Why you reckon langston hughes text

ENG 273-01IN FINAL EXAM FALL 2015

A RAISIN IN THE SUN , Act I, Scene One

MAMA: Crazy ‘bout his children! God knows there was plenty wrong with Walter Younger—hard-headed, mean, kind of wild with women—plenty wrong with him. But he sure loved his children. Always wanted them to have something—be something. That’s where Brother gets all these notions, I reckon. Big Walter used to say, he’d get right wet in the eyes sometimes, lean his head back with the water standing in his eyes and say, “Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams—but he did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile.” (She smiles.) He could talk like that, don’t you know.

The title of Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, is based on a poem by Langston Hughes:

A Dream Deferred

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?

EXAM PROMPT

In a well-developed essay using MLA format, explain how one or more of the members of the Younger household are the embodiment of “dreams deferred.” In what way does the Younger household represent or exemplify the condition of the African-American psyche overall at that point in history? How are the sentiments in both the poem and the play still relevant in present society today?

In your essay, cite examples from A Raisin in the Sun and at least two other works from our primary text, African American Literature. (*No other secondary sources are approved.) Submit your complete essay with Works Cited as a single Microsoft Word document attachment in the submission link provided.