Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Dreams are necessary and we all have them. Without dreams, there will be no ambition to chase or no goal. Without a dream or goal, you are not chasing anything. Most people have dreams, either big or small. Even people who already accomplished their dreams and goals will have more set for themselves. Lorraine Hansberry fluently described the dreams of the Younger family in the play A Raisin in the Sun. This play is essentially about different dreams, as the main characters struggle to deal with the harsh circumstances that interfere with their lives.

Walter Lee Younger is one of the main characters in this play. Walter is a dreamer. He wants to be wealthy and has plans to acquire the wealth with his friend, Willy Harris. Through the beginning of the play, Walter wants to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture. He usually thinks of this dream in terms of his family—he wants to give them everything he didn’t have. His dreams were deferred by him being in poverty and his lack of ability to find a stable job. He believes racism plays a big part of him not being able to find a stable job, so he changes his mindset throughout the play.

Mama is religious, righteous, and honest. Her dream is to move her family out of the ghetto and into a house with a big backyard, where her kids could play in. She also wanted to use her husband’s insurance money, just like how Walter wanted to use it. However, she wants to use it as a down payment on the house with the backyard she dreams of. Her dreams were deferred since she and her husband moved into the apartment with their kids. Throughout the play, she shows how much she strives to reach her goals with her husband, but no matter how hard they try, they still cannot reach their