Posted by Kristi Vang (67.174.158.14) on June 23, 2005 at 9:50:59 p.m.:
In Reply to: Re: A Raisin in the Sun and "Harlem" Wednesday Discussion posted by Katie Hartman on June 22, 2005 at 12:03:35 p.m.:
"A Raisin in the Sun" does not neccessary imply that the raisin will wither up and die. Some raisins in the sun can be quite fulfilling. It's all a matter of taste. One can defer the pleasure of that taste, but it does not mean that it can not be tasted. The taste in this case was the Younger getting their house in the white neighborhood.
>Langston Hughes’ “Harlem (A Dream Deferred)” discusses what happens to dreams that go off the planned path. There is a direct connection between Hughes’ poem and Hansberry’s story. Hughes asks if they dry up like a raisin in the sun. The title of Lorraines Hansberry’s story happens to be “ A Raisin in the Sun”. Her story talks about dreams that become altered throughout the story and lives of the characters. Hansberry apparently decided that a dream deferred was like a raisin in the sun since that was her story title. “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”(Hughes, 1371). Its seems that all the characters dreams seen to have faded away and just left out in the sun to wither. Then mama gets her insurance check in the mail and everyone sees his or her dreams come back to life. It seems that a dream deferred wilts away in the sun to Hansberry. Hansberry answers Hughes question he proposes throughout his poem. Hansberry takes Hughes’ idea of what a dream deferred and uses it to explain how her characters dreams become deferred.