Essay on Dreams Deferred in Hansberry's A Raising in the Sun

All in all, do not give up dream before we put our effort in it since nurture is more important than nature.

“A Raisin In The Sun” is a play in which Lorraine Hansberry, the author, shows on how money can have a major effect on many people’s lives. Walter, the main character, experiences on how the theme Money and Mortality has affected his own life. In the play “A Raisin In The Sun” Lorraine Hansberry uses certain characters to show the theme Money and Mortality, such as Walter, Beneatha and Mama.

Beneatha, being somewhat of an outcast, understands that she does not have to follow the status quo of her society by becoming a housewife, so she decides to work hard in order to become a doctor. Beneatha wants to fulfill this dream because she realizes that she enjoys helping people, as she explains to Asagai after the money is stolen, “That was what one person could do for another, fix him up — sew up the problem, make him right again” (III.i.900). Beneatha wishes to help people by taking care of them and ridding them of their problems. She does not want to become the typical, by standing woman that is not able to help if there is a dilemma. Even after Willy runs off with all of the money, Asagai offers Beneatha a way to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor. Beneatha reveals this wonderful opportunity to Mama as they exit their apartment, “To go to Africa, Mama -- be a doctor in Africa”

Beneatha's dream of everyone thinking the same way she does, regarding color, and gender, don't come true. At this time in history, people's opinions are considered ‘close minded’ to people today. “Independence and then what? What about all the crooks and thieves and just plain idiots who will come into power and steal and plunder the same as before – only now they will be black and do it in the name of the new Independence – WHAT ABOUT THEM?!” (Act Three) Mama’s generation got their freedom, now it's time for Beneatha’s generation to get their freedom. She thinks the worst of people, which is a very ahead of her time view on

Beneatha is a well educated woman because she believes in herself when no one else does. “I mean it! I’m just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has he got to do with anything?

Asagai, I am looking for my identity!” (Hansberry 49). Thus, by revealing Beneatha’s interest in Africa to be genuine, coupled with her excitement, Hansberry then expresses a sense of pride in returning to one’s roots as well as encourages African Americans to embrace theirs. After all, by portraying an interest and yearning for knowledge involving African heritage in one of her characters, Hansberry transfers this idea to her audience as well.

Dreams are vital to human existence. Without them, a depressing life such as the one the Youngers have in the play A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, would be utterly unbearable. The Youngers were strong and faithful, continuously trying to make their dreams become reality. Even though they were a family plagued by the hardship of poverty, they pushed on through whatever obstacles they encountered. Beneatha, one of the main characters, had the American dream of becoming a doctor, which is affected by her individualism, determination, and expressiveness.

“ A Raisin in the Sun” is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry about the life of an African American family during the era of segregation. The play starts off with the Younger family receiving a 10,000 dollar check from Mr. Younger’s insurance policy. The family argues over what they are going to do with it. Mama wants to buy a house with it, Walter wants to invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to use the money to go to medical school. The contrast of the characters’ personalities fuels the conflict and drives the story forward. Beneatha is a young college student and the sister of Walter. She has a dream of becoming a doctor. Beneatha is a dynamic character who is easily influenced by her family and the people

“I have a dream” Do you? Just how close are you to making that dream come true? In her play, Raisin in the Sun , Lorraine Hansberry takes us through the life of an african american family living in the 1950’s and describes their dreams. When she was twenty years old, Hansberry moved to Harlem where she became best friends with Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes was an african american poet, social activist, and playwright from Joplin,Missouri. During this time Hughes wrote a poem titled “ Harlem”. Hansberry based her play off of this poem and named it after a line in it, “ Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”(Hughes 2-3). Hansberry won best playwright for this play. She was the first african american to win this award, the youngest and the first woman to win. Hughes poem “ Harlem” is about what happens to a dream deferred. In her play, Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry uses Walter, Momma , and Ruth to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream.

Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, addresses the hardships of an African-American family living in the projects of post-segregation Chicago. The family aspires to fulfill their dreams of owning a home despite the odds they face. W.E.B Du Bois critical race theory explains the issue of racism and white dominance that not only the family in the play faces, but the African American community as a whole.

It was in this sort of mood that Beneatha formulated an idea about the sheer stupidity and cruelty of nature in general and people in specific: "Don't you see there isn't any real progress, there is only one large circle that we march in, around and around, each of us with our own little picture in front of us- our own little mirage that we think is the future"(Hansberry. Raisin). Misery and stupidity are always present: man does not seem capable of eliminating them once and for all. Their existence conspires to thwart dreams, and Beneatha decided that she was tired of the struggle, tired of deluding herself with an unworkable vision, tired of having to fight against the unchangeable facts of life- a view she might have kept, as many have, if it were not for Asagai's gentle reasoning.

Lorraine Hansberry, the author of the play A Raisin in the Sun, uses the characters’ dreams to expose the nightmares of racism.  Each character wants to escape the “ghetto life on the South Side of Chicago” (Brubaker).  The Youngers are an African-American family living in Chicago during the 1950’s.  The play focuses on their dreams for a better future.  The play begins with the family waiting on a $10,000 life insurance check, as Walter senior has recently died.  Walter senior’s wife, Lena (Mama), her two adult children, Walter and Beneatha, Walter’s wife Ruth, and their son, Travis, all live together in a two-bedroom apartment.  The main characters has different dreams of what success means to them and how best to use the inheritance money; they know that the money is the key to unlocking a better life.  Mama, Walter, and Beneatha each pursue their own vision of the “American Dream”, but they all meet the same challenge of racism in the 1950’s.

   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.

Success comes from not quitting when one does not get their way, pushing themselves mentally and physically, and never giving up on their dreams. Throughout the play, A Raisin in the Sun, dreams overrule many of the characters’ lives, and over time, they learn that happiness does not always come from money but instead, it comes from achieving one’s dreams and upholding success from those. Many people would call dreams “goals” to make what they are striving for more real. Goals are something one aims for. They are a means of motivation to turn one’s dreams into reality. In A Raisin in the Sun, everyone in the Younger Family has dreams or “goals”, and each one of them are striving to make those dreams come true.

     Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family. Some of her personal beliefs and views have distanced her from conservative Mama. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated black woman. She realizes her brother, Walter, dislikes the idea of spending the insurance money on the college tuition but is determined to be successful in her life: “BENEATHA: What are you talking about Ruth? Listen, I’m going to be a doctor … first I’m going to be a doctor! (I.i pg. 50)” Beneatha builds her frustration upon the doubts of her brother. When Walter