A Raisin in the Sun Group

Question:

tab7
tab7
Student
High School - 9th Grade

What is the difference between  the play A Raisin in the Sun and the poem "Harlem"?

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Posted by tab7 on Wednesday September 30, 2009 at 3:43 PM and tagged with a raisin in the sun, contrast, harlem, literature.

Answers:


  1. akannan Teacher
    Middle School

    eNotes Editor

    Hansberry's play takes the line from Hughes' poem as its title.  The poem, "Harlem" by Langston Hughes, seeks to analyze the differerent implications of dreams that are denied or set aside.  He accomplishes this through employing several images posed in the forms of questions.  One such picture is the idea of "Does it dry up- like a raisin in the sun?"  This particular notion conjures up the idea of a succulent fruit that is left on the vine for the harsh rays of the sun to sap the juice out of it as it changes from the grape to the overexposed raisin.  In employing such an image as its title, Hansberry's play examines what happens to a family that is struggling to succeed in social, economic, personal, and psychological levels of challenge.  The Younger family's dream of success and recognizing their hopes and promises are exposed to so much harshness of reality that it is akin to Hughes' grape and the heat energy of the sun.

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    Posted by akannan on Wednesday September 30, 2009 at 4:20 PM