SHATTERING THE DARKNESS In the poem "As I Grew Older " by Langston Hughes, a young man is thinking about his goals and that he cannot achieve them because of racial prejudice. The theme of the poem is that prejudice is used to keep people from accomplishing their dreams. Hughes expresses this idea by using imagery, anaphora, and a symbol. Imagery helps Hughes to show how prejudice is used to keep people from accomplishing their goals. …showed first 75 words of 530 total…

…showed last 75 words of 530 total…he says, "In front of me, /Bright like the sun---/My dream." He is young and ambitious and he is aware of his goals. As he grows older the poet creates another symbol using the word "wall" to mean the prejudice. Then the poet says, "And then the wall rose…Between me and my dream. /Rose slowly, slowly, /Dimming, /Hiding, /the light of my dream." Now, the poet sees this wall there blocking his dream.