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Lorraine Hansberry the author of Raisin In The Sun is a mid 20th century African American Playwright and writer. Langston Hughes was an American poet of the same time. It is because of Hughes's poem Harlem that Hansberry got the inspiration to write Raisin In The Sun. The two pieces of work both involve the theme of dreams and the ways that they are deferred. In her play, Raisin In The Sun Hansberry uses Mama, Beneatha, and Walter to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream.
First, Hansberry uses Mama to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream. Mama is a strong independent black woman that values her freedom and beliefs. Her dream was to settle down in a house somewhere with
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her husband. Mama explains, “We was going to set away, little by little, don't you know, and buy a little place out in Morgan Park. We had even picked out the house”(Hansberry 44). This shows Mama’s dream to buy a house with her husband. However, that dream dies when big Walt does too but it is even more deferred when Walter loses the $6,500 that Mama entrusted him with. Hughes asks, “Or does it explode?” (Hughes 11). This quote means that when your dream fails it causes you to self-destruct. After Mama hears that Walter lost the money she is thrown into a mad rage. This rage causes Mama to lash out and beat her own son because her dream had been deferred. Secondly, Hansberry uses Beneatha to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream.
Beneatha is a young black woman who experiments with different ways to express herself. Beneatha dreams of finishing medical school so that she can become a Doctor. Beneatha says, “That was what one person could do for another, fix them up-sew up the problem, make them all right again” (Hansberry 113). This quote is saying that it's possible to fix people and it was because of this experience, that she found her motivation. Although Beneatha seemed set on this dream, Walter lost the money for her to finish up Medical School which sent her into a depressed and unmotivated state. Hughes infers, “Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun?” (Hughes 2-3). This quote suggests that one has lost motivation or forgot their dream. Beneatha has lost motivation to complete her dream, as she interprets Walter’s actions as selfish and she deems them incurable. Beneatha has no dream, which causes her to hate Walter and fall into a deep …show more content…
depression. Finally, Hansberry uses Walter to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream.
Walter is a young black man who is extremely sexist, selfish, and envious of others. He wants to own his own liquor store one day. Walter explains, “...You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand…” (Hansberry 33). This shows the audience that Walter and his friends plan to invest in a liquor store. Of course when Walter is given $6,500 to have half of and donate the rest to his sister’s schooling, he takes it all and then loses it all. Hughes asks, “Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?” (Hughes 6-8). This quote means that your dream has a negative effect on others around you. In this case, Walter’s mad drive to experience his dream caused Beneatha to lose her
dream. In her play, Raisin In The Sun, Hansberry uses Mama, Beneatha, and Walter to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream. Hansberry uses Mama to show that her dream is deferred when Walter ruins Mama's Dream she self destructs and attacks her own son. Hansberry uses Beneatha to show that her dream is deferred when her brother’s selfishness makes her dream nearly impossible to obtain, which in turn makes Beneatha forget her desire to become a Doctor. Hansberry uses Walter to show that his dream is deferred when his actions cause his family to lose hope in him because of his selfish mistakes.
“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.
At first, the family viewed the insurance money as a distant entity, much like the dreams of Beneatha and Walter. Beneatha, the independent sister of the family, had dreams of becoming a doctor one day. She felt as though being a doctor “was truly being God” (133). To her, as a doctor, she would not only miraculously cure people and save lives like God, but she would also finally reach a level of divine respect. Much like God has control over all living beings, Beneatha viewed her medical degree as the key to having complete control over her own life. Once she had obtained her degree, her life would take an abrupt turn for the better. Without her degree, Beneatha feels as
Beneatha is a college student and is the best educated member in the family. Her education is very important to her and she hopes to one day become a doctor. Beneatha believes that education is a means to understanding and self-fulfillment. 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
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The primary focus of the play is the American Dream. The American Dream is one’s conception of a better life. Each of the main characters in the play has their own idea of what they consider to be a better life. A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes the importance of dreams regardless of the various oppressive struggles of life.
