How would you react if you held off your biggest dream? Would it die, haunt you? Would it hurt those around you and explode? In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, many of the characters go through dream-related struggles. Shortly after the Harlem Renaissance, Hansberry meets Langston Hughes, a famous poet, in Harlem, New York. She is so amazed by his work that she writes her play, A Raisin in the Sun, based off of Hughes’ poem, A Dream Deferred. In her play, A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry uses Walter, Beneatha, and Mama to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream.
First and foremost, Hansberry uses Walter to show what happens when you of put off your dream. Walter, a sexist and racist man, wants the best …show more content…
Beneatha wants to do more with her life; she wants to get out of the hole of poverty and get a good education to become a doctor. After Walter loses the money she explains to Asagai her passion of healing. She describes, “...and sure enough one day a kid named Rufus came down too fast and hit the sidewalk and we saw his face just split open right there in front of us… And I remember standing there looking at his bloody open face thinking that was the end of Rufus. But the ambulance came and they took him to the hospital and they fixed the broken bones and they sewed it all up… and the next time I saw Rufus he just had a little line down the middle of his face… I never got over that…” (Hansberry 132-133). This quote proves that Beneatha is striving to be someone who heals, she is amazed by that gift. Directly after this monologue she says that all of that is over now because Walter lost all the money. She says that there is no point anymore. This correlates with Dream Deferred. Hughes writes, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” (Hughes 2-3). This line elucidates the fact that if you wait too long to achieve your dream it will die. This is just one example of a dream deferred and the
First and foremost, Hansberry uses Walter to show what happens when you of put off your dream. Walter, a sexist and racist man, wants the best …show more content…
Beneatha wants to do more with her life; she wants to get out of the hole of poverty and get a good education to become a doctor. After Walter loses the money she explains to Asagai her passion of healing. She describes, “...and sure enough one day a kid named Rufus came down too fast and hit the sidewalk and we saw his face just split open right there in front of us… And I remember standing there looking at his bloody open face thinking that was the end of Rufus. But the ambulance came and they took him to the hospital and they fixed the broken bones and they sewed it all up… and the next time I saw Rufus he just had a little line down the middle of his face… I never got over that…” (Hansberry 132-133). This quote proves that Beneatha is striving to be someone who heals, she is amazed by that gift. Directly after this monologue she says that all of that is over now because Walter lost all the money. She says that there is no point anymore. This correlates with Dream Deferred. Hughes writes, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” (Hughes 2-3). This line elucidates the fact that if you wait too long to achieve your dream it will die. This is just one example of a dream deferred and the