Preview

An Analysis Of Langston Hughes Harlem: A Raisin In The Sun

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
134 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
An Analysis Of Langston Hughes Harlem: A Raisin In The Sun
Dreams change whether we want them to or not, but how might dreams change if they are ignored? Langston Hughes describes a dream deferred in his poem, "Harlem: A Dream Deferred", "What happens to a dream deferred?”; “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" He compares a dream deferred to various concepts. In connection to the play, written by Lorraine Hansberry, "A Raisin in the Sun" the Younger family, an impecunious African-American family, struggle in achieving their dreams, having to postpone them. Although the Younger family each face the same challenge, character Walter Younger is unalike the rest as his dreams deferred impact his personality and his actions. I argue that Walter Younger best illustrates the central theme of Hughes’

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    From a young age everyone develops a dream that they strive to reach at some point in their life. For many Americans, that dream is the American Dream. However, that specific dream rarely ever comes true. Throughout “Harlem” by Langston Hughes and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the theme is: Dreams may develop, transform, or be destroyed, without the dreamer having any control. Everybody in the Younger family had a dream and their dreams are reflected in each of the verses in “Harlem.” Lorraine Hansberry conveys the theme through character development throughout the play. Langston Hughes conveys the theme using descriptive smells and sights to describe the themes.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jazz being a creation of the black community, it is plausible that Hughes regarded jazz as his or the black community’s religious music, music that they now played to entertain the white community.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is realistic fiction in which the play's title and characters represent the play's themes. The play focused on black Americans struggles to reach the American Dream of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness during the 1950’s and 1960’s. the idea of everyone having a the chance to achieve a better life should exist. Hansberry created her title using a line from Langston Hughes poem “ A Dream Deferred”. The original poem was written in 1951 about Harlem. Hughes line from the poem claimed that when dreams are deferred they become broken. This meant that they are lost/hopeless. Hughes poem further suggested that when dreams and goals are denied to be pursued people forget about them and put them off.…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2. The blacks did not like white people coming to Harlem to watch them in their clubs…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hughes, hired a team of designers, craftsmen, engineers, and piolets who worked with him on “Hell’s Angles.” At the peak of the depression, these men were happy just to have a job, let alone an interesting one that allowed them to work for Hughes. Together the team help him build his plane “Hughes H-1 Racer” also known as “The Silver Bullet.” On September 13, 1935 Hughes set the world’s record for flying land planes, at 352 mile per hour.…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Harlem Analysis

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Langston Hughes short poem, “Harlem,” seeks to understand what happens to a dream when it is put on hold. Hughes uses vivid imagery and similes to make an effort to describe what the consequences are to a dream that is lost. He attempts to bring to the attention the life of a Negro and how so many dreams are put off to the side because of prejudice against African Americans. The tone, imagery, and diction of Langston Hughes poem, “Harlem,” will be discussed in this paper.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “a Raisin in the Sun”

    • 1973 Words
    • 8 Pages

    1.) In her play “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry illustrates the struggles and dreams of a black family living in Chicago. Taken from Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” which talks about “dream deferred,” the title of the play carries a connection between the poem and the play’s characters and their dreams. Each member of the Younger family had a dream of his/her own, yet, in order to realize their dreams, Mama, Walter Lee, Ruth, and Beneatha all depended on the money from their father’s insurance check.…

    • 1973 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dreams are what humans see as their guides through their lives or their individual goals which they must work a lifetime for to achieve. In Langston Hughes’ poem, Dream Deferred, he asks rhetorical questions about how a withheld dream can corrupt and negatively change the mind of a man. The poem relates to the movie, “A Raisin in the Sun (2008)” by Kenny Leon, since the movie answers the rhetorical questions in the poem by showing scenes of how the dreams of Walter Lee Younger corrupted his mind and made him lose his sense of personality/humanity.…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his The Way of White Folks, Hughes illustrates the blacks’ feeling of frustration and resistance towards the white-Americans that they live within the society they are in. When on analyzes his short stories, one can see the techniques Hughes used, to illustrate how the whites treats the blacks. Although Hughes blurs the racial line which separates the North America from the South, he effectively illustrates that the how the upper class treats the black with less violence, but still with belittling condescension. In addition, through the medium of music, Hughes demonstrates the envy of many American whites because many of the blacks are artistically talented. With the use of the strategies, Hughes…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "What happens to a dream deferred?" This question, posed by Langston Hughes in his poem titled "Harlem (Dream Deferred)," is captivatingly answered in the 1961 film adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play, “A Raisin in the Sun”. As one of the first films featuring an all-Black leading cast, the film is directed by Daniel Petrie and stars some talented actors and actress such as Sydney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands and Ruby Dee. This film defies the claustrophobic apartment setting to reveal the lives of several members of a black family daring to dream beyond the limitations that are set on their race.…

    • 862 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inside the house of Langston Hughes lays a place filled with opportunity, Inside the house is the perfect place for creativity to originate and ideas to grow into pieces of art. This is the idea of Renee Watson, founder of the I, Too Arts Collective that is leasing the house. The name of the arts collective originated through a poem of Hughes’ which helped her find the truth in the world, as well as help her understand her roots. Our name is inspired by one of Langston’s poems where he declares, “I, too, am America,” and talks about taking his place at the table. It is a statement that declares, “I, too, deserve a space, a voice, to be seen.”(Watson).Watson launched a non-profit organization that wants to build the creative arts in the underrepresented community, and to continuing the legacy of Langston Hughes.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Langston Hughes Harlem

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages

    One of Langston Hughes’s most famous works, A Dream Deferred, is a poem taught in many schools. Hughes wrote "Harlem" in 1951, and it addresses the theme of limitations of the American Dream for African Americans. The poem has eleven short lines in four stanzas that contains questions, mostly derived from: "What happens to a dream deferred?"…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry is a play centered around an African-American family on the Southside of Chicago set after World War II. This groundbreaking play was the first of its kind revolving around the race relations of the middle of the twentieth century. This play has won over many hearts and minds with its intense drama and relevant storyline. This play’s title is off the poem “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes, where Mr. Hughes contemplates on what happens to a dream deferred “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” This play’s main theme is dreams of each of the characters. Each character has their own version of how they want the future to be. Also each dream is centered on how the role of money is going to get them there. This essay will establish commentary on how the dreams of each of the characters is related to the title of the play and also the role of money affecting each of the characters.…

    • 2159 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raisin in the Sun

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Everyone has dreams; everyone has goals they want to accomplish. Some know what it is instantly and some take time to realize what they want to do. But not everyone will achieve their dreams and some, because of sad circumstances lose their grip on their dream and fall into a state of disappointment. Langston Hughes poem relates to the dreams of Mama, Ruth, and Walter in Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger family is faced with many big issues and themes that affect African Americans in the 1950’s. These overlying themes appear in the form of individuals in the play, even for those characters that play only minor roles. George Murchison, Willy Harris, and Mr. Lindner each represent different obstacles that the Younger’s must overcome in order to follow their dreams and trust what is in their hearts. This is Hansberry’s way of telling her readers to not be afraid to follow their dreams, even if there are obstacles in your path, because if they don’t then they will be worse off than ever before.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays