Lorraine Hansberry grew up in a world where being African American was reason enough to be kicked out of a neighborhood, your home. She lived life dancing from place to place. When she graduated college she moved to Harlem and met her longtime friend, Langston Hughes, the widely known poet. Their meeting sparked an inspiration for Hansberry and she began writing her play A Raisin in the Sun to answer Hughes’ question, “What happens to a dream deferred-” (Hughes 1). In her play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses Beneatha, Walter, and Big Mama to show the negative consequences that occur when a dream is deferred.
To begin, Hansberry uses Beneatha to show the negative consequences of a dream deferred. Beneatha is a headstrong, stubborn,
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determined woman. She is someone who fights for her dream to be a doctor even though everyone around her tells her it’s an inconvenience or that she is stupid for wanting more. When her brother, Walter, loses the money that was saved away for her education the drive she once had starts to wither away. In the play, Beneatha tells the audience that since she was a little girl she has wanted to cure and help people. However, when her dream seems less possible she says, “No-I wanted to cure. It used to be so important to me... It used to matter. I used to care…” (Hansberry 133). This heartbreaking moment in the play displays Beneatha feeling as if her dream doesn't matter anymore, that it is impossible to reach because of a mistake Walter made. Hughes’ poem describes this in the line, “Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?” (Hughes 2-3). This line describes the feeling of your dream withering away because of the time you have waited. The longer you wait for your dreams, the smaller they get. Beneatha has this exact experience when Walter takes her money and thus her dream starts to die. Secondly, Hansberry uses Walter to show the negative consequences of a dream deferred.
Walter is a selfish, self-absorbed, drunk who throughout the play is making decisions based on what he thinks will help his theoretical liquor store. He takes from the people that he is supposed to love the most and smothers their dreams. It’s hard to feel bad for Walter but when you take a deeper look into his life it is easier to understand what is happening with him. Walter has never lived anywhere other than the family apartment and he wants more for his son. He wants to be able to send him to college and give him a better life than he had. So, what does he do? He invests his money into a liquor store and proceeds to have it stolen. He trusted someone and they took his money. He says, “Man…THAT MONEY IS MADE FROM MY FATHER'S FLESH- “ (Hansberry 128). After this mistake the lives of Beneatha, Big Mama, Ruth and Travis are all changed. No longer can they move or send Bennie through College. His dream has infected the entire family. A quote that fits well with Walter is, “ Or fester like a sore/And then run?” (Hughes 4-5). This quote asks if your dead dream will infect the people around you negatively. For Walter, it does. His actions have infected those around
him. Finally, Hansberry uses Big Mama to show the negative consequences of a dream deferred. Big Mama is a tough, loving woman. She cares deeply about her children and wants to give them the best life possible. When Walter loses her money she is afraid that her dream, of getting out of the apartment, will never come true. For Mama, this is very important to her because her husband has died to give them this opportunity but Walter just keeps taking and taking without thinking. Mama says, “You ain’t satisfied or proud of nothing we done. I mean that you had a home… You my children-but look how different we done become” (Hansberry 74). The life that Mama has tried to give her children does not seem to be enough for them, this starts to crush her and her spirit. In Hughes’ poem “A dream deferred” he states, “Maybe it just sags/like a heavy load” (Hughes 9-10). This line describes the feeling of a dead dream starting to weigh on you. Which is exactly Mamas situation because her dream of bettering her children's life is being taken away by her own children, so much so that it is weighing on her. To conclude, Lorraine Hansberry uses Beneatha, Walter, and Big Mama to show the negative consequences that occur when a dream is deferred. Beneatha loses her determination to become a doctor, Walter loses his chance to open a liquor store, and Big Mama loses her chance to better the lives of her children. Dreams are easily deferred and easily lost. Someone could work all of their life and still not accomplish a dream, but dreams are what keep us going. They make us get up in the morning and continue to work for the things we want. A Raisin in the Sun perfectly displays this hardship and truth within its characters.
