Harlem |
What happens to 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? |
In Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem”, he questions what happens to a deferred dream which was motivated by the limitations of dreams for African-Americans. Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun”, establishes figurative implications drawn from Langston Hughes’ poem through the characters in the play. Mama and Ruth are two characters who both share the same dream, to move out of their current apartment, but their dreams are being dealt with differently.
Mama’s dream qualifies Hughes’ implication that a deferred dream “dr[ies] up like up a raisin in the sun” (Hughes 2-3). This implies that the dream is still “something”, it just has less promise. Mama’s dream relates to this because she believes they can move out even though the dream has been put aside for a long time, but she now has more promise because she has just received the insurance check making the dream possible. She says she’s “been thinking that we maybe could meet the notes on a little old two-story somewhere” (Hansberry 44). This proves she still believes in the dream and she still believes it has promise.
Ruth’s dream, on the other hand, extends hughes’ implication that a deferred dream “just sags like a heavy load” (Hughes 9-10). This implies that the dream is a burden which holds you back and weighs you down. Ruth’s dream relates to this because Walter won’t stop talking about it, so it doesn’t go away. She says to Walter “They said Saturday and this is just Friday and I hopes to God you ain’t going to get up here first thing this morning and start talking to me ‘bout money - cause I ‘bout don’t want to hear it” (Hansberry 26). This shows she is annoyed by his continued asking about the money associated with the dream. She has also revealed that she’s pregnant, however; there is no room in the house, so the dream will not stop bothering her. This extra implication extends Hughes’ implication.
The implications of a deferred dream introduced in this poem represent what has happened to the idea of the American Dream in reality today. These implications have become characteristics of the tragic pursuit that the American Dream has become.
Mama’s dream qualifies Hughes’ implication that a deferred dream “dr[ies] up like up a raisin in the sun” (Hughes 2-3). This implies that the dream is still “something”, it just has less promise. Mama’s dream relates to this because she believes they can move out even though the dream has been put aside for a long time, but she now has more promise because she has just received the insurance check making the dream possible. She says she’s “been thinking that we maybe could meet the notes on a little old two-story somewhere” (Hansberry 44). This proves she still believes in the dream and she still believes it has promise.
Ruth’s dream, on the other hand, extends hughes’ implication that a deferred dream “just sags like a heavy load” (Hughes 9-10). This implies that the dream is a burden which holds you back and weighs you down. Ruth’s dream relates to this because Walter won’t stop talking about it, so it doesn’t go away. She says to Walter “They said Saturday and this is just Friday and I hopes to God you ain’t going to get up here first thing this morning and start talking to me ‘bout money - cause I ‘bout don’t want to hear it” (Hansberry 26). This shows she is annoyed by his continued asking about the money associated with the dream. She has also revealed that she’s pregnant, however; there is no room in the house, so the dream will not stop bothering her. This extra implication extends Hughes’ implication.
The implications of a deferred dream introduced in this poem represent what has happened to the idea of the American Dream in reality today. These implications have become characteristics of the tragic pursuit that the American Dream has become.
Another poem which shows the complications with dreams in America is “Mother to Son”: