Essay on Dream Deferred in A Raisin in the Sun

The predicament that Walter finds him-self in motivates him to want to invest in a liquor store in order to grasp some type of financial freedom. He doesn’t just want to have enough money to provide for his family, but he tells his mother, “I want so many things” (74). He is obsessed with earning a lot of money. At the beginning of the play Walter is waiting for Mama's check from the insurance company as if it was his own, and Beneathea has to remind Walter that, “that money belongs to Mama, Walter and if is for her to decide how she wants to spend it” (36). Here we see how he is searching for his identity with money. Much of Walter’s dialog is about making money or who has money. When his wife Ruth mentions that his friend Willy Harris is a good for nothing loud mouth, Walter retorts; “...And what do know about good for nothing loud mouth? Charlie Atkins was just a good-for-nothing loud mouth too, wasn’t he! He wanted me to go in the dry-cleaning business with him, and now he’s grossing a hundred thousand a year. A hundred thousand dollars a year! You still call him a loud mouth!” (32) The idea of making a hundred thousand dollars is what he had most on his mind, and to Walter the liquor store is how he will achieve that. The liquor store represents an

In A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha is an African American woman in the 1950’s who is determined to put her education first and one day become a doctor. Ruth tries to convince Beneatha to marry George because he is a rich man; however, Beneatha responds that “[she’s] going to be a doctor. [She’s] not worried about who [she’s] going to marry yet-if [she] ever gets married” (Hansberry, 1959, p. 936). After this discussion, Beneatha’s discipline and mindset is revealed. Beneatha clearly shows that she is more committed to her education than any other aspect of her life.

     Tom and Walter are in similar situations. They are living almost in poverty, and they are denied authority. Walter’s goal is not selfish, in that it is not just for him, but also for the benefit of the entire family.

Beneatha’s dream, studying in a medical school, causes her to conflict with her family because they hold a different opinion from her. Her relationship with her family seems like a raisin

The character of Beneatha Younger illustrates the best-educated member of the Younger family. Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor. This dream originates from a childhood experience where a playmate injured himself while sledding, but a doctor was able to save him, with only a small scar left as evidence of the accident. This left Beneatha with the determination to learn medicine. Beneatha's obstacles differ greatly from both Walter's and Lena's. First, Beneatha is only twenty years old, and attractive. Women such as Beneatha were expected to marry and have children, not become a doctor or have any education pasts that of high school.

When Walter was talking with Ruth during breakfast, Walter asked Ruth to talk to Mama about the deal he wanted to make since “[Mama] listens to [her]” (456). Mama rejected Walter’s idea of investing the money in a liquor store because “it just wasn’t the thing for [them] to do” (477). Walter said to Mama that the money that they have received means so much to him because “[he] want so many things…” (477) in life. For example, Walter said to Travis that once he makes a business transaction, their lives would change for better (496). Walter would come home after having “a day of conferences...” and he would “come up the steps to the house and the gardener will be clipping away at the hedges” (496). And then, Him and Ruth would see Travis “with the catalogues of all the great schools in America.” This demonstrates Walter’s dreams and hopes that he would like to conquer once he is able to invest money into a business. He dreams about being the main provider of the family where no one would ever need something that he cannot provide for them. Furthermore, Mama said to Walter that he has a job, a wife, and “a fine boy” (477), and Walter interrupt Mama saying that he “open and close car doors all day long… Mama, that ain’t no kind of job… that ain’t nothing at all” (477). This shows that Walter has bigger ambitious in his life rather than just being another low-income employee. Walter says that he sees “quite-looking

When Walter was presented with the offer to open up a liquor store with his friends Bobo and Willie Harris, he gets very hopeful. He believes that with this opportunity that he will become rich and have a better life. Mama tells Walter that she does not want to spend the money from the check on a liquor store, and they have an argument about his life. During the fight, Mama ask him why he talks about money so much and he responds, “Because it is life, Mama!” (74). Walter feels that without wealth and money, his life doesn’t mean anything, he can’t be happy and can’t be successful. Because of this mentality, Walter stressed about the money and does not appreciate what he has and what he has accomplished in life. He takes all that he has achieved and what his father achieved so far for granted, leaving him with a dream that he tries to achieve instead of enjoying his life and his family that he has. Walter’s obsession of money negatively affects his mood and personality in a way that he soon realizes that can be replaced with the happiness of family and pride in one’s

