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THE MEANING OF THE TITLE

The title alludes to a line of Langston Hughes' famous poem "A Dream Deferred," in which the speaker questions what happens to a dream that is never realized.

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?

Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play also asks this question as it explores family value systems, addresses class and generation conflicts, presents concepts of African beauty and identity, develops gender relationships, and criticizes racism.

All her life Mama has longed to escape the ghetto so her children can be raised in the sunlight of a better neighborhood. When she receives the life insurance payment, she seizes the opportunity and puts a down payment on a house in Clybourne Park, where she hopes her children can live a better life and her grandchildren can gain a better education, "a raisin in the sun."

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