A Raisin In The Sun: Poem Analysis

In A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, a working class, African American family struggles to realize the American Dream. The Youngers live in a small, Southside Chicago apartment. When a check for ten thousand dollars arrives, several members of the family assume it will be their ticket to a better life, perhaps even the realization of their dreams. The play takes its title from a line in a poem by Langston Hughes, “A Dream Deferred.” The poem presents various possible outcomes for those who are denied their dreams. Steven Smith argues that lines from the poem describe characters from Hansberry’s play. Steven Smith’s argument is correct. Both Mama, Walter, and Beneatha are sample evidence to the argument.