Langston Hughes’ poem begins with a deceptively innocent question: “What happens to a dream deferred?” (Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun 1). From the

There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. [And, …] when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning—because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ‘cause the world done whipped him so! When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is. (Hansberry 145)

We all would be only wise to incorporate and emulate the behaviors and intentions of Ms. Lorraine Hansberry, Mr. Langston Hughes, and Mrs. Lena Younger. For Hansberry, her intent to communicate strength in ability in each human family reaches levels of deep morality and sense of empathy and true understanding. And, as she says in her own words, “Let’s keep in mind what we’re talking about. We’re talking about oppressed peoples who are saying that they must assert themselves in the world …” and because of that, and since everyone in one way or another is oppressed, all must work for a better way of life than their present (276). Through Mama younger, she paints not a total plaintive state of restlessness and unfulfilled ambitions and goals, but rather, an overtone of wonders and possibilities that are infallible in spirit and love. For Hughes, his poem conspicuously shows to the general reader, thinker and philosopher that he is a man committed to weighing and considering, not confuting and refuting. For if he was not, then why would he even ask such questions? Through his prompting, he indirectly conveys that it is important to understand the foundations from which questions are based, the hidden meanings behind them, and the underlying intentions of the person or persons saying them because all those factors contribute to a person’s final interpretation of written (and spoken) words and whose recognition of them helps one to better and correctly interpret them, as initially intended by its author. Then, there is Mrs. Lena Younger, the reincarnation of the classic old and wise character oftentimes used within stories to provide the other entities guidance and life knowledge. Her life echoes the yin and yang duality of Hughes’ questions. In one respect, she physically is the dream is festering like a sore and then running (Hansberry 4-5). In another, she is that which sags like a heavy load (Hansberry 10). Yet, at the same time, she also is the dream that doesn’t crust over or explode, but rather that which moistens and remains continuous, assertive, and determined to achieve a better state of life (Hansberry 7; 11). Her greatest lesson to all of us is that although things may seem dim, that we should stand firm and fast, learn to keep hope, which is faith in action, and to continue to work hard because if our own dreams are not fulfilled or are deferred in one way, that they are surely fulfilled in many other ways—whether in our own or our future generations’ lifetime; we just have to learn to recognize those other ways in which they so are fulfilled.

As for Mama Younger, the case is similar. For as much as she has lived and has had Walter and Beneatha, her dream of owning a house has been on hold. She focused her energies on what she called her “beginning again,” her “harvest” (Hansberry 144). Because of that, owning a home as a young woman went to the back of her mind and her children to the front. In essence, she allowed that dream to crust and sugar ove

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