A Comparison of the Dream Deferred in A Raisin in the Sun and Harlem Es

A Dream Deferred in A Raisin in the Sun and Harlem In Lorraine Hansberrys play A Raisin in the Sun, the author reveals a hard-working, honest African-American family struggling to make their reveries come true. Langston Hughes poem, Harlem, illustrates what could happen if those dreams neer came to fruition. Together, both Hansberry and Hughes show the effects on human beings when a long-awaited dream is thwarted by economic and social hardships. Each of the characters in A Raisin in the Sun has a dream for which they base their whole merriment and livelihood on attaining. However, the character of Lena Younger, or mammary gland, differs from the other members of her family. Time subsequently time, Mama postpones her dream of owning a house and garden to perpetuate the dreams of her family members. Finally, when Mama receives the $10,000 insurance check, she feels that her dream can become reality, and purchases a house in Clybourned Park. Her dream drys up like a raisin i n the sun when she learns that Walter gave the funds to Willy Harris, who mysteriously disappears. Mama does non shatter simply because her dream has not been fulfilled. Lena Youngers strength of character has come from the steadfast endurance of hardship and a refusal to be conquered by it (Phillips 51). Mamas economic hardships may have killed her dream, but she has not allowed it to kill her. The social inequality which the Youngers encounter also does not embarrass Mamas compassion. Mr. Lindner temporarily shatters Mamas dream of owning a home when he comes to the Youngers prepared to fade them money to move from Clybourne Park. The derogatory use of you people by Mr. Lindner has unforesightful to no effect on Mamas steadfast decision to move to Clybo... ... beings pit when a dream dies. Edward J. Mullen notes that Hughes poem represents the idea that, the inhabitants of this 1951 Harlem seem to be desire feverishly and forlornly for some simple yet apparently impossibl e satisfaction in life (142). Both Hansberrys play and Hughes poem cook a powerful and human reaction to the death of a dream. plant Cited Hansberry Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. 1959 Literature. 5th ed. Eds. James N. N. Pickering and Jeffery D. Hoeper. Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice, O. 1700-57. Hughes, Langston. Harlem. 1951 Literature. 5th ed. Eds. James H. Pickering and Jeffery D. Hoeper. Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice, 1027-28. Mullen, Edward J. Critical Essays on Langston Hughes. Boston G. K. Hall, 142. Phillips, Elizabeth C. The Works of Lorraine Hansberry. New York Simon & Schuster, 1973. 48-62.