In the Langston Hughes poem "Harlem," how would you interpret the theme, and how does it relate to the deferred dreams of the members of the Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun?

Let's start with Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem" and then connect it to A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry's play, which takes its title from a line of Hughes's poem.
Here is the text of Hughes's poem:

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?

The poem begins with that question: "What happens to a dream deferred?" The remainder of the poem sees the speaker consider various, deferred possibilities for this dream. The speaker wonders, "Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?" (3-4). This simile suggests that the dream is let out in the sun and is drained of its juices until its "dr[ied] up." The dream could also "fester like a sore" (5) or "stink like rotten meat" (7), which are other figurative ways of saying that the dream decays. The image of the dream "crust[ing and sugar[ing] over — / like a syrupy sweet?" is a bit ambiguous: it seems like the sweetness could be positive, but the idea of crusting over follows from the rotting of the dream. Finally, the speaker thinks that "Maybe [the dream] just sags / like a heavy load" before asking, "Or does it explode?" The first part of this is clearly negative: the dream becomes a burden. However, the final line suggests the explosive power of the dream. Sure, maybe it will dry up, die, or weigh one down, but there is always that possibility that it will create something new.


A Raisin in the Sun portrays conflict amongst the members of the Younger family following the death of Walter Younger Sr. and the family's anticipation of a life insurance check. Each family member has dreams of what he or she wants to do with the money. Walter Jr. wants to open a liquor store and profit from a business he runs with his friends; Beneatha wants to go to school to become a doctor. Mama, though, wants to buy a house with a garden, a home in a nice neighborhood that fits the whole family comfortably. At certain points in the play, it seems that the family's dreams will "dry up / like a raisin in the sun." Walter's friend takes off with the money, for example. Next, a white man warns the Youngers not to move into the white neighborhood where the dream house stands. At first, they consider not moving, but eventually, Walter reclaims his power and fights for his family's dreams by standing up to the man from the neighborhood association. At the end of the play, the family is looking forward to moving into their new home and the new stage of their lives. It may not be completely without conflict or tension, but they will at least attempt to fulfill some of those dreams, rather than "deferring" them longer due to the racism of their environment.