Writing

Adam Felsen Not finished but about 2/3rds. i'm gonna finish tomorrow

“In 2019, there were an estimated 136,351 people in Central Harlem” (NYU Furman center). That is a lot of people with a lot of dreams. Dreams are weird, everyone has them, but no two dreams are ever really the same. Dreams can be positive, negative and every emotion in between. Dreams can take place while sleeping, eating, or just living life. People’s dreams, wants, and desires are the things that make society continue to innovate and build things people 20 years ago never even dreamt of. But, not everyone gets encouraged to explore their dreams. A lot of times, people will discourage seeking one’s dreams because their families, teachers, friends etc. may be jealous, worried, or the dream might be dangerous. Dreams may also be put on hold for reasons such as having a family, not having the finances to realize your dream, or anything else that prevents you from following your dreams. This issue of what happens to dreams put on hold is the idea in ““Harlem”” by Langston Hughes. Hughes uses style, theme, and imagery to convey her message of where dreams go when they aren’t realized by their dreamer.

Hughes uses a style reminiscent of Dr. Seuss in her poem. This is exemplified when comparing excerpts of her poem to Dr Seuss’s book “The Sneetches” “Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet?” (Hughes). “Then, when every last cent Of their money was spent, The Fix-it-Up Chappie packed up And he went.” (Dr.Seuss). In Hughes's poem she rhymes words together and uses short form lines similar to the way Dr. Seuss writes his stories. The implication being Hughes’s poem was written for a younger audience, or an audience that would be better served by short sentences with rhymes in them to allow the reader to stay interested. Another aspect of style is the way Hughes uses questions to convey the overall message in the poem. Each stanza of the poem, except one, is written using a question allowing the reader to make their own assumptions about what the author’s theme is. This stands out, because usually rhymes are reserved more for books aimed at children. Whereas leaving open ended questions can give the implication the poem was written for an older audience that would better be able to form their own opinion based on her questions. Huge’s style is just one aspect that enhances the readers understanding of the poem

Next, Imagery assists the reader in better understanding the poem by crafting lines that as a reader, one has no choice but to paint a picture in your mind. An example of this is when Hughes writes, “ Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore—” (Hughes). These lines serve to enrich the reader’s experience while reading the poem. The imagery also helps the reader to answer the questions posed by Hughes. How?

This is because the imagery helps the reader to put themselves in the situation whereas if the questions were of a more abstract nature, or Hughes wrote the lines with less detail, then the reader wouldn’t be able to as easily answer the questions proposed in the poem. Imagery such as the line, “Or does it explode?” (Hughes). also lead to a finality both in the poem and potentially the dream too. When explosives are used in life for any purpose, the intention of the person using them is destruction. Destruction of land, property or other tangible objects. Dreams obviously are intangible so they aren’t able to be exploded, but nevertheless, dreams can be “exploded” by the people around you trying to put your dreams down or telling you they are unachievable in some way. One can imply this finality is either a result of giving up or just not having the drive to continue on with whatever this person’s dream is. Imagery and style are both devices that help the reader understand the overall theme of the poem analyzed next.

The theme in this poem is not explicitly stated. Actually nothing in this poem is. From the title to the ending nothing about this poem is really explicitly stated except the different descriptive ways of ambiguous destruction. Ambiguous destruction refers to the fact that though Hughes asks the question of what happens to dreams when they get put on hold, there isn’t a direct connection between the stanzas/lines and the original driving question and even the title for that matter. One interpretation of this poem could be the uncertainty of leaving dreams unfulfilled eventually creates so much tension that similar to a build up of stress the lack of fulfillment just explodes. That still leaves the question of how Harlem relates to this. An interpretation of that could be that people in Harlem have certain circumstances or factors that currently or did prevent them from realizing their dreams, potentially individually or as a community.

Marcos Noriega

Masks

During the covid 19, pandemic masks have been there to protect us from the covid virus. A mask can be seen as an overall layer of protection or a disguise. However, we don’t question that we disguise ourselves to win. How about our personality, our ideas, our dignity, how will people criticize us if we show them who we are. It’s the fear of realizing who we are meant to be that makes us wear the mask. “We Wear the Mask '' by Paul Laurence Dunbar explains that people wear masks to hide their true identities from society. People don’t wear actual masks, but people are willing to lie or be something they aren’t to make themselves feel good. People disguise themselves as an imaginative character and pretend to play that character for as long as they can. Eventually, the time will come to take off the mask, and the reveal will be something

ironically empowering. With the use of imagery, irony, tone, and allegory, Dunbar explains his theme about people having to hide their true selves.

Nowadays it’s very easy to act as another character on platforms like social media, youtube videos, or on television. For instance, when we watch youtube videos, many YouTubers will sound happy and energetic on the screen. However, off the screen, people could be dealing with things like depression or anxiety once they are forced to hang their act for the day. The mask through the poem is used as an imaginative object to protect one's persona from the real-life pain that one goes through. Dunbar says that the mask “We wear the mask that grins and lies, It Hides our cheeks and shades our eyes” (Dunbar Lines 1-2). A mask is a form of hiding ourselves from reality, and we pretend to be another character than ourselves. The mask lies in telling people that you are who you say you are. However, the mask “Hides our cheeks and shades our eyes”(Dunbar Line 2). Implying that the mask is just a tool to hide from the real world and not make any specific changes to your life. All of us go through pain and sorrow in our lives and even though these moments pass it’s the motivation to create something that influences people to create a new persona.

