Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

In the play a Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry explored the journey of one aspiring to fulfill their calling with the American Dream. The American dream can be defined as “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” Throughout the play, Lorraine Hansberry allowed her audience to see the struggle of an African American family trying to live the American dream through the plot, symbolism, conflict, and tone. Lena, Walter, Ruth, Beneatha, and Travis is an African American family that lives on the south side of Chicago. The Youngers lives in a broken-down one-bedroom apartment. Walter and Beneatha’s father has recently passed away and

While each person’s ambitions are influenced by slightly different desires, they all have the same common goal, which is to live the American Dream. Just as the plot is a significant part of the play, so is the symbolism Hansberry used throughout the play. At the beginning of the play, there is a poem by Langston Hughes called “Harlem” which is also referred to as “A Dream Deferred”. The poem symbolizes how each character had to put their dreams on hold due to other circumstances. One prominent character was Walter. He had a dream to own a liquor store with the intention to get his family as well as himself out of poverty. In the poem, it states, “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up? / Like a raisin in the sun?” (1507). These three lines of the poem allow the reader to relate Walters lack of success throughout the play. When the poem asks, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun, one can speculate that the writer is referring to Walter’s dream being dried up and no longer being as tasteful to him as it once was. Ultimately, a raisin is a grape that is no longer succulent and Walter’s dreams are not as appealing just like the grape. The next few lines go on to say, “Or fester like a sore— / And

In the middle of the play, Ruth announced that she was pregnant. This created an issue between the couple because Walter felt as though he was in the position to care for another child. In the text, one can see that Walter is not the head of the house. The argument that was surface occurs because the family is living in poverty and they are struggling with five of them in their current household. Lena decides that she is going to get an abortion in order to limit the conflict between her and Walter. Instead of arguing against his wife to keep the baby, Walter agrees that she should get an abortion. Within the text, Mama says, “I’m waiting to hear how you be your father’s son. Be the man he was…” (1535). In this quote, one can see that there is a conflict between Walter and his wife and mother because he is not being the man they desperately want him to be. Ultimately, the issue that lies between Walter and his family is that he felt that that money makes a happy home while his family members would argue that a happy family is what makes a happy home. In other words, to live the American Dream for Walter means to be able to care for his family while being the man of the house. For Lena to live the American Dream means to be able to move her family into a nice home in a nice community. Ruth also has the same perception as Lena, which is to move into a nice home with her family where there are windows for the