Byram Hills

Life for African Americans in the 1950s was not easy. Prejudice and racial discrimination lurked around every corner in education, the work place, and especially in finances. In such a restricting time period, how could people of color find ways to pursue their dreams? What would happen to the dreams that had to be left behind? Authors Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry display their answers to these questions in their influential works of the 1950s. Hughes, known widely for his works of poetry during the Harlem Renaissance, illustrates what happens to a dream that is put off in his 1951 poem Harlem. Hughes gives various answers to the question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” His responses inspired a young Hansberry to create a realistic drama to display his message. In her famous play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry demonstrates Langston Hughes’s claim that a dream deferred can only lead to negative consequences through her characters Walter and Mama.
Hughes's claim about deferred dreams leading to negative consequences is perfectly represented in Walter Younger, a man who aims very high when it comes to his aspirations, which isn’t realistic with his family’s desperate financial situation. When his father passes away and the insurance money is delivered to his mother, Walter wants to use it to start a business to provide for his family. He believes he can finally be his own boss and run a company of his own, but in his quest Walter isn’t realistic with his situation. When Mama disagrees with Walter’s plan to start a company, he blows up on her and angrily rambles about the terrible life their family has: “WALTER Well, you tell that to my boy tonight when you put him to sleep on the living-room couch ... (Turning to MAMA and speaking directly to her) Yeah—and tell it to my wife, Mama, tomorrow when she has to go out of here to look after somebody else’s kids. And tell it to me, Mama, every time we need a new pair of curtains and I have to watch you go out and work in somebody’s kitchen” (Hansberry 73). From this piece of his monologue it is clear how frustrated Walter is about others deferring his dream. His tremendous anger and bitterness all stems from his one wish to be able to provide for his family and getting shut down by those very people. Going back to Hughes’s main point, it’s obvious that Walter is burdened by this dream that he wants so badly to obtain, and he’s exploding with resentment for his own situation. His dream is literally weighing him down, “like a heavy load.” (Hughes 9-10) Through Walter’s character, it is clear that Hansberry’s work was heavily inspired by Hughes’s writing. She captures the negative connotations that result from deferring a dream and uses Walter to visualize that negativity.
Even though Walter has such big and present dreams, his life is complicated with events like his wife's pregnancy, his family moving, and the whole ordeal of convincing his mother to allow him to start a business. His dreams end up becoming delayed as Walter fails to get people to believe in him and his aspirations. In the end, Mama finally gives Walter a fraction of the money to start a small business of his own. He takes the money and gives it to a friend to invest in their business. As the play continues and other side plots unfold, Walter leaves this dream to itself as he lives happily. But Walter does not have a happy ending. He gets notified that the friend he left the investments with pocketed the money and skipped town. As his dream crumbles, Walter’s strong resolve breaks and he stoops as low as he can by trying to rob others of their money to get back what he lost. It is devastating to see how ready Walter is to rob himself of his own dignity, especially when Lindner enters the scene. “WALTER “All right, Mr. Lindner—(He falters even more)—that’s your neighborhood out there! You got the right to keep it like you want! You got the right to have it like you want! Just write the check and—the house is yours.” And—and I am going to say—(His voice almost breaks) “And you—you people just put the money in my hand and you won’t have to live next to this bunch of stinking *******! ...” (Hansberry 143) We can see how broken Walter is after his dream is crushed. This man is no longer the Walter Younger that wanted to be the boss of himself and run his own company. After he postponed his dream, he ended up getting robbed and is now resorting to playing into self-deprecating stereotypes that belittle him. Walter’s dream was delayed because of the rest of his family. As a result he got careless and ended up losing everything. His dream became twisted and immoral as he tried to rob others instead of his original intention to provide for his family through his own hard work. Because his dream was left to “fester like a sore”, (Hughes 3) Walter caused unimaginable pain for his family and especially himself.
Although Walter’s character very prominently pays homage to Hughes’s claim about the negative effects of deferring dreams, another character that beautifully displays this is Mama. She is not as ambitious as her son, but that doesn’t mean that Mama doesn’t have aspirations. In fact, she was willing to sacrifice most of her dreams and wishes to make room for those of her children. She is willing to do anything to make her kids happy, even if that means giving up her own dreams. The Youngers live in an extremely small and dingy apartment. Mama tries to make the most of it, but in a conversation with Ruth she expresses how she wanted to buy a house and how she dreamed of starting a garden. She ended up dismissing her wish to focus on her family. “MAMA But Lord, child, you should know all the dreams I had ’bout buying that house and fixing it up and making me a little garden in the back—(She waits and stops smiling) And didn’t none of it happen” (Hansberry 48). Mama had so many aspirations about her home, but she ended up giving all of them up! We can hear in her tone how depressed this has made her. She wanted to do so much, but nothing she wished for ever came true. Though her life with her children has “crusted and sugared over” (Hughes 6) her past wishes, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still there. Mama gave up her dreams for her children, but this took a toll on her. Her dream was deferred by her circumstances and that left her feeling unhappy and remorseful about what could have been. Having her dreams postponed has left this compassionate woman with nothing, but negativity which parallels Hughes’s claim.
Though her dreams have mostly been given away for the sake of her family, Mama still hasn’t forgotten what she most wants. In her own little act of defiance, Mama has been nurturing a small plant to show that she is still connected to her original wishes. Though she put in the effort to have the plant, the events of her life have taken her attention away from her dream. The Younger family never has a dull moment. After her children bicker, Mama has a heart-to-heart with Ruth about how much she cares for them, just like she did for her past aspirations.
“MAMA (Looking at her plant and sprinkling a little water on it) They spirited all right, my children. Got to admit they got spirit—Bennie and Walter. Like this little old plant that ain’t never had enough sunshine or nothing—and look at it ...” (Hansberry 55) In this clever use of symbolism, we can see how Mama’s plant is representative of her dreams. She talks about how the plant never got enough attention or care. Mama is so focused on her children that she neglects her dream, and just like her plant which has become gray and lifeless. Mama made the choice to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of that of her children. Though her aspirations were sugary and sweet, they were left behind to make way for the dreams of others. In the end, although Mama was able to grant attention to everyone else's dreams to allow them to grow, her own dream was deferred and left to dry up “like a raisin in the sun.”
Lorraine Hansberry beautifully illustrates the main point of the poem Harlem by Langston Hughes, a dream deferred can only lead to negative consequences, through her characters Walter and Mama. Whilst Walter tried his best to fulfill his dream, his blindsightedness by the other events of his life left his original aspiration to be tainted and twisted. This warped dream ended up coming back to bite Walter in the end, making him go against his own morals to pay for leaving it behind. On the other hand, Mama sacrificed her dream for the benefit of her children. This dream, without the proper attention, shriveled and died away which left Mama depressed and bitter. The circumstances for African Americans during the 1950s parallels these characters. Racial discrimination delayed the dreams of millions! Knowing what happens to a dream deferred, would you try your hardest to follow your dream despite the prejudice you would face or would you allow it to shrivel “like a raisin in the sun”?