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

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I Have A Dream...
The Civil Rights Movement was a time of change and revolution for African Americans. Many songs, poems, books, and plays written during this time period reflected African American’s need for equality and impartiality. They wrote of hopes and dreams, of freedom and acceptance, of respect and love. These ideals are present in the character of Mama from Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking play, A Raisin in the Sun. She has dreams and struggles akin to those depicted in poetry written by Langston Hughes and classic Motown songs from the Civil Rights Era.
The progression of Mama’s dreams, the obstacles that stand in front of her, and how she overcomes those obstacles are reflected in the poem “As I Grow Older” by Langston Hughes. …show more content…

Walter’s loss of the money is a wall rising between Mama and her dream of owning her own house; she felt as though she couldn’t go forward. Part of what prevented Mama from ever achieving her dream was the racial discrimination against African-Americans. Mama, and particularly her late husband, felt that the world always stood in front of them on the path to their dreams. They felt the best that they could do was just lie down and hold on to the distant hope of their dream. “As I Grow Older” also tells of this part of the journey: “I am black. / I lie down in the shadow. / No longer the light of my dream before me,” (Hughes 14-16). When a wall rose Mama, despite having been strong for so long, was so tired of fighting for her dream that she just lay down and accepted that it was not possible. Mama also talks about how she was always discouraged from pursuing her dreams in the past: “Just aimed too high all the time,” (Hansberry 140). Mama feels as though her whole life she had bigger dreams, but something always stood in the way of her achieving them. As the poem said, the “light” of her dream appeared to be no longer in front of her. But all of Mama’s hope is not yet lost. The poem ends in

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