues to describe racism when Hughes’s writes “And then a wall rose, rose slowly, slowly, between me and my dream.” The wall Hughes’s refers to is the wall of white men and how they dominated life in the United States. This wall “slowly” blocked his dream. Hughes’s describes the blockage as slow to show the many small efforts people used to keep America segregated. In the third stanza, Hughes’s writes that the wall “rose until it touched the sky--. The wall. Shadow. I am black. I lie down in the shadow.” There are many things going on in this stanza that illustrates Hughes’s place in society at that time and the extent of racism. The audience should notice that Hughes’s first writes that the wall rose up to touch the sky in a single line but he then breaks up the words in the following lines to act as if the action was taking place with the words. First Hughes’s describes what is moving up and he writes on a single line, “The Wall.” Then Hughes’s continues to describe what happens when the wall is in place and that’s “Shadow.” In the third single line Hughes’s confirms (if not already known), “I am black.” This simple description is then followed by a single line with, “I lie down in the shadow.” “The Wall” that Hughes’s describes is a symbol of the white people who were racist against blacks. This wall cast a “shadow” over Hughes and this shadow represents the restrictions and laws that were made in discrimination against black people. Once the shadow is created, Hughes’s writes: “I am black,” which is literally the current state of his shadowed atmosphere but more so the fact that Hughes’s is African American. Then he tells the reader that he’s lying down in the shadow. This shadow is describing the lower conditions that African American’s had to live with in the midst of segregated America. Hughes’s ends this stanza by saying “No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me.” Since his dream is no longer above him, the dream is beneath him. This can be interpreted as saying that the dream of freedom and equality is unrealistic or it’s saying that the dream has been temporarily disabled because of the wall created by white people. In order to break free of his restrictions, Hughes describes his “dark hands” that will be able to “break through the wall,” and “find his dream. The dark hands Hughes describes is his culture and his own people. Hughes believes that with perseverance that African Americans can break through the wall created by white people and find their dreams. His dark hands can be seen as the color of the skin but also the fact that the blacks were enslaved by many whites in the early history of America. These dark hands can be interpreted to be hands that have bleed and worked and covered with dirt to show that hard work and constant repression of black society has made them strong. In the last stanza, Hughes says that these hands can: “help me shatter this darkness, to smash this night, to break this shadow into a thousand lights of the sun, into a thousand whirling dreams of sun!” “Shatter” adds more

emphasis to Hughes description of how African Americans will prevail through civil rights and by breaking the shadow into a thousand lights of the sun the blacks are breaking the restrictions cast by white people and making society equal as a whole. The darkness is the shadow that was created by the wall that grew taller and taller. Hughes is able to break the darkness and let light in through the wall. He uses imagery to describe his own ability to overcome prejudice in his society. The image of a wall not only represents Caucasians but also the fact that usually, barriers from one society to another are made up of walls. The wall stands as Hughes opponent and he’s able to defeat it him. Langston Hughes ends his poem by describing the dreams to be coming: “of sun!” to show that his dream may still be too far to reach but when reached will shine brighter than all of the dreams ever to come true. The light from the sun is seen by Hughes again and it’s as if he and his dreams were reunited. Art Analysis The picture is black and white not only to go with the theme of the anthology but also because in Langston Hughes’s “As I Grew Older” poem, it deals with the separation in black and white society. I chose to draw a wall because it was the most significant picture I thought of when reading the poem. The wall in the picture grows slowly taller and taller. The sunlight from the top corner of the picture becomes blocked. The different height of the walls shows the different obstacles that Hughes’s had to go through to get to his dream. Even though the walls are blocking most of the light from the sun, small rays of light are still coming through. This is to show that Langston Hughes’s was determined, even when there was discrimination to take his dream away, he never gave up. His prevailed through segregation and found his dream of equality. As I Grew Older By Langston Hughes It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun-My dream. And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose until it touched the sky-The wall. Shadow. I am black. I lie down in the shadow. No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me. Only the thick wall. Only the shadow. My hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall! Find my dream! Help me to shatter this darkness, To smash this night, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun, Into a thousand whirling dreams Of sun!