Mama talks to Walter about her fears of the family falling apart. This is the reason she bought the house and she wants him to understand. Walter doesn't understand and gets angry. "What you need me to say you done right for? You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it. So what you need for me to say it was all right for? So you butchered up a dream of mine - you - who always talking 'bout your children's dreams..." Walter is so obsessive over money that he yells at his mom for not giving him all of it. He doesn't know that what his mom is doing is for the family. He thinks that having money will make the family happy, when in reality the family doesn't need anymore than what they have to be happy.
He struggles every day to achieve his dream of getting more money. When the $10,000 check came in, it was his shot at success. His mother gave him a big chunk of it and he invested it in a liquor store and lost the money. After that, Walter became very depressed. He had lost the trust and respect of his family.
A Raisin in the Sun In the book “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, there were characters whose dreams were stated, some of which were shattered by greed and misfortune and others which would eventually come true. The first dream that came about was Walter’s dream of one day owning and maintaining a liquor store. He would do anything to attempt to get his dream to come true, but his mama wanted anything but that to happen. His mama had a dream of her own, though, she dreamed of one day owning her own house, where her whole family could stay comfortably.
In addition, Ruth wishes to move out of the apartment and rekindle the love within her marriage. Beneatha, on the other hand, wants to become a doctor to heal people. Hansberry, constantly uses direct characterization with Ruth to portray her characterization within the play, but also to portray the characters pain or exhaustion, “Drily, but hurt” (16). Ruth Younger, wife of Walter and the mother of Travis, is a prime example. Within the play, she manages the upkeep of the apartment.
It was unheard of at this time for a poor well-educated black woman to have such high ambitions and dreams. Beneatha took a lot pride in this fact and often waved her intelligence around in her families faces. Mama, knowing how much her education meant to her, told Walter to save $3000 for Beneatha's medical schooling. When it was discovered that Walter had invested the money in his liquor store scheme and Willy had run off with all the money, Beneatha was devastated. She had lost all hope and even though her spirits may have been lifted after her talk with Asagai in act III and the chance to move into a new house, it seems that Beneatha will never realize this
The battle against racism was fought with the help of many people. Beneatha in the story, A Raisin in the Sun by Hansberry, was always trying to find herself within the story. Whether it would be the guitar lessons she would take or the clothes she would wear, it all meant something to her.
He is an ambitious character whose main goal is “to invest in any liquor store” (38). This is a dream that is highlighted throughout the play as he frequently talks about this dream. This dream is not achieved because of a sly and shady character named Willy running away with all of the cash. Taking about the money, he left the family with no more insurance cash. Walter says, “All of it… it’s all gone” (129). This dream is badly wanted by Walter. He wants it badly enough to put that dream about his family. He disobeys Mama and “never [goes] to the bank at all” to put away savings for Beneatha’s schooling (129). Walter, sadly, prioritizes this dream too highly in his life.
Hansberry promotes a sense of African heritage through her character, Beneatha. She characterizes Beneatha as a college student struggling to find her identity, who tries to achieve such by getting in touch with her roots. The author expresses Beneatha’s struggle with the arguments between her and the rest of her family, namely her mother, Lena. Beneatha tries to express her opinions and ideas, yet because she is the youngest in the household, she tends to feel confined and restricted. Hansberry states Beneatha’s conflict when she writes “Why? Why can’t I say what I want to around here like everybody else?” (Hansberry 39). This statement reveals how Beneatha feels as though her family lacks an understanding of her feelings as well as an appreciation of her opinion, thus leading to her feeling of needing to discover herself. Only when she begins to embrace the idea of returning to her African roots, an idea first given to her by the African exchange student, Asagai, does Beneatha’s mood appear happier and lighter. Upon Asagai’s presentation of a traditional Nigerian dress to her, Beneatha seems elated, and begins to contemplate wearing her natural hair after he comments “You wear it well—very well—mutilated hair and all” (Hansberry 48). Although, Beneatha’s happiness may in some cases be attributed to possible infatuation, Hansberry shows her true passio...
