A Reaction to A Raisin in the Sun
April 28, 2012
A Reaction to A Raisin in the Sun
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
—From “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
The film A Raisin in the Sun is about dreams. Based upon the play of the same name, the film explores the dreams of the Younger family, a black family living in Chicago sometime before the film premiered in 1961. The film’s title comes from Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem,” which asks the question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” Playwright and screenwriter, Lorraine Hansberry, answers the question for the Youngers and the audience through Raisin in the Sun. The film version of A Raisin in the Sun featured the original Broadway cast, including Sidney Poitier as Walter Lee Younger, Ruby Dee as his wife Ruth, Claudia McNeil as Mama, and Diana Sands as his sister Beneatha. Walter Lee dreams of opening a liquor store so that he can quit his job as a chauffeur. Already attending college, Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor. As the family matriarch, Mama dreams that her children and grandchildren will have a better life than she and her husband, hoping to buy a house with a back yard for them to live in. The film suggests that dreams inevitably depend upon money, especially from Walter Lee’s perspective:
Mama: How come you talk so much about money?
Walter Lee: Because it’s life!
Mama: So now money is life? Once, freedom used to be life. But now it’s money.
Walter Lee: It was always money. We just didn't know it. All the Youngers need money to fulfill their dreams, which due to a mix of fortune and misfortune is about to come their way. Mama’s husband, Big Walter, has died but left an insurance policy that will pay $10,000 to Mama. Walter Lee has designs on the money, as he and his friends plot to get rich quick by bribing public officials to get a permit to open a liquor store. When the check comes, Mama puts a down payment on a house in a segregated neighborhood with only white
A Reaction to A Raisin in the Sun
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
—From “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
The film A Raisin in the Sun is about dreams. Based upon the play of the same name, the film explores the dreams of the Younger family, a black family living in Chicago sometime before the film premiered in 1961. The film’s title comes from Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem,” which asks the question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” Playwright and screenwriter, Lorraine Hansberry, answers the question for the Youngers and the audience through Raisin in the Sun. The film version of A Raisin in the Sun featured the original Broadway cast, including Sidney Poitier as Walter Lee Younger, Ruby Dee as his wife Ruth, Claudia McNeil as Mama, and Diana Sands as his sister Beneatha. Walter Lee dreams of opening a liquor store so that he can quit his job as a chauffeur. Already attending college, Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor. As the family matriarch, Mama dreams that her children and grandchildren will have a better life than she and her husband, hoping to buy a house with a back yard for them to live in. The film suggests that dreams inevitably depend upon money, especially from Walter Lee’s perspective:
Mama: How come you talk so much about money?
Walter Lee: Because it’s life!
Mama: So now money is life? Once, freedom used to be life. But now it’s money.
Walter Lee: It was always money. We just didn't know it. All the Youngers need money to fulfill their dreams, which due to a mix of fortune and misfortune is about to come their way. Mama’s husband, Big Walter, has died but left an insurance policy that will pay $10,000 to Mama. Walter Lee has designs on the money, as he and his friends plot to get rich quick by bribing public officials to get a permit to open a liquor store. When the check comes, Mama puts a down payment on a house in a segregated neighborhood with only white