The Critical Eye

The poem expresses a child's wish to be free of physical and emotional pain.It is written from the perspective of a child in the first person narrative voice of the child himself.

The title of the poem immediately provides the context in which the child's "dream" or "wishes" are framed.The title reveals that the speaker is a boy, and he is of the black race.It is a poem which falls within the category of childhood experience.In this context,it is comparable to "Ana" and "My Papa's Waltz"

Each verse of the poem begins with the repetitive, "I wish". In total there are five wishes varying from a wish for some type of encouragement by his teacher, to his wish for freedom from the "terrible burdens of life".All of the child's wishes are for good and positive things. Essentially he wishes that living was easier, or less problematic than it really is.

His childhood wishes brings into question the role of adults in the lives of children whether it be Ana's father, or the father of the child in "My Papa's Waltz".It is clear that the role of adults in the poems about the experience of growing children is to love,  care, compliment, protect and encourage them.

We know, based on the title of the poem, that the boy is of the black race. This contextualizes the ethnicity, and, therefore, the experience that are particular to a child of that racial ethnicity.The child is not only black but also male. Armed with this information one is forced to think of the implications suggested by such awareness, implications regarding the specific types of problems and experiences that are particular to a boy child belonging to the black race.What is absolutely clear is that the poem is about a child's fears of the suffering he could possibly encounter as a result of things happening around him. His final wish is to escape the "terrible burden" and of having( as a boy) the burden of pretending to be brave, which is an expression of the fears and concerns of a child, particularly a male child in what is obviously an extremely unstable and chaotic environment. He dreams of a better, safer life, and he thinks that education will enable him to escape the chaos.

There are really no bright spots in the poem, except the dream of the child which may or may not materialize.. The tone is empathetic and heavy with emotional  pain, psychological stress and fears. We are reminded early in the poem that his ancestors also had very strenuous lives.The poem reminds us that children do think about what they witness around them, and that their fears and concerns are real. They wish to be assured, whether by their teachers or the adults in their lives that all will be well.The writer's intentional use of the repetitious, "I wish" is as painful as the fears of the child himself.This poem could be used to compare the sense of assurance that Ana's father allowed her to grow into, as opposed to the unstable waltz-like life, in "My Papa's Waltz" where the father obviously worked hard, but was not able to bring comfort and painlessness to his child.The stability in Ana's life is quite a contrast to the uncertainties expressed by the speaker in Dreaming Black Boy, particularly.