Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

The imagery in this poem makes the dream into a live object. For the speakers asks what will happen to a dream left in the dark. All of the questions are rhetorical but the visual effect helps the reader see the effects when a goal is put aside. The imagery of a dream that "fester like a sore-and then run?" tells the reader that the dream will eat at you. It will become a regret because it went unfulfilled. Also the background of the author being an African American man in the 1930's and 1940's suggests that he is expressing to the African American people of what could happen if they do not reach for equality now. When the speaker asks his final question of "or does it explode?" My immediate picture was riots because of the built up anger against those who have oppressed African American people.