Harlem

What happens to a dream deferred? That is the question that Hughes attempts to answer in this short poem. He asks if it dries up like a raisin in the sun. It's like he is saying that your dream is still there, and it is still attainable, but you let it sit out for such a long time that it doesn't look the same now as it did then. Grapes are sweet and delicious. They are either green or purple. Raisins are almost black and look very funny, but they are still edible to most people. He then asks does it fester like a sore and run? Here, he is saying that if you don't go after your dreams they will become a part of you, like a sore. You will carry these unfulfilled dreams around. Does it stink like rotten meat or sugar over like a syrupy sweet? He is playing with the sense of taste again. Meat will spoil just as sweets will, but they spoil in different ways. Meat smells and that stench lingers for a long time. Sweets just wither away quietly. What will your dreams do if you don't reach them? Will they linger and will you be reminded of them everyday? Will you just quietly accept the fact that you will never attain that dream? Maybe it sags like a heavy load, or will it explode. What will one do with that dream. Will they carry it around like a load all of the time? It will be a constant reminder of what they don't have. Will they let it explode? If they do that, then it will be gone and done forever.