... in Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry, the author of A Raisin in the Sun, supports the theme of her play from a montage of, A Dream Deferred, by Langston Hughes. Hughes asks, "What happens to a dream deferred?- He suggests many alternatives to answering the question. That it might "dry up like a raisin in the sun,"" or "fester like a sore."" Yet the play maybe more closely related to Hughes final question of the poem, "Or does it explode?- The ... play is full of bombs that are explosions of emotion set off by the frustration of the Younger family, who are unable to grasp the possible ...

• Word Count: 926
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

In the play, "Raisin in The Sun", Walter who is Lena's son has big dreams that he talks about throughout. He dreams of getting the check from his father's insurance, he dreams of making an invest to get money, he dreams of his family being able to experience equality. Some of the events that occur could make someone think that his dreams may be an obstacle to ... to a dream deferred?" I think this event relates more closely to this certain poem because Walter's dream of making an investment was shattered as was the family's dream of getting their house. Langston Hughes says, "Does it dry up l...

• Word Count: 903
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... how hard an African American's life could be. The opening line to the poem is the most important, because it sets the direction of the poem itself. The poet answers the question in an indirect way using similes to show what might happen as in "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" the word "Raisin" a nutritious and useful fruit, Hughes adds "Dry up [] in the sun" thus turning the "raisin" into something hard and no logger useful. It ... becomes useless, just like the life of an African American during many decades of the 20th century. In the second ... ...

• Word Count: 934
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... wove a woeful tale of a family called the Youngers, A poor black family living in a tiny run-down apartment, in her novel A Raisin in the Sun. She based the name on the Langston Hughes poem "Harlem." She found the title appropriate to portray the way of life lived out by the Youngers. The family bonds are tested to great lengths and the family was divided into three parts. The leaders of each section were depicted ... by their attitude towards life and desire to put the family in different positions. ... no one would follow him if he continued to make all these poor investment choices....

• Word Count: 723
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the dreams of the characters in Hansberry's, A Raisin in the Sun. At the beginning of the play, Hanberry had the producers flash the lines of Harlem over the screen because the lines go with the play. Both pieces of work describe what can and does happen to dreams. A Raisin in the Sun is a play with an African-American family whose struggles affect their dreams. Grandmas dream reflects on the poem with the quote "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? ... Or fester like a soar - and then run?" Grandmas dream was to live in a house and own a garden where she could grow tomatoes and flow...

• Word Count: 469
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... deferred?" sets up the plot and symbolism of the rest of the poem. As Hughes answers the question, he asks if a dream deferred dries up like a raisin in the sun. This symbol means that a dream that is disintegrating and dying like a raisin left out in the sun. If a raisin is left out in the sun too long, it will die. The same idea can apply to a dream left in the mind too long. The environment will kill the dream if it ... is left alone for a lengthy period of time. It will wither up and die, just like the raisin in the sun. The raisin is a dehydrated grape ... ...

• Word Count: 461
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... is being put off. What do these dreams do, do they do good, do they do bad, or do they do neither good nor bad? Langston Hughes has many similes in his poem, "Harlem", the first one being "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" Using this simile he is stating that dreaming can be good or bad. One example can be ... not necessarily bad such as a dream it will not always be bad as well. Continuing with the simile, "dry up like a raisin in the sun", it is also suggesting that the dream is not necessarily forgotten but over time it will not be the same. The second simile found in line fo...

• Word Count: 1185
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? The play "Raisin in the Sun" follows a black family living in the ghetto in the late 1950's. Throughout the play the Youngers go through trying times when they gain money ... , lose money, and become closer as a family. In the play there are many dreams, some are fulfilled, and some deferred. The poem on which the title was based relates to the play in many ...

• Word Count: 446
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... don't come true. A Raisin in the Sun takes place in the slums of Chicago post World War II. While World War II was over, the war against racism is still being fought between black and white Americans, which put a strain on the family dynamics of the Younger family, both financially and emotionally. Still, the Youngers manage to make the best of a bad situation in their cramped apartment, with their ... that were important to them for different reasons; however all of the dreams had the goal to better the family. Hughes had a way of using metaphors to better illustrate the themes of his ...

• Word Count: 1259
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and uses metaphors to give vivid examples on how a dream can be deferred. The first metaphorical example is "does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" (Hughes 2-3). This first metaphor shows what could happen to a dream when it is under pressure over time. With the sun being the pressure and the raisin being the person dreaming it shows that a person could just wither down when their dream is ... being withheld or postponed. The next metaphor asks does a dream deferred fester like a sore and ... asks a very important question about dreams and what happens to dreams when they are withhe...

