Dream Deferred In A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

What happens to a dream deferred? Through the context of African American history, it tells the story of injustice and racial prejudice. Discussed in the domestic tragedy theatrical, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, the story is told through the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s as they are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. The message of the playwright was one shared among many African American activists at the time, such as Martin Luther King Jr. in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The message is that a dream deferred is a dream dead, a loss justifying the discord seen in African American lives and families.
Lorraine Hansberry drew inspiration for …show more content…
One of them being the preservation of their African roots. In the play, Hansberry makes George an unfavorable character who sees no reason to honor their African roots, calling it “ nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts!” (Hansberry 81). Beneatha is shown losing interest for him as she searches for her identity by embracing her African roots with the assistance of Asagai: “Mr. Asagai–I want very much to talk with you. About Africa. You seem Mr. Asagai, I am looking for my identity!” (Hansberry 62). Hansberry is challenging their title of African American by asking the question, can they really by African American if they hold onto none their heritage? Another controversial topic of the time discussed in the play is the resistance of white oppression–specifically for fair housing rights. With the $10,000 of insurance money, Mama had put $3,500 down for a house in Clybourne Park–a white neighborhood. Soon after, Karl Linder, a representative for the "welcoming committee", pays the Youngers a visit, offering to buy the house from them for a higher price than what they paid. What he doesn’t say directly is that the community doesn’t want black families in their neighborhood. Understanding this, however, the Youngers refuse his offer understanding the external conditions of accepting his offer. “And we have decided to move into our house because …show more content…
explores similar topics in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (this is not a surprise as written in 1963, a few years after the first public showing of A Raisin in the Sun, Martin Luther King Jr. referred to Hansberry’s work as an inspiration). Both synonymize “a dream deferred” as “a dream lost” for African Americans. “This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never’” (Martin Luther King 1). This is paralleled with Walter’s dream of owning a business in A Raisin in the Sun. After years of talking about the liquor store and losing the $6500, Walters dream “explodes”–never to come true in the play. In the bigger picture, it represents the wait for equalities that has lasted for over 300 years. Another topic paralleled with, A Raisin in the Sun, is the idea of identity loss. The years of oppression have sent the unsettling message that “white is beauty” and black isn’t. “... and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality…” (Martin Luther King 1). In the play, this is exemplified through the character of Beneatha. She chooses to disguise her hair, hiding its natural look thinking that it is not pretty. (Although, we are also familiarized with the “mature” version of Beneatha who later wears her hair naturally and shows interest in learning about her heritage). All in all, A Raisin in the Sun, can be viewed as the enactment of MLK Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Their dreams