American Literature

Langston Hughess poem, Harlem is not only the epigraph of Lorraine Hansberrys famous play, A Raisin in the Sun, but it is also its title. The poem and the play obviously deal with the lives of black people, with their grand dreams and innate capacity to survive the terrible reality of their lives.
Though there are quite a few similarities between these two works, this essay focuses on the usage of the themes such as dream, race, poverty and pride. Hughess poem, made up of a series of rhetorical questions, focuses on reality even while talking about the dream, which is deferred indefinitely. The reader gets a feel of, what kind of a dream the poet has. It is a deferred dream What happens to a dream deferred.  This is the first line of Hughess poem which gets answers in the form of repeated questions. One such answer is the title of Hansberrys play. The image that the title brings is one of a shrivelled up fruit this talks about being constantly harried and sometimes, even crushed.
Dream as a theme was one of the most favourite in Langston Hughess works. Hansberry was definitely influenced by Hughess poems. They seemed to have a telling effect on her own dramatic craft because she always envisaged happy homes for blacks while she was quite aware of the pitfalls and endless hurdles that they would have to endure along the way. In both the poet and the dramatist, one can perceive a thought process that is distinctly similar the black man suffers not only because of racial prejudices, but also because of his own follies.  Dreaming is one process that both writers write about extensively. Hughess dreams sound almost incongruous and far from plausible Wealthy negroes have white servants. This is almost wishful thinking, but sincere nevertheless.
The idea of dreaming could also suggest that the dreamer is rarely capable of any great action. However, all great actions are born of great dreams. It is often suggested that the black man is often resigned to his lot. As Mama, a character in the play remarks Seem like God didnt see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams  but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile.
When Hughes and Hansberry wrote their respective works, the treatment of the black people was still derogatory and even cruel but he could survive because of his aspirations as well as his tenacity. The Youngers family of five lived in a one-room tenement, barely able to exist amicably and comfortably. Harlem, that part of New York, was purportedly the exclusive residential area for blacks. The reality however was that this area was segregated by the white man with squalor, poverty and suffering  which was supposedly the birthright of blacks
Once in a way, the middleclass white man seems to have sympathy for the black mans suffering however white supremacy and inferiority of blacks is the underlying thought in this so called overture of sympathy. Lindner, the white neighbor who offers to buy the Youngers property, states,  for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities. Other members of the Youngers family also encounter open expressions of racial bias and look upon them as an inevitable part of their existence. There is a mixture of disdain and unacceptable resignation towards the attitude of the whites, they come across. They realise that their rights are always subdued and are less of a priority than the rights of the white man. In fact, most of the time, they are not even given the due recognition as ordinary individuals.
The images that Hughes provides in his poem are in line with general views of poverty and deprivation. Fester like a sore and stink like rotten meat  these are two descriptions that bring the reader illustrations of abject poverty. Hansberry has poverty running through her play it is an ever-present feature of the existence of families like the Youngers. There is a certain preoccupation that the characters have, with dreams of a better if not richer life. Their basic natures are shaped because of their economic condition and they feel justified in disliking people for being richer than they are, merely because they are treated the same for their poverty. This is echoed by Beneatha, It makes just as much sense as disliking people cause they are poor, and lots of people do that.
As Hughes suggests that the very fact that the black man dreams is a proof enough for the pride that he feels within him. It might be deferred for sometime, but he dreams, nevertheless. Hansberrys Walter who wants to achieve something big in life realises that he has made a mistake when he uses his mothers insurance money to buy a liquor shop. At the end of the play, however, he agrees with her unshakeable principle in the pride of being black and not doing anything wrong merely to survive or to advance in life. His mother, known to all as Mama, tells him that he is of stronger stock than he could ever imagine and adds, We aint never been that  dead inside
Both Hughes and Hansberry were always proud of being African-American. Both their works express a perceptive treatment of themes such as dream, race, poverty and pride this further demonstrates the common thread that runs between the poem and play. Their works focus on the way in which blacks in a particular socio-economic milieu suffer in many ways but continue to dream. If differences in these two works are to be highlighted, it could only be in the tone. Hughess final italicised question, Or does it explode makes one think that there is a revolutionary streak in him. Hansberry could be rebellious too, but her play ends on a rather subdued approach. The future of the Youngers family might be uncertain but they are all prepared to go forward and face what it has in store for them.