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, has often been dubbed a “black” play by critics since its debut on Broadway in 1959. This label has been reasonably assigned considering the play has a cast that consists primarily of African American actors; however, when looking beyond the surface of this play and the color of the author and characters, one can see that A Raisin in the Sun actually transcends the boundaries of racial labels through the universal personalities assigned to each character and the realistic family situations that continue to evolve throughout the storyline. As seen when comparing A Raisin in the Sun to “The Rich Brother,” a story for which the characters receive no label of race, many commonalities can be found between the characters’ personalities and their beliefs. Such similarities prove that A Raisin in the Sun is not merely a play intended to appeal only to the black community, nor should it be construed as a story about the plights of the black race alone, but instead should be recognized as a play about the struggles that all families, regardless of race, must endure in regard to their diversity and financial disparity. A succinct introduction and excellent writing!
During the 1960s, the African-American people were in racial situations due to their “lowered status”. They had no control over the strong beliefs in segregation, which “is characterized by a mixture of hope and despair.” (Nordholt) African-Americans, like normal people, had strived to achieve set goals. Unfortunately, their ethnicity was what inhibited them from accomplishing their dreams. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the author conveys the theme of the seemingly trivial efforts of the African-American people in their individual pursuits for a satisfactory life lead each person down a road of self-discovery that reveals an indefinite amount of truths, which transform their promising hopes into unachievable fantasies. By using powerful characterization, Hansberry creates characters with contrasting personalities dividing their familial hopes into different dreams. With the use of symbolism, each character’s road is shown to inevitably end in a state where dreams are deferred.
This episode illustrates a major conflict throughout the story. As Walter dreams bigger and bigger he seems to leave the 'smaller' things such as his family behind. This movement away from the family is against the furtherance of the values and morals of the family. While his father would have been happy simply working and caring for his family, Walter is more concerned with becoming a 'mover and shaker' without thinking about the resulting consequences for his family.
Walter is Mama’s oldest son. His dreams are to be wealth but at the same time wanting to provide for his family. His own personal dream is to open liquor store with his money he receives from Mama.
Walter’s dream “fester[s] like a sore” (Hughes ln. 4) when he gets the money “and then run[s]” (ln. 5) when it is later stolen, leading to arguments between the Youngers. Harlem emphasizes that deferred dreams cause harm, and in Walter’s case, it not only causes harm to him but his whole family. Therefore, the pressure to fulfill his deferred dream causes him to make a bad investment, and his family clashes over their lost money, as Harlem demonstrates. Conversely, Beneatha’s pressure to become a doctor epitomizes the message of Harlem by causing her distress when the family’s money is lost. When confiding in her boyfriend Asagai, she admits that she “used to care” (Hansberry 133) about saving people as a doctor, indicating how her hope has fallen since then.
On the other hand, Walter’s dream looks different. This is because he yearned to become a businessman and earn more money than he gets paid now. Readers know this because he explains, “You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment in the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see” (Hansberry 1561). From Walter’s perspective, his dream will allow him to earn more money and help his family have a better life. Lastly, Beneatha hopes to become a doctor, which is rare for someone of the same race as her.
Several times throughout the play, it exhibits how their dreams alter as each character puts their dreams aside. It also shows us how over time, some of their dreams “dried up like a raisin in the sun”. Walter was analogously delusional to Willy Loman, but also ends up changing for the better in the last act of the play. In spite of Walter's fixation with money over everything else, he is able to accomplish evolving as a person after he has an epiphany of principles and realizes his dream is delusional. In the end, Walter Younger concedes his craving for wealth in sake of his family occupying their own a house and his child's welfare; He recognizes the significance of family values after his dream is unsuccessful, and Walter knows he needs to do something about