Beneatha Younger has big dreams of becoming a doctor. Although, she does not have many supporters as a young black woman pursuing a career in the medical field. Since she is the most educated in her family, she is sometimes seen as obnoxious and out of place along with her relatives. Readers find out her reasoning for wanting to be a doctor as she speaks to Asagai, “I always thought it was the one concrete thing in the world that a human being could do. Fix up the sick, you know – and make them whole again” (Hansberry 132). Beneatha tells the story of watching a young boy being repaired by doctors and knowing right then, that is what she wants to do. Another factor of Beneatha’s goal is because she feels as if she needs to prove herself as a black woman. She has always wanted this career and will not let how she looks stop her. However, before she can become a doctor,

However, once Mama realizes how this new abundance of money is tearing her family apart, she decides that it is time to make her dream a reality. Although when she told the family about the house, Walter saw it as the death of his dream to own a liquor store and provide enough money so his family could move. Once Mama figures out that she "been doing to him what the rest of the world been doing to him,"(Hansberry 60) she decides to give Walter the rest of the money. She instructs Walter to put some of the money in Beneatha's medical school fund and the rest of the money in an account with his name on it to do with as he wants. Thus putting her dream aside, so her son can feel like a man

Mama uses her money to buy a house for her family not just for her dream but to make everyone happy, especially her grandson, Travis. “She went out and bought you a house!” (2.2). Even though Mama does not have faith in Walter’s dreams she still gives him her remaining money to invest. Walter jeopardizes the family by losing all of Mama’s money back-tracking them, leaving no money for Beneatha’s college savings. Soon Walter comes to realize how important this new house is to the family Walter declines the offer to sell the new house. “And we have decided to move into our new house because my father-my father- her earned it for us brick by brick. We don't want no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. and that's all we go to say about that. We don’t want your money.(2.3)” This shows Walter has come to value family as his mother

Beneatha believes that education is the only way to achieve a successful life.  Yet, Walter does not understand why she values education so much, and asks her, “ I just wondered if you’ve made up your mind and everything” (Hansberry 25).  She wants to become a doctor so that she can live a more independent life.  Brubaker says, “Beneatha’s version of the American Dream is solitary, less traditional, and not as concerned with family; her’s is a less conservative version of the American Dream.”  Beneatha’s family is concerned with her dream of becoming a doctor because it was so rare in the 1950’s.  She does not want to feel like she has to constantly rely on a man, and even implies that she might not even get married.  Her interest in Africa “symbolizes her struggle to understand her identity as an African-American Woman” (Marshall).   Beneatha does not want to assimilate to the traditional ideas of

   A dream is a hope, a wish, and an aspiration. Young people have dreams about what they want to be when they grow up. Parents have dreams for their children's future. Not all of these dreams come true at the desired moment - these dreams are postponed or "deferred". A deferred dream is put on the "back burner of life"(Jemie 219), and it matures to its full potential, and is waiting when you are "ready to pursue it"(Jemie 219). It is assumed that the deferred event, though later than hoped for, will eventually come true.

Walter starts to have a mental breakdown after realizing that, not only did he lose his chance of fulfilling his dreams, he’s eradicated his sisters dreams and lost over half of his father’s earnings. The downfall of Walter’s dreams correlates with Hughes’ Harlem. Hughes asks, “‘Or fester like a sore - / And then run?’” (Hughes 4 / 5).

Beneatha, who lives in a time where women play stereotypical 20th century roles, wants her dream badly to get rid of ignorance that she faces in that world, but she does not let that desire completely consume her. Her longing for her dream drives her to be educated and intelligent. In a scene after Walter looses the insurance, Beneatha is speaking to Asagai about why she always wanted to become a doctor. “… Fix him up …make him all right again. That was the most marvelous thing in the world…

Walter has a lower education level than Beneatha. Walter adapts himself to life in an unfair society. Moreover, he believes that only money, not learning and education, can make a better life. When his mother recognizes that his final goal is to be rich, she tells him that freedom and human dignity are more important than money, exemplified by other African Americans who are struggling “to define themselves with respect to their newly acquired freedom” (Gourdine 535). However, when Walter replies that "[life] was always money," this shows how he has lived for only money, not true maturity (Hansberry 950).