dream deferred
In Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem”, rhetorical questions are used to answer the more important question posed in the first line, “what happens to a dream deferred?” The word dream is referring specifically to Harlem, but this poem can apply to things in a much broader range. Putting a dream or goal aside can have consequences. ... If people are for some reason unable to fulfill their goals, forced to wait until society changes; until institutions and laws change to allow them to become whatever their talents and desires direct him to be, surely there is a possibility that, like a raisin in the sun, the dream will run dry. ... If the dream does not dry up, there is the second suggested possibility that it will “fester like a sore -- / and then run” (5).