The dreams of Walter, Beneatha, and Mama in Lorraine Hansberry’s "A Raisin in the Sun", may take longer than expected, change form, or fade. Even if dreams seem to never get closer, one should never give up. Without something to work towards, society would just dry up, like a grape in the sun.
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.
Beneatha 's American dream was to become a doctor. She was going to achieve this dream by going to a medical school. Her dream was deferred because of the money Walter lost. Mama said, “You mean your sister’s school money… You used that too… Walter?...” (129). This show that there 's no more money for Beneatha 's education. Beneatha 's American Dream of women 's rights was also deferred because Beneatha lives in a time when society expects women to build homes rather than careers. Walter said, “Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy about messing around with sick people, then go be a nurse like other women or just get married and be quiet…” (38). This shows how people think during those times that women just get married and stay home cleaning. Beneatha 's American dream is that she wants a good man was also deferred, because she wants someone to love her for who she is. Beneatha 's said, “Mama George is a fool honest” (97). This demonstrate, that she wants no fool. She wants someone that is serious with her. Overall, through her character, Beneatha Younger, Hansberry created a real example of a black American dream. All her dreams are deferred of becoming a doctor, her women’s rights, and a good
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...
This event shows yet another time in which a family member threatens to ruin the inherent stability of the family structure by trying to build in a manner which is completely incompatible with the rest of the structure. Beneatha, although believing to be bettering herself is leaving an important part of herself and her heritage behind. Beneatha's speech about God is her attempt to show her independence and uniqueness in the world, but when she asserts her self in an area that is extremely sensitive to the family heritage and structure, she threatens to wean herself from the only guaranteed support group in life, the family. Once again, as with Walter, Benetha realizes later in the story that it is the furtherance of long-standing family values and morals which give the foundation upon which to build a wonderful life.
...ade it almost impossible for an African-American family to prosper. More often, society would torture African-Americans with visions of unattainable dreams, which are always doomed to be deferred. The New World hath wrought in Beneatha and Walter an obsession with money, and the has placed self-fulfilment out of Beneatha’s reach.
Beneatha is the most educated of the whole Younger family and she too has a dream which is to one day become a doctor. Her lover , George, believes the same as Walter. They both believe that women were made to just cook and clean but Beneatha believes different. She wants to make a change and show that women, black women, were not just made to cook and clean, they were made to be...
Beneatha believes that education is the way to understanding and self-fulfillment through knowledge and wisdom. It was rare at this time to find a poor well-educated black woman with such high ambitions. Her Mama knowing how much her education meant to her, told Walter to save $3000 for Beneatha's medical school. When they discovered that Walter had invested the money in his liquor store scheme and Willy had run off with all the money, Beneatha was devastated. Her dream according to Langston Hughes poem Harlem”Or does it explode?” She had lost all hope and even though her spirits may have been lifted after her talk with Asagai and the chance to move into a new house, it seems that Beneatha will never realize her
Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor. She believes that her dream was deferred when she was born since she is coloured and a female. Although she fights this, her dream is deferred even more when Walter looses the money which she needed to get into medical school.
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.
Hansberry conveyed the relatable struggles by using a black family “[sparing] us one of those well-scrubbed, light-skinned families who often appear in propaganda pieces about discrimination (Clurman 21). After Clurman identifies the benefit of Hansberry’s writing with vices and virtues he gives a quick summary of the play. The family is waiting for a ten thousand dollar check to arrive, and with that money Walter Lee, mammas son, wants to use the money to start a liquor store but momma, the head of the house, wants to use the money as a down payment for a house; the catch is that the house momma just bought is in a white neighborhood. At first, the idea is met with skepticism but then it is embraced when they decide to move. The money left over was meant to pay for Beneatha's school and help Walter start his liquor store, but that was all lost when Walter gave the money to a companion who takes the money and runs.