A Dream Deterred In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun
What happens to a dream deferred? In “A Raisin in the Sun” the author, Lorraine Hansberry, both ask and works to answer the often interacted question of Langston Hughes. Throughout the play, one witness the trials and tribulations of the Younger family, comprised of Mama, her two children, Walter and Beneatha, and Walter's wife and son, Ruth and Travis respectively. Despite him technically being a full grown adult, the play is, in part, a coming-of-age for Walter Younger. A pivotal moment of the play occurs in Act 3 when Walter decides move the family to a house in a white-dominated neighborhood instead of accepting money to not move there. This moment is significant because it marks Walter’s climb to manhood demonstrating a shift in Walters
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He talks at length about how more money will benefit him in the family, seemingly obsessed with pursuing this dream of his. At one point he told Mama that “Money is life!” Even when this dream is dashed to pieces he continues to stubbornly stick to his belief. He comes very close to continuing in his old ways, telling everyone that he will accept a white man's money instead of standing up for the family and doing what they truly want. Yet in that moment something in his priorities changed, perhaps he realized his old dream was a mere fantasy or perhaps he too feared the families “rat trap” of an apartment. Or perhaps he finally tries to do what is best for his family. Right before he makes the decision Mama pulls his son Travis forward, telling him to “teach” him what the family's “five Generations” have come to. Walter does indeed teach his son, he talks about his own father, how is pride nearly led to kill a man rather than be insulted, how is sister is going to become someone great, how the family will move because his father earned their house for them “brick by brick.” In summary this moment changed the tone of the entire play from despair to Earth shattering triumph all because Walter finally stepped into his role as “the man of the family.”
In the end Walter never got his liquor store, nor did he become fabulously wealthy and affluent. Yet because of his decision to move, to stand
He talks at length about how more money will benefit him in the family, seemingly obsessed with pursuing this dream of his. At one point he told Mama that “Money is life!” Even when this dream is dashed to pieces he continues to stubbornly stick to his belief. He comes very close to continuing in his old ways, telling everyone that he will accept a white man's money instead of standing up for the family and doing what they truly want. Yet in that moment something in his priorities changed, perhaps he realized his old dream was a mere fantasy or perhaps he too feared the families “rat trap” of an apartment. Or perhaps he finally tries to do what is best for his family. Right before he makes the decision Mama pulls his son Travis forward, telling him to “teach” him what the family's “five Generations” have come to. Walter does indeed teach his son, he talks about his own father, how is pride nearly led to kill a man rather than be insulted, how is sister is going to become someone great, how the family will move because his father earned their house for them “brick by brick.” In summary this moment changed the tone of the entire play from despair to Earth shattering triumph all because Walter finally stepped into his role as “the man of the family.”
In the end Walter never got his liquor store, nor did he become fabulously wealthy and affluent. Yet because of his decision to move, to stand