Dunbar’s tone towards the idea that people wear the mask, in the beginning, tells people that a mask is just a form of hiding yourself and it’s not going to help you become who you really want to be. However, Dunbar asks a very vital question in the poem. Dunbar says “Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs”(Lines 6-7)? Dunbar asks the reader why should you care what the world thinks of you. If you wear the mask why bother putting on an act and why care about criticism. Dunbar starts to shift the tone to a more positive attitude by asking questions. You could take criticism and turn your sorrow around into something successful you could land triumphantly as he says “Nay, let them only see us, while. We wear masks.”(Dubar Lines 8-9).

After that question, we start to realize if the mask is more than just a disguise. Maybe the mask could be a cry of help or a comfort zone for people. To Understand why people wear the mask we have to understand people and their use of escapism from

dealing with harsh conflicts at home. Dunbar explains that not all people who wear mask are bad. He says there is no shame in wearing the mask but it wouldn’t be needed if the world was so harsh to them. Dunbar says “We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries. To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile;”(Dunbar lines 10-13). Dunbar implies that the people are in need of help, but the world isn’t going to help them. Christ is used as an allegory in the poem to bring help to those in need. We all suffer from personal problems and sometimes all we want to do is escape our reality and make a fictional world. There is no shame in that but the time will come to take off the mask and prove yourself for who you really are.

The irony is that the mask isn’t a symbol of evil it’s a symbol of hope and escapism. The escapism won’t last long because at the end of the day we all have to face our greatest fears as Dunbar says. He goes on to say “This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And a mouth with myriad subtleties”(Dunbar Lines 3-5). The debt that is paid is your own humility as Dunbar says. Sometimes we act so much that we lose our true persona and become trapped in this new reality. While it’s pleasant to wear the mask to feel confident, the consequences of wearing it for so long may negatively affect your life. You could become disliked, lost, and you could distance yourself from an overall growth that helps you learn about your own life. Staying too long in a reality that isn’t meant for you can be your worst nightmare.

Wearing the mask makes you feel empowered and strong but it only lasts for a certain time. We as humans fear failure and often run from it. Eventually, we will have to face our greatest challenges one day, and prove to the world that we are beautiful behind the mask. With enough dedication and effort, we can become more than who we act. Our mask can be our doomed reality however if we are willing to come out of the mask mentally and spiritually stronger, then the benefit is that we succeeded and used the mask as a cocoon to grow ourselves in a disguise. It’s ok to wear a mask, but as long as you can turn your life around there is no shame for who you are. Until that day comes, we wear the mask.

Chanwoo Lee

The Human Limitations

Our lives are divided into two paths, the path we take and the path we do not take. Under the words of life and choice, we have to walk toward only one path. Nobody can walk two roads at once because it is the fundamental limitations that apply to human beings. From the moment we enter and walk a road, we can never come back. It is the fate of human beings that cannot go against time. The two roads through the forest, where the leaves of autumn in the morning turn yellow or red, are very tempting. “The Road Not Taken” is a poem by Robert Frost who is one of the most classical poets among modern American poets. The keyword of this poem’s theme is ‘the road’ that was taken by, indicating that there is a regret over the road that he did not walk. The road to this poetry is the road to life. Since humans can not go two ways at the same time, the agony of life and human limitations arise right here in this poem. Additionally, this poem shows us several lessons to have our own beliefs.

The background of this poem is a forest with two roads which are diverged in different directions. In the first paragraph, Robert faced two roads diverged in the forest one fall day, feeling the limitations of reality. He looked down far and looked at what the two roads were like. In the second paragraph, he chose one of the two roads. And then, in the fourth paragraph, he recalled the past and thought everything had changed because of the path he chose. Also, we can see that Robert's thoughts are revealed in the fourth paragraph.

The last paragraph is all about a desire for life and a retrospective of the life path. The two paths that appear in the forest also represent two life paths that would appear in the future. In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, Robert says that “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” while sighing. We can tell that certainly does not mean in a positive sense. It obviously shows us that the protagonist is regretting the fact that he or she chose the path. The path we chose may not be so smooth. There is no right answer in life and we expand our domain with our own subjectivity and faith from either the way we have experienced or we have seen what happened to others. In the process, there may be unfortunate results and we may be going to have a hard time to fill the fateful deficiency. However, no one knows what stands at the end so that we can live by constantly persuading ourselves which is self-deceptive.

In the framework of today’s time, we move and walk in the same direction with others, pretending to think that is rational. We should be afraid of living without our own subjectivity, not regretting the path we chose. We must feel precious to ourselves and think that our own values are high.