Hansberry takes the title of the play from the Langston Hughes poem “Harlem,” which asks, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” A Raisin in the Sun depicts a family whose dreams have been deferred, or delayed. Mama, who has dreamed for decades of a home of her own, has been forced to indefinitely postpone her desire in order to meet the daily needs of her family. The Youngers demonstrate that achieving one’s dream is not simply a matter of hard work. Walter Sr. worked as hard as physically possible, ruining his body and laboring until he died, and was still unable to transcend the tiny, worn-out apartment that is too small for the family. But when he died, the insurance payout offers renewed hope for achieving the family’s dreams. A deferred dream, unlike a dead dream, lingers. It awaits potential reconstitution, always painfully out of reach. Mama clings to the dream she shared with her late husband, faithfully watering her bedraggled potted plant in the hope that she might one day allow it to take root in the ground.

Each family member harbors expectations for his or her life. Ruth “was a pretty girl, even exceptionally so, but now it is apparent that life has been little that she expected, and disappointment has already begun to hang in her face” (4).