A Raisin In The Sun Literary Analysis

This poignant message from a civil rights activist who had grown up in the 1950s emphasizes that dreams are an escape from reality and provide a light in a world of darkness. In her play A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry highlights that although dreams can frustrate the dreamer, ultimately they change the dreamer positively.
Beneatha faces prejudice and becomes increasingly frustrated by her community’s passivity regarding her dream; however this frustration ultimately affects her positively because it forces Beneatha to change her world view. Beneatha is determined to shatter society's role for black women, and her choice to become a doctor has caused internal family conflicts. When Beneatha’s sister-in-law mentions to Beneatha’s

When Lena uses the money she received after the death of her husband to buy a house for the family, Ruth joyously responds to the news, “So you went and did it! … PRAISE GOD! Please, honey—let me be glad…you be glad, too. Oh, Walter…a home…a home.” (91,92). Although Ruth dreams about a better life and home to live in with her family, she also wants her family to stand with her in decisions. When Ruth says “Please Honey— let me be glad,” she reveals that her dreams must be supported to grow whether that be by her husband or the rest family. Ruth’s hopes and dreams are fulfilled when Lena buys a house, receiving a house relieves Ruth of the stress she has carried on her shoulders. In an argument with her mother in law, Lena, Ruth proclaims, “Lena—I’ll work…I’ll work twenty hours a day in all the kitchens in Chicago…I’ll strap my baby on my back if I have to and scrub all the floors in America and wash all the sheets in America if I have to—but we got to MOVE! We got to get OUT OF HERE!!” (140). Ruth is inspired and driven to work by the idea of a better life, she will “wash all the sheets in America,”. Ruth uses hyperbole to emphasize that to escape the reality of her living situation. Ruth’s determination proves that dreams motivate people the dreamer to push him or

While intoxicated, Walter rants to George, “And you—ain’t you bitter, man? Ain’t you just about had it yet? Don’t you see no stars gleaming that you can’t reach out and grab? … Here I am a giant—surrounded by ants. Ants who can’t even understand what it is the giant is talking about” (85). Here, Walter is discouraged by his family’s lack of support and understanding in his dream to open a liquor store and start providing for his family. When Walter says, “And you—ain’t you bitter, man?” he momentarily exposes his hate for the world and the position he is in. Walter expects George to be bitter also because Walter see his role in society, a black man, negatively and expects George to feel similarly. Walter despises the idea that the only reason he cannot, “reach out and grab,” the stars is because his family is holding him back. Walter resents his family because of their little understanding regarding his his dreams. Both he and Ruth long for a better life, but Walter’s dream is not bringing his family closer; it is pushing them apart. When Mr. Lindner arrives to pay the Younger family back for the house they bought, Walter stops groveling like he had planned and