In this poem, Hughes calls to "Let America be America again" (Hughes, line 1). However, as the reader continues, it becomes obvious that the speaker, and everyone that inhabits America, was never included in the "dream it use to be" (line 2). Therefore asking America to return back to itself is a paradox. The dream America was built on was never realized-- "O, let America be America again-- / The land that never has been yet --/ And yet must be" (lines 62-64). The poem is thus waiting, hoping, for a return that never was but could be.