Harlem Summary & Study Guide

This Study Guide consists of approximately 27 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Harlem.
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Harlem Summary & Study Guide

This Study Guide consists of approximately 27 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Harlem.
This section contains 662 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the Harlem Study Guide

Line 1:

The speaker of this poem, who may represent Hughes, poses a large, open question that the following sub-questions both answer and extend. This poem, and the volume in which it appears, Montage of a Dream Deferred, explore what happens to people and society when millions of individuals' dreams get deferred, or put off indefinitely.

Line 2-3:

The first image in the poem proposes that the dream dries up like a raisin. This simile likens the original dream to a grape, which is round, juicy, green and fresh. Once the dream has lain neglected for too long, it dries up. Though the dream is still sweet and edible, it has shrunken from its former state and turned black. The famous 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, by African-American playwright Lorraine Hansberry, takes its title from this poem. The play also explores the risks and consequences for African Americans...

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This section contains 662 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the Harlem Study Guide
Copyrights
Gale
Harlem from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.