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Joseph Zhang

Mrs. Brandi Bronleben

English Block 1-3

4-20-2022

A Raisin in the Sun: How “Harlem” is Visualized in the Characters throughout the Play

Everyone has dreams in life. Whether they are attainable or impossible, dreams help

people reach their goals and be productive. However, like stated in “Harlem” by Langston

Hughes, dreams can dry up like a raisin in the sun. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun,

she visualizes the theme of dreams and how they can fade, also found in “Harlem”, through her

characters Walter, Beneatha, and Mama.

Walter is a man of dreams. After working the same job for the past few years, he is sick

of it and wants to do something big, something more with his life. His dreams, however, start

fading after life brings him back to reality. This is shown in the quote from A Raisin in the Sun,

“WALTER: See there, that just goes to show you what women understand about the world.

Baby, don’t nothing happen for you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!/ RUTH: Walter,

leave me alone! Eat your eggs, they gonna be cold./ WALTER: That’s it. There you are. Man say

to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs. Man say: I got to take hold of

this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. Man say: I got to

change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say – Your eggs is getting cold!”

This quote shows how Walter has big dreams. However, like it states in the poem “Harlem” by

Langston Hughes, his dreams are being deferred by life and reality. He is stuck with what he has

and is frustrated by it, knowing he has better things to do in life than to work at his boring job.
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The diction in the quote when Walter says “choking to death” is important because it shows how

his job is draining the life and dreams out of him. He’s tired of doing the same thing every day

and tired of being able to do nothing about it. He wants his wife to support his dreams, but she

tries to bring him back down to reality by reminding him to eat his eggs. His dreams are drying

up and losing impact because Walter is realizing reality, just like a raisin in the sun. Another

quote that shows how “Harlem” is shown in Walter is, “Just tell me where you want to go to

school and you’ll go. Just tell me, what it is you want to be – and you’ll be it….Whatever you

want to be – Yessir! (He holds his arms open for TRAVIS) You just name it, son… (TRAVIS

leaps into them) and I hand you the world!” (Act II, scene ii) Even though Walter is tired of life

and how he can’t achieve his dreams, he realizes that if he can’t do it, then his children can. This

exemplifies his father’s belief that a man’s dreams can be deferred, like in “Harlem”, to his

children. Even though his dreams are dried up and barely have anything left, there is still

something left because of his family and because of the fact that his dreams can be accomplished

through his family. The use of the words “hand you the world” and “whatever you want to be”

are important because it shows how even though Walter’s dreams are deferred and have dried up,

he wants Travis to have his own dreams and not be stopped by life like Walter’s were.

Along with Walter, another character in A Raisin in the Sun who illuminates the poem

“Harlem” is Beneatha. Beneatha has her own dreams of becoming a doctor. However, like her

brother, her dreams are being crushed and deferred. This is shown in the quote, “Well – I do – all

right? – thank everybody! And forgive me for ever wanting to be anything at all! (Pursuing him

on her knees across the floor) FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME!” (Act I, scene i)

In this quote, Beneatha is mad because her family and her brother don’t understand her dream of

being a doctor. They feel its too ambitious and unachievable, especially because of how
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expensive it is. The use of the repetition of the words “forgive me” shows how sick of her family

she is of never believing in her and her dreams. She says forgive me because she wants her

family to know she is mad at them for how she has been treated. The repetition is important

because it adds emphasis and strength to her words. Beneatha is irritated and annoyed and wants

her family to know this by mocking an apology to her family. In “Harlem”, it states that a dream

deferred can fester like a sore. This can be compared with Beneatha because her dreams being

deferred are causing her large amounts of sadness and pain, just like a festering sore. Along with

this quote, another quote that shows her dreams is, "Asagai, while I was sleeping in that bed in

there, people went out and took the future right out of my hands! And nobody asked me, nobody

consulted me – they just went out and changed my life!" In this quote, the readers can see that

Beneatha feels her dreams and future has been taken right before her eyes. They were taken by

her family, the world. Her dreams were her future and after Walter lost the money for her school,

she feels her future is gone and were stolen. Walter changed her life and used the money that was

hers without her permission and Beneatha is not only furious, but disappointed and sad thinking

about what she’s going to do now. This relates to “Harlem” because it states in the poem that a

dream can sag like a heavy load, weighing the person down. That is happening to Beneatha

because her dreams are weighing her down and are putting a lot of stress and unhappiness on her.

She was excited, but after Walter lost her money, all she can think about now is her future and

her dreams.

Finally, Mama is a major character that showcases “Harlem” through her dreams and aspirations

for herself and her family. After time is passing in the family, Mama feels she’s watching her

family fall into despair. They are all desperate for change to happen and feel the insurance

money could help create that change in the family. In the story, a quote that visualizes Mama’s
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love for her family and her dreams is, “Big Walter used to say, he'd get right wet in the eyes

sometimes, lean his head back with the water standing in his eyes and say, 'Seem like God didn't

see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams – but He did give us children to make them

dreams seem worth while.’” Everyone in the Younger family has a dream. Beneatha wants to go

to medical school while Walter wants to invest in a liquor store. However, Mama’s dream is less

self-centered and more focused on the wellbeing of the family. In this quote, Big Walter acts as a

symbol for how black people’s dreams are always deferred. He goes to say that children help

make dreams worthwhile and that through them, their dreams stay alive. This symbolism is

important because it shows how important the children are to Mama and Big Walter. They keep

their dreams alive and that’s why Mama’s dreams are focused on the family, because they are the

ones who keep that dream alive. “Harlem” is shown in this quote because the dream of Mama to

make her family happier and more connected is weighing her down and is starting to take up her

entire life, demanding to be accounted for. That relates to the “explode” part in the poem. One

quote that explains Mama’s feelings for her dreams is, “Of course, baby. Ain’t no need in ‘em

coming all the way here and having to go back. They charges for that too. (She sits down, fingers

to her brow, thinking) Lord, ever since I was a little girl, I always remembers people saying,

"Lena – Lena Eggleston, you aims too high all the time. You needs to slow down and see life a

little more like it is. Just slow down some." That’s what they always used to say down home –

"Lord, that Lena Eggleston is a high-minded thing. She’ll get her due one day!" (3.1.69) After

buying the house, Mama feels she might have dreamed too big. She figures buying the house

maybe was wrong. Not only that, but she isn’t sure whether she should have moved to the North

at all and if she should have stayed in the South. She doubts any of it was worth it, especially

since her family is suffering in Chicago. The poem “Harlem” states, “Maybe it just sags like a
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heavy load. Or does it explode?” This portion from the poem relates to Mama because her

dreams have weighed on her and sagged like a heavy weight on her mind long enough. Finally,

they exploded, demanding Mama to act on it and recognize her dreams. However, now she

realizes whether it was ever worth it to purchase the house or even move because it is obvious to

her that it has done no good for the family.

Dreams, though imaginary, can push someone to accomplish incredible things or make

rash decisions. However, they never go away, no matter how hard life has been. This is shown in

“Harlem”, where even though the dream was deferred and put off, it never faded away and

eventually forced the person to account for them. This theme of “Harlem” and dreams is

manifested in Walter, Beneatha, and Mama from A Raisin in the Sun and even though life has

been incredibly hard on them, they still followed their true dreams and became better people.