Dream+Variation+Themes



He uses Africa to represent a dream, a place of warmth and freedom that is a foil to the cold, uncaring atmosphere of the United States where for blacks discrimination, racism, and often brutal treatment were a feature of everyday life. Still, in “Dream Variations” and other poems that celebrate the image of an African homeland, Hughes got an important feeling expressed by American blacks who were searching for a spiritual home where they would be accepted and treated as equals and not judged by the color of their skin. In the place of his dream, night comes gently and tenderly; it is not to be feared but welcomed. The speaker praises night, the time of dreams, and with it, he also celebrates himself and his race.