In “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes is a very vivid interpretation of what America was like for those who did not get the opportunity to live the “American Dream”. But really, what was the American Dream? How can the dream of the common slave be any similar to that of a common slave owner? Langston addresses this is many forms in many instances. In the first stanza, Hughes already uses imagery to introduce us readers to his expectations of America in comparison to the sad reality of it. In line two, Hughes says, “Let it be the dream it used to be”. When he uses “used to be”, it can make a reader wonder what the dream is now and how different it really is from what it was. Although this is powerful, there is a slight hint of passion along with disappointment when he says “America never was America to me”. It associates him with those who feel as if they got the short end of the stick in being an “American citizen”. At the beginning of the second stanza, Hughes’ tone is supportive and approving of what America has evolved into. By the third line, however, he has already used term such as “connive” …show more content…
When he acknowledges the people that he relates to, it gives them a sense of value. Who you are is what makes you valuable and although it was not expressed with the most pleasant diction, Hughes still gives them value. He also identifies the men who haven’t had it so tough. He stresses how their wealth and desire for power have changed who Americans should be. On lines 37-39, he says, “I am the man who never got ahead, the poorest worker bartered through the years; yet I am the one who dreamt our basic dream”. He feels as if he never got to live the dream while it was only ever a dream. For rich white men, the American Dream did not hold as much value because it was their