Langston Hughes's A Raisin In The Sun: An Analysis

What is a dream in relation to one’s hopes and desires? A dream, to most, is a goal, motivation, or inspiration to strive for. Without dreams, people tend to flounder in their lives, never growing or advancing. The idea contained in Langston Hughes’ poem Harlem (A Dream Differed), is what happens to a people and their dreams if they are never obtained or even perused. Dreams can be the only thing that keeps a person motivated in life. But when a dream is never realized, over time it can become a weight around a person’s neck, figuratively speaking. This weight can render a person unable to peruse other things that may benefit them. We see this in Walter-Lee’s obsession with his father’s life insurance check to make his dream of becoming a business

In her play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry is able to showcase the theme of Langston Hughes’s poem in the lives of the Younger family. Each of the family members have dreams of their own, not all of them are as vocal about those dreams as Walter Lee is about his, but those dreams exist nonetheless. Walter Lee is just so desperate to achieve his dreams of being a wealthy and a strong provider as head of his family, that at times he drowns out everyone around him with his talk of opening a liquor store with his friends. Walter Lee believes a man is measured on how much money he erns and how well he can provide for his family. Without being able to achieve these things he sees himself as not a real man and a failure in life. This is evident when Walter Lee is speaking with his wife Ruth while getting ready for work at the begging of the play. Walter Lee states “I got to take hold of this here world, baby!” and “I got to change my life, I choking to death, baby!” (Hansberry,1917). Water Lee sees this business venture as what might be his last hope of ever being more than someone’s servant. This blinging obsession with

Beneatha is probably the next member of the family that speaks openly about her dreams of being a doctor and finding who she is and how she fits in the world. In trying to find out who she is, Beneatha becomes fascinated, and perhaps obsessed, with African culture and her African roots. Beneatha’s obsession with Africa may speak to an internal problem she is having. She is struggling with finding who she is, while working to achieve her dreams. This is shown through her fascination with African culture. This struggle with locating her identity is having a negative effect on Beneatha’s ability to connect with her family in a meaningful way. This obsession with African culture is hindering her from being able to work towards achieving her dreams as well. Mama’s dream of having a house for her family and a little garden of her own represents security to her. To have these things would also mean she succeeded in a dream that she and her deceased husband held together. We learn this when Mama tells Ruth “We was going to set away, little by little, and buy a little place out in Morgan Park.” This is when we learn of another of Mamas dreams to have her own garden, when she says “But lord, child, you should know all the dreams I had ‘bout buying that house and fixing it up and making me a little garden in the back.” (Hansberry,1923). Walter Lee’s wife Ruth, is the family member that