• Word Count: 520
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Raisin in the Sun" Lorraine Hansberry wrote the award winning play" A Raisin in the Sun." It is set in Chicago's Southside in the late 1940's. The story reflects her own experience of racial harassment when her successful family moved into a white neighborhood. She got her title from a line in a Langston Hughes poem named," Harlem (A Dream Deferred) (534) -What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? (1-3) This title is in reference to one of the ... main characters. He has a dream but racial tension going on at the time and his family's opinion and interfer...

• Word Count: 1265
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... allowed to continue and A Raisin in the Sun first appears at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. During this time racial tensions would certainly explode into violence. Even though the play debates the Civil Rights movement in language and tone, it states the major issues of racial inequality and the pursuit for economic freedom that would eventually play a major role in America. The title of the poem impacts Hansberry's plot and ... deferred dreams. Something that makes Hughes" poem so poetic is his reference to the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. Hugh...

• Word Count: 1645
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... poem "Dream Deferred" Hughes warns the reader through the use of sensory similes that postponing a dream may have negative consequences. To relate to the everyday person, Hughes uses simple, but powerful imagery to get his point across. "Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?" (Langston 506). Typically, the sun brings life, but in this context the sun is sucking the life out of a grape, turning it into ... a raisin. What is left of a person who has no dreams? "Or fester like a sore/ And then run?" (506). If left untreated, a sore will intensify ... over time and cause an infection wh...

• Word Count: 641
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... as some call it "Harlem", reflects back on the time in history of the Harlem Renaissance. Black Americans begin to gain the same amount of freedoms as a white American, and Langston Hughes pens this poem during this point in time. Everyone, black or white, strives to achieve what becomes known as the American dream. Hughes describes the type of dreams that never end up becoming a ... build up emotion and draw the reader into the poem until the reader finally reads the last line "Or does it explode?" Between these two questions, Hughes gives the reader more rhetorical questions by employ...

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... what happens to that dream when not followed through with. The opening sentence is the question, "What happens to a dream deferred?"(1) and, line by line different results are explored. Hughes uses a series of different negative descriptions to depict what might happen to a dream put on hold. "Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?"(2-3). That raisin, left in the sun will dry out, thus making it impossible to eat ... . Another suggestion he makes is "Maybe it just sags / like a heavy load" (9-10). The unpursued dream may become heavy to bear, because it still weighs on one's mind cau...

• Word Count: 1067
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ambition and dreams for the future as anyone else. Unfortunately, African-Americans knew that there was little hope for their dreams to come true. They were considered second-class citizens. The author asks, "What happens to a dream deferred?" Many African-Americans did not ever dare to dream about plans, knowing that their dreams would likely, "dry up like/a raisin in the sun." There were too many ... obstacles in their way, for their dreams to succeed. This poem could relate to anyone today, who has a dream. They may just carry that dream around until it, "sags/like a heavy ... of tr...

• Word Count: 454
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... that it still brings Troy some joy to talk about baseball with Bono shows that he hasn't forgotten the good in the sport. He also demonstrates how the dream has crusted over by showing some disgust at everyone's admiration for Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron. Troy's disgust goes as ... threatens to consume him-. This clearly shows that a dream deferred can explode, although Troy avoids it at this point in the play. Outside of his own dreams, Troy has a profound impact on the dreams of those around him. In most of these cases, Troy's impact is not a good one, although he is definitely a g...

• Word Count: 1022
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... everyone to enjoy or not, the answer must be whatever you think. In other words there is no wrong answer or you could just play it safe and say that it is rhetorical. The second question is more descriptive because it partly answers the first question. Hughes asks and I quote, "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" The use of adjectives and the metaphor suggests that he is ... asking you the reader if that is how ... your dreams, of course the ones that don't come true, die. The third question is more to my liking ... ...

• Word Count: 1020
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... during the Renaissance. In 1951 the Renaissance was over, and just in the title the poets explains that his dream the Harlem Renaissance was delayed. In the 1950s Harlem had changed since the 20s more then thirty years had past from that Eden period, violence, drugs, and corruption represented Harlem after the Second World War. Through the poem he asks questions, like someone disappointed with something important: "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun ... ?" (Hughes 587). Each questions he asked focused on one question: Did the dream of all African-American come true or not? The dream...

• Word Count: 1971
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School