Langston Hughes promotes tolerance and an understanding of racism in his poem “Harlem.” The poem questions what happens when people’s dreams are deferred, or postponed. He asks the readers if the dream dries “like a raisin in the sun” or if it “stinks like rotten meat” or if, instead, “does it explode” (Hughes 201). This use of negative imagery shows the reader what will happen if others, namely the African Americans Hughes wrote about, cannot reach their dreams. Dreams are a piece of people’s identity because it shows what they want out of life, so if their dreams shrink or rot, so too does the dreamer. The dream may also explode, representing a backlash from the dreamer because he is denied the chance to fulfill his desires. Hughes wrote