In Langston Hughes’ Poem “Harlem”, He Asks Whether The

In Langston Hughes’ poem â€Å"Harlem†, he asks whether the dream deferred explodes or not. In â€Å"Angels in America†, Tony Kushner explores the exploding dream through the character of Joseph Porter Pitt as he struggles to cope with his suppressed, but surfacing homosexuality while also balancing societal and religious perspectives with his own. Joseph’s relationships are full of bandages that cover up pieces to his own true American dream that has been hidden from existence since he was a child. Being a raised a Mormon, Joseph was conditioned to believe that homosexuality is a violation and that it is not accepted. Consequently, Joseph’s dreams have been repressed deep into his mind and covered with conservative opinions, a fraudulent marriage,†¦show more content†¦Toward the beginning of the play when Joseph is trying to convince Harper to move he says to her â€Å"America has rediscovered itself†¦ We become better. More good. I need to be a part of that, I need something big to lift me up. I mean, six years ago the world seemed in decline†¦ † (26). Taking this quote into the context of the time period in which Reagan denied AIDS and a lot of society saw it as a gay cancer as well as a punishment, this quote shows a side of both ignorance or implicit hypocrisy. Joseph’s conservative shield serves as a layer of ignorance that blocks out the community in which he truly belongs to, which is the homosexual community. His non-existent acknowledgement of the struggle, fear and pain that the homosexual community was going through at the time is a reinforcement of a falsified dream that Joseph has. Joseph ignores that homosexuals exist and although he does not completely deny the fact that he is gay in the play, like Roy Cohn, he essentially ignores the reality of himself as a gay man. His language with Harper is mostly about change though, even though he has a misperception about the worldâ€℠¢s current status, he is focused on changing. He wants to move at the beginning, but only if Harper agrees to go with him. Joseph is scrambling to do something as he feels his true self surfacing, but he doesn’t know what to do with it. Harper grounds him to his false reality and manipulated dreams. He is inShow MoreRelatedBiographical and Historical Approach to Langston Hughes Dream Boogie1340 Words   |  6 PagesBiographical and Historical Approach to Langston Hughes Dream Boogie Michelle Cooks ENG Teacher January 30, 2012 A biographical or historical approach attempt to measure how much an authors life or history has influenced their writings. 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