Langston Hughes uses connotation well in this poem to evoke all of the wonderfully patriotic images of America but also to make the reader question these images. Was American a "dream" for everyone? Lines such as "But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe" (Hughes) make the reader question the idea of opportunity for all because as Hughes states, "there has never been equality for me" (Hughes). Many of these lines use not only connotation but an appeal to emotion as well. "I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land," (Hughes). These images are very vivid. The idea of scars connotes all the violence and beatings of slavery, which makes the reader even more passionate. These lines pull at the heartstrings of any reader with a conscience as we are forced to remember some of the atrocities that are also America. And yet, Hughes ends the poem on an optimistic note.