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| Langston Hughes |
Friday, December 4, 2015
Literary choices: Title
Why is the book titled A Raisin in The Sun? After doing some research, it is discovered that the title is derived from a popular Langston Hughes poem, "A Dream Deferred". After more research, I unearthed that Langston Hughes was a Harlem Renaissance writer. While the play is not literally about a dried grape basking in sunlight, it certainly holds quite a few deferred dreams. I found it quite witty to have a title that can not be deciphered with mere observation, but one that takes effort to discern.
The word defer literally means to put off or postpone, so a deferred dream is referencing the idea of putting something off until tomorrow because maybe the time wasn't right or the situation didn't allow for it. Each character has deferred dreams, to those of home-ownership to education. "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" is the question posed by Hughes. A Raisin in The Sun tells of dreams that were not possible that dry up in hopes of a better tomorrow.
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It is very interesting how Lorraine Hansberry chose to title her play after Langston Hughes' poem. Perhaps the Younger's postponed their dreams in "A Raisin in the Sun". It may be true that Hughes' poem was answered through this play. Whatever the case, I am sure that there is a relationship between the content and title of both sources.
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