Dream Deferred: Lorraine's Raisin in the Sun - Free Report

Hughes's poem of a dream deferred seeks an answer to a question, what happens to an unfulfilled dream? He wonders whether it stinks, dries up, or explodes. Having been driven by the situation of African Americans in America, he seeks to address most of their dreams were deferred. When Lorraine wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun, she used the epigraph to illustrate how the goals of the African Americans had dried up just like a raisin in the Sun. She has a set of such a family whose characters have various dreams, but they end up not being achieved in entirety. (Abdelmawjold, 35) Thus, Lorraine uses the title to show how the goals deferred look. She chooses the epigraph to show their dreams get deferred for the sake of the Americans who were prominent at the time. The play depicts the characters' goals and the conflicting interests of their dreams and, finally, how the plans end up.

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From the beginning of the play, Mama, who is a staunch African and traditionalist, has a dream to have a home. Her biggest goal is to have a family of her own and move out of the slums, which are not as comfortable. The dream is deferred in the first place owing to the challenging economic times that they are living in, and despite how hard they work with their husbands, the dream seems harder to achieve. She, however, keeps strong and doesn't give up on her dream because she keeps working harder toward fulfilling her dream. The first opportunity that presents itself towards the realization of the drive is the insurance money that she receives after her husband's death. However, the dream gets deferred due to the conflicting visions of her daughter. It is also affected by the belief that her son, the man in the house, should handle the money. However, Mama's dream is finally endorsed by the play when at last, they move from the slums to their own acquired house.

Beneatha has a deferred dream of becoming a doctor. Her goal is deferred from the beginning owing to the low economic times they are facing in the ghetto. Her ambition to become a doctor is impeded by her brother who instead of saving money for her schooling, invests the whole lot in the liquor business. Afterward, Willy, who is given the cash by Walter, runs away with it and Beneatha is devastated. Her dream once again is hindered by her brother's dream of investing and becoming a prominent businessman. The two goals seem to be conflicting at this stage, and there is no certainty as to whose objective can be fulfilled. She is not impressed by the move made by Mama and the argument that she makes for giving Walter the money because it seems to impede oh her dream. Although later they can move to a new home away from the slums, there is still an element of uncertainty in Beneatha's dream of becoming a doctor. It remains a deferred dream. Another goal that remains deferred to her is that of all women. She exists at a time when her society expects women to be homebuilders rather than have careers. She wants to save her race from ignorance, and the only way she can do so is through action. She can do this by getting educated and being the saving grace to the ignorant women in society (May, 151). However, this dream is deferred mostly by her chauvinistic brother, who wants her to choose careers that women do or get married. He further delays the goal through the money he loses that was supposed to take care of her tuition.

On the other hand, Walter has a dream of becoming rich and a prominent business owner. His vision is, however, deferred continuously by the state of poverty and joblessness that he attributes to the racial segregation that exists at the time. Walter wants to get rich and provide for his family like he sees the rich people he drives around to do. He believes that most of the problems that his family is experiencing could be solved if he got rich, but his dream gets deferred. It is once again delayed when he loses the investment money to Willy. However, towards the end, Walter realizes that becoming rich is not as important as having a home and seeks to listen to Mama and help her with the purchasing of their own house in the white neighborhood. He defers his dream of becoming Reach and aims to help Mama achieve the long-sought goal of having a home.

Ruth also has a dream of getting her own home and living a good life. However, this dream lacks fulfillment because of the hard times and the state of poverty surrounding them. It further gets impeded by the hard-to-tell husband who doesn't listen to anyone. However, her dream is fulfilled toward the end when her husband agrees to buy a home for them.

Conclusion

From the text, everyone has a dream, some of which get fulfilled, and others deferred. Others become sacrificed for the sake of others. However, not all deferred dreams stink, dry up, or explode. Dreams that get deferred to achieve others are worthwhile. While other deferred plans are catastrophic, they can get compromised for the achievement of others.

Works Cited

Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Samuel French, Inc., 1984.

May, Elaine Tyler. "Ambivalent dreams: Women and the home after World War II." Journal of Women's History 13.3 (2001): 151-152.

Abdelmawjoud, Sayed. "Dreams “Deferred” but identity affirmed and manhood restored: A new look at A raisin in the sun." Studies in Literature and Language 5.3 (2012): 30-39.