A Raisin In The Sun: Poem Analysis

“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.

Everyone wants their dreams to become a reality; however, the unfortunate reality is that more often than not, dreams are not achieved and become deferred. Langston Hughes let this theme ring throughout his poetic masterpiece “Harlem,” in which he posed many questions about what happens to these dreams. In “A Raisin In the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry draws so many indisputable parallels from “Harlem.” Hansberry consistently uses the dreams of Mama Younger, Big Walter, and Walter Lee to allude to Hughes poem. The intensity of the dreams coupled with the selfishness of some characters eventually adds an abundant amount of emotional strain to the family, once again demonstrating Hansberry’s dedication to Hughes poem.

When people think of their dreams being deferred, do you think of a raisin in the sun? A Raisin in the Sun is a movie based off a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. Usually people think of movies as a better option because it is either, better, higher quality, better than the play/book, a preferable way, do not have to read a book, and it is pretty much the same thing. The movie and play have a lot of similarities and differences. Both have to do with the same plot, but there are many differences between the movie and play as well as similarities between the movie and play.

Lauren Oliver once said, “I guess that’s just part of loving people: You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up” (Good Reads). This quote connects very well to the play, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry. The quote conveys the message that if one loves someone, one must give things up. A Raisin in the Sun is about an African-American family living in the south side of Chicago in the 1950s. The Younger family is a lower-class family that has been struggling to make their dreams come true. One of the character’s in the play named Walter Lee has been struggling to make his dreams come true. Walter’s changes that are shown tie to the quote written by Lauren Oliver. The changes that are seen in Walter Lee throughout the book, A Raisin in the Sun, reflects the theme that one must sacrifice something for the love and happiness of one’s family.

Escaping poverty was one of the themes of “A Raisin in the Sun.” The family’s chance of escape becomes a reality when a $10,000 check arrives in the mail. Everyone is wanting to spend their money for their own dream, each with their own way of escaping poverty. Walter believes that investing all the money into the liquor store will put the family higher in the ranks while earning them more income, therefore they would no longer be poverty-stricken. He believes money is everything and wants his family to have the best. This can be seen when he tells his son, “[without even looking at his son, still staring hard at his wife] In fact, here’s another fifty cents…Buy yourself some fruit today – or take a taxicab to school or something!” (pg 1.1.59).

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.

“A Raisin in the Sun” is set at in an area where racism was still occurring.  Blacks were no longer separated but they were still facing many racial problems. The black Younger family faced these problems throughout the play.  The entire family was affected in their own way.  The family has big dreams and hope to make more of their poor lives.  Walter, the main character, is forced to deal with most of the issues himself.  Ruth, his wife, and Travis, his ten-year-old son, really don’t have say in matters that he sets his mind to.  Beneatha, his sister tries to get her word in but is often ignored.  Lena (Mama) is Walter’s mother and is very concerned about her family.  She tries to keep things held together despite all of the happenings.  Mama’s husband had just recently died so times seemed to be even harder.  They all live in a small apartment when living space is very confined (Hansberry 1731).  They all have dreams in which they are trying to obtain, but other members of the family seem to hold back each other from obtaining them (Decker).

Throughout Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, we see the positive and negative effects of chasing the American Dream. Hansberry expresses her different views on the American Dream through the characters and she portrays the daily struggles of a 1950 black family throughout A Raisin in the Sun. In this play, she is able to effectively show the big impact that even small decisions can make on a family. Hansberry shows the many different attachments that come with the fulfillment of this American Dream. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, each family member has their own pursuit of happiness, which is accompanied by their American Dream.

A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry is realistic fictional drama in which the play 's title and the character represent the play 's theme. The play focused on Black America 's Struggle to reach the American Dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness during the 1950s and the 1960s. The idea of everyone having the chance to achieve a better life should exist for all. Hansberry conceives her title using a line from Langston Hughes poem “A dream deferred”. The original poem was written in 1951 about Harlem. Hughes’ line from the poem state that when dreams are deferred “Does it dry up like a Raisin in the Sun”. This meant that they describe them as being small and already pretty withered. Hughes poem further suggested that when

Looking to Lorraine Hansberry’s own life, we see her own dreams deferred. The title of her own book, A Raisin in the Sun, is taken from a Langston Hughes poem titled Harlem or Dream Deferred. Specifically, to answer the question “What happens to a dream deferred”?, the namesake of her own book comes from the following line “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun”? This relates to Hansberry’s own life which can been seen in the Supreme Court Case Hansberry v. Lee which holds that “Res judicata will not preclude a plaintiff who was not a part of a prior class action on the same matter” (Hansberry v. Lee). Professor Allen R. Kamp of the John Marshall Law School explains that “Hansberry” in Hansberry v. Lee is Lorraine Hansberry's father and that A Raisin in the Sun was based on her family's experience (Kamp). Her family bought and moved into a...

Walter Lee Younger is an intense man in his middle thirties who works as a chauffeur, but his dream is to one day open up a liquor store.  Walter has a very bad temper and tends to say things he doesn’t mean. Walter and his wife have been getting into many fights in which he will show off his bad temper.  Many times when Walter gets upset he goes out and gets drunk.  Gerald Weales explains, “Of the four chief characters in the play, Walter Lee is the most complicated and the most impressive.

In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses an allusion to compare Walter Lee to the mythical Prometheus. This allusion was conveyed by George Murchison in the Act I, Scene II, when George and Beneatha went on a date. Walter’s reaction to George calling him Prometheus was not a good one. Walter was upset with George Murchison because he did not necessarily know what Prometheus means. If Walter would have known what George Murchison meant by calling him Prometheus, he would have reacted a totally different way than he did at the moment. When a person call another person Prometheus, it should have a positive connotation to it.

In ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, Lorraine Hansberry describes each of the family’s dreams and how they are deferred. In the beginning of the play Lorraine Hansberry chose Langston Hughes’s poem to try describe what the play is about and how, in life, dreams can sometimes be deferred.

Each of the characters in A Raisin in the Sun has a dream for which they base their whole happiness and livelihood on attaining. However, the character of Lena Younger, or Mama, differs from the other members of her family. Time after time, Mama postpones her dream of owning a house and garden to perpetuate the dreams of her family members. Finally, when Mama receives the $10,000 insurance check, she feels that her dream can become reality, and purchases a house in Clybourned Park. Her dream "drys up like a raisin in the sun" when she learns that Walter gave the money to Willy Harris, who mysteriously disappears. Mama does not shatter simply because her dream has not been fulfilled. "Lena Younger's strength of character has come from the steadfast endurance of hardship and a refusal to be conquered by it" (Phillips 51). Mama's economic hardships may have killed her dream, but she has not allowed it to kill her.