A Raisin in the Sun

Anticipation Guide
Answer the following questions with your ideas and opinions. There is no right answer! 1. What is the American Dream? Write out your own definition of "The American Dream". 2. Why do people from other countries immigrate to America? 3. When we talk about "The American Dream", what do we mean? What are some of the obstacles to achieving the American Dream? 4. Which groups of people have had trouble attaining "The American Dream"? (There are a variety of acceptable responses to this question) 5. Given the obstacles that some Americans have to overcome, what makes the American Dream appealing?

Harlem By Langston Hughes 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?
1. What central question does the poem ask? 2. Complete the Figurative Language chart for the poem. 3. What is Hughes' message about dreams deferred? 4. How do "dreams deferred" relate to the American Dream? The daughter of Carl and Nannie Hansberry, Lorraine grew up in a successful black family where both of her parents were political activists campaigning against Jim Crow laws. Her family later moved into a white neighborhood where they were the only African American family. People threw bricks into their windows, and Lorraines mother would often have a loaded shotgun waiting by their front door for her familys protection. Lorraine had conflicting feelings about growing up, as she called it, young, gifted, and black. 5. Given what you know about Jim Crow Laws and the African American experience between 1850 and 1954, why do you think Lorraine Hansberry chose to use a play (as opposed to a novel or poems) to illustrate African Americans' quest for the American Dream?