Both Walter Lee Younger and Beneatha Younger’s dreams in A Raisin in the Sun are an example of the message in Harlem by Langston Hughes because they are deferred once the money to make their dreams come true is stolen; for Beneatha it dries up, and for Walter, it explodes. Firstly, Beneatha Younger’s dream is to become a doctor, and to achieve her goal, she must go to medical school, which is why she needs the money that Mama got from her husband’s recent death from the insurance payout. However, her dream is crushed once Walter Lee loses the money. In the novel, she is expressionless, and her face dries up, just like her dream. She “leans forlornly against a wall, fingering a piece of red ribbon from her mother’s gift.” (Hansberry 129) In Harlem, the author speaks about “a dream deferred.does it dry up like a Raisin in the Sun?” (Hughes 1–3). Similar to Harlem, the idea is presented …show more content…
His dream is to own a liquor shop, and his mother gives him the money to make it happen. However, the money is stolen and therefore, has to face the consequences of his naiveness with Willy Harris. In contrast to Beneatha however, his dream exploded in front of him, and he exploded himself as well. Walter’s dialogue in Act three demonstrates precisely this idea: “And you–you people just put the money in my hand and you won’t have to live with a bunch of stinking n******!” (Hansberry 144) During the climax of this scene, Walter expresses his ideas, along with utilizing a slur in the midst. The author expressed his emotions with a slur to describe how desperate Walter is, and once he has had enough, he explodes much like in Harlem, where a dream deferred can “[sag] Like a heavy load. Or does it explode?” (Hughes 9–11) In both works of literature, we see similar ideas being presented, so there is a tie between both stories as we see what happens to a dream deferred. For Walter, his dream is crushed, and he lashes out, or explodes as a
“What happens to a dream deferred?” Langston Hughes asks in his 1959 poem “Dream Deferred.” He suggests that it might “dry up like a raisin in the sun” or “stink like rotten meat” but, at the end of the poem, Hughes offers another alternative by asking, “Or does it explode?” This is the poem that the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is based on. The play is about an African-American’s family struggling to break out of poverty. The poverty stands in the way of them accomplishing their dreams and goals. Poverty has a strong effect on Walter Lee Younger a character in the play. Walter Lee believes that success is measured in wealth. In the play he constantly struggles to move up the social ladder and earn more money.
Everyone wants their dreams to become a reality; however, the unfortunate reality is that more often than not, dreams are not achieved and become deferred. Langston Hughes let this theme ring throughout his poetic masterpiece “Harlem,” in which he posed many questions about what happens to these dreams. In “A Raisin In the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry draws so many indisputable parallels from “Harlem.” Hansberry consistently uses the dreams of Mama Younger, Big Walter, and Walter Lee to allude to Hughes poem. The intensity of the dreams coupled with the selfishness of some characters eventually adds an abundant amount of emotional strain to the family, once again demonstrating Hansberry’s dedication to Hughes poem.
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” This quote from Walt Disney addressing the concept of achieving dreams is very accurate, and can be seen throughout literature today and in the past. Dreams can give people power or take away hope, and influence how people live their lives based upon whether they have the determination to attack their dreams or not; as seen through characters like the speaker in Harlem by Langston Hughes and Lena and Walter Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in The Sun.
In Langston Hughes’ poem, the author gives us vivid examples of how dreams get lost in the weariness of everyday life. The author uses words like dry, fester, rot, and stink, to give us a picture of how something that was originally intended for good, could end up in defeat. Throughout the play, I was able to feel how each character seemed to have their dreams that fell apart as the story went on. I believe the central theme of the play has everything to do with the pain each character goes thru after losing control of the plans they had in mind. I will attempt to break down each character’s dream and how they each fell apart as the play went on.
When Walter loses his "sister's school money," the consequences are widespread and Beneatha sees that dream diminish before her eyes. She sees her slipping through Walter's fingers and finds her lifelong goals changing. From the days of her childhood, she has longed "to be a doctor" and "fix up the sick." While her family and friends do not understand Beneatha's dream, she continues longing for the education she needs to create a successful life she desires rather than one where she is waiting "to get married.
