The American Dream: Then and Now

Here’s a poetry analysis essay I wrote for my College Writing II class on Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes (I got a 92):

According to Google, the “American Dream” is “the traditional social ideals of the United States, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity.” Most Americans would most likely agree that this is a sufficient definition. However, the end of the statement is what throws off African American poet Langston Hughes in his poem Let America Be America Again. He would probably agree with the first two aspects, equality and democracy, but not the third, material prosperity. An integral part of his poem is that greed is what keeps the “American Dream” from being attainable to certain groups of people. Although many Americans today continue to believe that the “American Dream” is still real and achievable, even as early as 1935 in this poem, it was apparent that this concept had already become fundamentally implausible due to the greed of the upper classes and the inequality between them and the lower classes.

As the poem starts off, the narrator actually seems optimistic about the future of American society. Although he states, “Let America be America again,” in line 1 as if America is not currently “American” or “free,” he gives the sense that it once was and could possibly be again. However, in line 5, a second speaker is introduced within parentheses who does not share the first’s optimism whatsoever. He says that the ideals of the “American Dream” never existed in the first place. The pessimistic speaker comes forward in line 17, when there are no longer parentheses around his words, and he is then the dominant speaker for the rest of the poem. In line 18 he asks, “And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?” showing that the idea of freedom, liberty, and all of the values of the “American Dream” are dark, blocked, or “veiled” in a way. Moreover, even in this 1935 poem, it seems as though Hughes, as the narrator, has begun to see that the “American Dream” may not exist at all. Despite all of this, by the end of the poem, Hughes’ take on whether the “American Dream” is real shifts from negative to hopeful. In line 61, he reveals this when he describes the “American Dream” as “the dream that’s almost dead today.” Using the word “almost” gives the reader the first sense of hope. He wants America to be what is has not been yet with respect to freedom and equality. The last stanza urges Americans to step up and offer a helping hand in making the “American Dream” become real, and to remove greed and other inequalities from the picture.

As a black man himself, Hughes wants the reader to know that those who are excluded from the freedom in America stretch far beyond the African American population. In lines 19–24, he emphasizes that this group of underprivileged people includes “the poor white,” “the Negro,” “the red man,” and “the immigrant.” They all experience similar troubles to their counterparts including Native Americans being “driven from the[ir] land” and African Americans “bearing slavery’s scars.” Lines 25–30 are almost exclusively dedicated to greed and how it has overtaken America. He describes a man “full of strength and hope,” but shut down by “profit, power, gain, and grab of land.” By saying “ancient, endless chain,” he is suggesting that this is the way it always has been; there was no other time in which greed was not a huge factor in the lives of all the world’s people. Ever since the class system was established, greed has been present. In lines 31–34, Hughes uses the first person at the beginning of every line in order to personalize the struggle of everyone involved, instead of treating them as general stereotypes. So many people are working toward the same dream to no avail.

Langston Hughes wrote this poem in 1935, seventy-nine years ago, and a great deal has changed in American society since that time. Therefore, in that long duration of time, society could have easily evolved enough for the “American Dream” to become reachable to the common man. However, having said that, the meaning of the “American Dream” could have changed as well. As a college student in the twenty-first century, I think of the “American Dream” as someone being able to acquire his or her dream job and still be financially stable. In that case, everyone has their own “American Dream.” For example, my personal “American Dream” at this time in my life would be to have a career in theatre education that pays well enough for me not to be overly worried about money. However, as Hughes makes clear in his poem, some people are unable to achieve their dreams for reasons including race, gender, and financial inequality. This is still true today, but I feel as though it is slowly but surely being corrected through affirmative action, the feminist movement, and programs like welfare.

Although Let America Be America Again was written nearly eighty years ago, the issues presented are still relevant in today’s society. Fortunately, the current government is doing a relatively solid job in resolving these issues. Even though the “American Dream” will never be totally achievable to every single person, I do believe that over time, factors that are out of someone’s control like race, gender, or even sexual orientation will be eliminated from reasons why one would not be able to reach his or her goals.