Lena Younger, or Mama, has a dream to get her family out of the little “rat-trap” house into a spacious house with rooms and light and a yard big enough for her to garden in. For instance, in his first stanza, he asks what happens to a dream that is deferred does it “dry up like a raisin in the sun?” This can be seen in Mama’s dream. Langston Hughes's poem can also be used to relate to many of the character’s dreams. The Younger family consists of Lena (Mama), Beneatha (Daughter of Mama), Walter Lee (Son of Mama), Ruth (wife of Walter), and Travis (Walter’s and Ruth’s son). “A Raisin in the Sun’ centers on the Younger family in their search for a better life than the one they currently live in.

Her novel, centering on the perils of a typical black family living in a poverty-set background as they all attempt to take a crack at bringing their own visions of the American dream to life, also touches on and depicts the racial and economical inequality many African Americans endured during those times set in the 1950s in various ways. Such is the case of the characters in Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’. All in all, people have diverse perceptions of what the “American Dream” is, and will spend their whole lives attempting to get hold of it. Some strive for similar dreams: a big house, fancy car, and a life full of luxury.

Some may reach their American dream in a few short years, and others die before they can even grasp it. While some are easily attainable, there are those that are not. Today, there are thousands of dreams an individual holds dear. What Hughes may very well be talking about may not be just any dream, but THE dream- that is, the American dream.

What happens to a dream deferred quote