A Dream Deferred What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? While Langhston Hughes authors this poem, A Dream Deferred, it can easily be interpreted as Toni Morrison’s description of Nel …showed first 75 words of 1149 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1149 total…grave, Nel grasps how crucial Sula was, and how much she coveted Sula’s company and lifestyle. As the story closes with her dreams only a figment of her childhood with Sula, Nel breaks down, "It was a fine cry-loud and long- but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow"(174). Nel had lived like the book ends with "circles and circles of sorrow", like a dream deferred.