A Dream Deterred In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

In the play, “A Raisin in The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the question “What happens to a dream deferred?” is repeatedly shown throughout. The many ways this is shown is through lack of freedom economically and socially like for example, housing and education discrimination, social separation between white and black people, and the overall discrimination and oppressive social system. The play, A raisin in the sun is also shown to answer the question of “what happens to a dream deferred” more specifically in instances like that of Walter Lee’s dream of investing into an alcohol business, Beneatha Younger's dream of becoming a doctor, and both Ruth and Mrs Youngers dream of owning a home with a big backyard.

In the play, “A Raisin in The Sun

It is shown in the play when Walter tells Beneatha about why she chose to be a doctor and she should much rather be a nurse or just get married like other women (Hansberry act 1 scene 1.) Lorraine Hansberry chooses Beneatha as the young girl with aspiring dreams to become something that many other people would see as strange or unnormal at the time for

More specifically in Walter Lee’s case he wants to own a liquor store but Mrs Younger is not fond of the idea. He ends up taking the majority of the insurance money and giving it to his friend Bobo who then gives the money to his friend Willy, Willy ends up taking the money for himself and flees. (Act II scene III) In “Staging Generderd Radicalism at the Height of the US Cold War: A Raisin in the Sun and Lorraine Hansberry’s Vision of Freedom,” by Erin D Chapman, He brings the idea that Hansberry's women characters like Lena Younger, Beneatha, and Walter Lee’s wife challenge and push Walter to be a “better” man. Because of this Walter has a shallow value of money and he only wants to spoil them, (Chapin 454.) He buys the liquor store without telling them to become the “better” man and due to not having any economic freedom and the social discrimination of white and black people, he gets scammed and loses all the money. This can be more explained in, “In search of equality: a dream deferred for African Americans in A raisin in the Sun,” by Tayebeh Nowrouzi, Sohila Faghfori, and Esmaeil Zohdi. The authors mention that Walter has no experience with business nor is educated to run one. It is also mentioned that young colored men rarely get positions above a certain level so running a business is an absolute no considering the racial prejudice that