Walter and Beneatha’s relationship is very complex. The spiraling tension between the two siblings causes confrontation to form and creep into the Younger household. Walter needs his family to respect him as the man of the family, but his sister is constantly belittling him in front of his mother, wife, and son. This denigrating treatment taints Walter’s view of himself as a man, which carries into his decisions and actions. Beneatha also subconsciously deals with the dysfunctional relationship with her brother. She desires to have her brother’s support for her dream of becoming a doctor, yet Walter tends to taunt her aspiration and condemns her for having such a selfish dream. Mama as the head of the family is heartbroken by the juvenile hostility of her adult children, so in hopes to keep her family together she makes the brave move of purchasing a house. Mama’s reasoning for the bold purchase was,“ I—I just seen my family falling apart….just falling to pieces in front of my eyes…We couldn’t have gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forw...
What is a dream deferred? Is it something children imagine and lose as they grow up. Do dreams ever die, as we find out, the world is it what it seems. The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and Harlem by Langston Hughes talk about dreams deferred. It shows a African American family struggling to make their dreams a reality. Although Walter, Ruth, Mama, and Beneatha live in the same house, their dreams are all different from each other.
In ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, Lorraine Hansberry describes each of the family’s dreams and how they are deferred. In the beginning of the play Lorraine Hansberry chose Langston Hughes’s poem to try describe what the play is about and how, in life, dreams can sometimes be deferred.
Hughes, Langston. "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)." Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River. Prentice, 2002. 534.
In Langston Hughes’s poem, “Harlem,” he ponders the concept of “What happens to a dream deferred?” Similarly, Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, illustrates a Black family’s struggles of living in the 1950s and their desire to follow their dreams in a time period when people were not treated equally based on their gender and race. The family's dreams are further complicated by generational conflicts and the family’s clashing desires, from Beneatha’s goal of becoming a doctor to Mama’s wish of buying a house and even Walter’s aspiration of going into the liquor industry. All of these contrasting dreams are a result of the character’s different upbringings and generations. For example, Mama was born in a time period when slavery still existed and her
A Dream Deferred in A Raisin in the Sun and Harlem In Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun, the author reveals a hard-working, honest African-American family struggling to make their dreams come true. Langston Hughes' poem, "Harlem," illustrates what could happen if those dreams never came to fruition. Together, both Hansberry and Hughes show the effects on human beings when a long-awaited dream is thwarted by economic and social hardships. Each of the characters in A Raisin in the Sun has a dream for which they base their whole happiness and livelihood on attaining. However, the character of Lena Younger, or Mama, differs from the other members of her family.
Hansberry suggests through different characters in the Younger family in the face of struggle, people must maintain their sense of hope to persevere and work towards their dreams. At the beginning of the play, Beneatha is an idealist and dreamer who doesn’t let anyone differ from her dreams. Beneatha is an independent woman, however, After the news is broken to Beneatha that Walter Lee lost the money, she lacks the resilience to preserve. Previously, Beneatha shows her extreme passion for being a student in medical school, but she becomes apathetic and loses her self-worth and identity when adversity hits. Walter Lee was skeptical of her dream due to their family’s financial issues and Walter was in doubt due to Beneatha being a black woman.
The title of the play “A Raisin in the Sun” represents how the dreams of the characters Walter, Mama, and Beneatha are dried up like a raisin. The Youngers are a black family living in Chicago in the 1950’s. Walter's dream is to own a liquor store and take care of his family with the money he makes with the businesses. Mama’s dream is to be free and have rights like everyone else. Lastly, Beneatha’s dream is to be a doctor and take care of the people around her to make the world a better place.
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes is a poem that talks about what happens when we postpones our dreams. The poem is made up of a series of similes and it ends with a metaphor. The objective of the poem is to get us to think about what happens to a dream that is put off, postponed; what happens when we create our very own shelve of dreams? The “dream” refers to a goal in life, not the dreams we have while sleeping, but our deepest desires. There are many ways to understand this poem; it varies from person to person. Some may see this poem as talking about just dreams in general. Others may see it as African-American’s dreams.
Mama has dreams for her family to rise from poverty and live in a better and bigger place and also for them to continue to grow together as a family. Mama has a plant that she also cares for. She takes care of this plant as if it was one of her own children. Mama's children also have their own dreams and their own plans on how to attain those dreams. The family's competing dreams are emphasized by Hansberry's recurring use of the motif--Mama's plant.