Introduction
This play was written by playwright Lorraine Hansberry in 1959. It talks about a young family with a mama Lena Younger, her son Walter Lee, Ruth the wife of Walter, Travis their son and Benetha the young sister to Walter. One of the themes of this play is dreams of a better life. Not all the dreams in this play come true in the end. Nevertheless, there are great moral and social lessons to be learned from it (Hansberry 5-160).
In this essay the dreams of a raisin in the sun are discussed. The dream of each character is analyzed in-depth and the relationship between the dreams is explained. The ways of realizing the different dreams are discussed, conflicts in the different dreams are shown and I have also presented my own views of which dreams were important and not (Hansberry 5-160).
Main Body
Lena younger, the mother of Walter and Benetha and a window is a serious and caring mother. Her dreams are to have a good house for the family which has lived in a poor household. She wants the best education for her daughter Benetha who is in a medical school and in general, she wanted the family to be happy. She plans to realize this dream by using the ten thousand dollar check which is insurance money for the past husband (Hansberry 5-160).
Walter’s dreams were to expand his Liquor business by obtaining an operating license. This means that he also had a dream of helping the family to prosperity with the money he gets from the business. He plans to achieve this by using the same check his mother is waiting for. This is true because in one of their conversation his wife says “…..That ain’t our money, and I ain’t going to harass your mama about it” (Wechsler 5) He wishes to use his friends to help him get the license. Though the means are provided, because he gets some of the money from his mother, his dreams do not come true as his buddies exploit him instead of assisting him get the license (Hansberry 5-160).
Ruth had a dream of becoming wealthy and successful. She also had a dream of having a fine family and seeing it prosper in its day-to-day activities. Her dreams will be realized through the liquor business of her husband. She believes strongly that when the business gets booming, they will be a rich family. Her dreams which are dependant upon the dreams of the husband are not realized and she comforts herself by accepting that they were just dreams and she was happy that her husband had recovered from the loss of failing to achieve his dreams (Hansberry 5-160).
Benetha had a dream of pursuing her medical studies and becoming a doctor in future. She expects that some money from the insurance check will be kept in the bank for her fees. She is very depressed when she learns that Walter didn’t deposit some money for her in the bank. Her dreams seem to be shuttered at this point. Asagai, a friend to Benetha from Nigeria brings the dreams back to life by talking to her. He gives her hope in this life and tells her to forget about the money because it was not meant to be there suppose her father had not died. Her hope of realizing the dreams comes back. She also has another dream of marrying Asagai and working as a doctor in Nigeria, the native land of Asagai (Hansberry 5-160).
The dreams from the different characters are good and all of them aim at a good life and a bright future. Nevertheless some of the dreams are contradicting and conflicting in one way or the other. For example, mama’s dream is to use the insurance money to buy a good house for the family which she does. At the same time she wants to use the same money for her daughter’s education. She wants to kill two birds or even three with the same stone. This may not be possible and it is noted in the play that all these dreams do not come true. The two dreams conflict.
Other dreams which are conflicting in the play are the dreams of Walter and those of the mother. The mother wants to use the money for buying a home and educating the daughter while the son wants the money to enable him own his own business. The question here is what should be given preference and by what criteria will this be determined? Their dreams are good but they are conflicting because they should be realized with the same means which is impossible here because the money is too little for all these needs (Zepetnek 55-64).
The dreams of Walter and Bennie are also conflicting. These are brothers and sisters who should support one another in the realization of their dreams. They should have the same dreams and the same mind. But a close examination of the play will reveal that the two have different mindsets and they keep on fighting because of this. Walter is interested in becoming his own boss in the liquor business. All his life is in the liquor and this is shown when he says “…Man, I put my life in your hands…” (Hansberry 182) he says this when he discovered that he has lost all the money. Bennie on the other hand thinks of becoming a female doctor. This is not a normal dream for a female black girl in the contest of the time- 1959. It conflicts with the expectations of the world then because a female was not expected to engage in such a tough career during those days. Her dreams also conflict with those of Walter because they need money from mama just like Walters dreams which also require money from the same person (Hansberry 182) (Rea Staff 22-27).
In brief, the dreams of the three characters here conflict. They may have the same dream of having a better life. But on the other side, they are competing with each other. They compete for the insurance money to realize all their dreams. Mama wants to buy a home for the family, Walter wants to invest the money in the liquor business and get rich quickly, and Bennie wants the same money so that she can finish her medical school. These are terrible conflicts that could lead to an explosion which indeed had been prophesied by Walter at the beginning of the play when he reads the morning newspaper which says “Set off another bomb yesterday” (Hansberry 26). The bomb explodes in his own family at the end of the play (Fitzgerald 23-25).
All their dreams were good but not all of them were important at that particular time. The most important dreams in my view are the dreams of mama. This is because they are universal and will affect all the members of the family if realized. If he buys a good house, it is for the benefit of all because their living standards improve. If he uses the remaining money for the education of their daughter, she will do well and maybe help the family to realize their dreams later in their lives (Hansberry 5-160).
Conclusion
In conclusion, Lorraine Hansberry uses her talent to educate people about deferred dreams. When a reader reads this play, then he or she must think critically about what should happen when dreams suspend. Whether one should work hard to realize the dream in the future, whether to get confused and lose the meaning of life, or whether to sit and wait for natural action from nature.
Works cited
Fitzgerald, Scott. “The great Gatsby”, ZZZ Edition. Scribner Publishers. (1999) 23-25
Hansberry, Lorraine. “A Raisin in the Sun”. New York: Vintage. (2004): 5-160
Rea Staff. “CLEP analyzing & interpreting literature (REA)-The best test for the CLEP. Piscataway, NJ. REEARCH & Education approach. (2003):22-27
Wechsler, Raymond. “A Raisin in the Sun”. ESL notes.com.PDF. 2000:1-32. Web.
Zepetnek, Steven. “Comparative literature”, 1st edition. New York: Radopi press. 1988.