When your dreams are set aside, delayed or deferred, you may feel a number of different emotions. You may feel frustrated or anxious, angry at obstacles that might prevent you from pursuing your dream, and fear that you will never be able to achieve your goals. You may feel stuck or defeated if you think your dream has no way of keeping it alive. You may feel defensive if those you expect to support you in your pursuit of happiness turn against you and resist the actions you take to achieve your goals. When presented with a life-changing sum of money, a family can be torn apart in conflict or brought together in a unified front toward happiness. I believe Lorraine Hansbury used “What happens to a dream deferred?” » by Langston Hughes? as an epigraph to his play because the story is based on the dreams for the future of a family faced with a substantial and life-changing sum of money due to arrive in the mail. Each family member, while waiting for the money to arrive, dreamed of how this money could be used to improve their lives. Each question posed in Hughes' poem seems to reflect the dreams of a particular character in Hansbury's play, leading the reader to believe that Hansbury most likely based his entire play on Hughes' poem. A three-generation African-American family of five living in a small, substandard apartment in the city of Chicago faced many obstacles in order to thrive. Blacks often felt like they could "be somebody" when they saw shopping districts, parks, and lakeside beaches, as well as theaters, ballrooms, and posh hotels growing. (Mays). Even though great progress has been made...... middle of paper ...... can help them keep hope and their dreams alive. Works Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. “A raisin in the sun.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. KellyJ. May. WW Norton and Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110.2013. Print. Huges, Langston. "Harlem." The Norton Introduction to Literature. KellyJ. May. WW Norton and Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110.2013. Print.Mays, Kelly. “Life in the “black metropolis”. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Kelly J. Mays. WW Norton and Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY10110. 2013. Print.Weaver, Robert C. “The Negro as American: The Desire for Human Dignity.” » TheNorton Introduction to Literature. Kelly J. Mays. WW Norton and Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY10110. 2013. Print.