The 19th century was a difficult time for many people, especially those of color. During this period, racial segregation was ubiquitous. Even though slavery had been abolished, people of color were not treated equally. This is a direct description of how the Younger family felt in the play A Raisin in The Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry. With a people who are always humiliated and who never seem to get back up, their only hope was to dream. Dreams are like a defense mechanism that uses imagination to try to escape a situation, representing eagerness or desperation to change the ever-changing circumstances of life. Each of the characters in the Younger family were trying to escape reality through the fact that they each had their own particular individual dream. Of the three main characters Mama (Lena Younger), Beneatha and Walter; one wants to move to a bigger house, one wants to go to medical school, and the other wants to overcome his condition even if he doesn't necessarily have a plan to do so. Each person's dream serves an important conceptual function, such as aspiration, motivation, or direction for the character; however, the different dreams also divide the characters, creating conflicts between them. Thinking about the poem by Langston Hughes from which the title of this play is taken, the key concept of deferred dreams comes to mind. The title of Hansberry's work makes a direct reference to Langston Hughes' poem, "A Dream Deferred." “What happens to a dream deferred?” asked Hughes. “Does it wither like a raisin in the sun?” Lorraine Hansberry answers Hughes' question through play. The show demonstrates through several altercations and situations that no matter how long a dream has been postponed, it actually lives on. Mother, Walter Lee and Beneatha cherished dreams. These dreams reveal much about the nature of the characters' desires that society's unfair expectations cannot destroy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Set in the 1940s and 1950s and written in 1957 A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by an African American and produced on Broadway. Lorraine Hansberry's inspiration came from the varied lives of the working-class African Americans who rented from her father and those who went to school with her on the South Side of Chicago. He also said that he “used his family members as inspiration for his characters. Hansberry noted similarities between Nannie Hansberry and Mama Younger and between Carl Hansberry and Big Walter. Walter Lee, Jr. and Ruth are a composite of Hansberry's brothers, their wives, and his sister, Mamie. In an interview, Hansberry laughingly said, “Beneatha is me, eight years ago.” Like the characters in the story, Hansberry lived a very similar life. Although his family lived a somewhat above-average life due to his father's financial situation, Hansberry had experienced segregation firsthand. In Michelle Gordon's critical essay, she reveals the many parallels between Lorraine Hansberry's childhood life and that of the fictional Younger family from her first play: A Raisin in the Sun. As a young woman, Hansberry was directly attacked by the forces of racism when her Black family moved into an all-white neighborhood. Gordon explains that the neighborhood "improvement association" justified its refusal to accept the Hansberrys by claiming that the neighborhood was subject to a "racially restrictive covenant." Directly affected by this rejection of equality and the need forsegregation, Hansberry was inspired to create the Younger family to reflect her family's fight for freedom and equality. With the hope of finally eliminating any unequal treatment, Hansberry used his perspective to raise awareness of the cultural issue of segregation and racism. Gordon argues that Hansberry's true realism is opposed to the realism's deterministic tendencies of naturalism. The necessary reform that Hansberry envisions in the play was thus intended not only as a drama but also as a call to action. Lena Younger also known as Mama is the matriarch of the family who keeps them together and makes the final decisions. Recently widowed, she is a retired housekeeper who works vigorously to make sure her family is taken care of. All while maintaining his religious faith and remaining optimistic despite multiple financial and social challenges. As demonstrated by her actions and faith, Mom is a proud Black woman and serves as a source of strength and stability for the family. Mom's dream is to move her family out of the slums of Southside Chicago and into a house with a big yard where the kids can play and she can grow her own vegetable garden. Her dream has been postponed since she and her husband moved into the apartment that was supposed to be temporary housing. However, life happened years after her husband's death; and Walter grew up with a son and a wife, there remained the Younger family. Every day, her dream provides her with an incentive to make money. But no matter how hard she and her husband tried, they couldn't scrape together enough money to make their dream a reality. His death and the resulting insurance money represent Mom's first opportunity to finally pursue her dream. The mother's plant shown in the first act is one of the symbols used to demonstrate the meaning of both her dreams and will in return benefit her children. Constantly feed this plant to watch it grow and bloom into a beautiful flower. Mother's plant, weak but resilient, represents her dream of living in a bigger house with a lawn. As he takes care of his plant, he symbolically shows his dedication to his dream. Mom takes out her plant early in the morning. It's the first thing he does in the morning; thus, at the beginning of the play, we see that her plant - and her dream - are of the utmost importance to her. The mother admits that the plant has never had enough sun but it still survives. In other words, his dream has always been postponed but remains strong. At the end of the show, the mother decides to take the plant with her to their new home. Thus it gives a new meaning to the plant. If initially it represents her dream postponed, now, when her dream comes true, it reminds her of her strength in working and waiting for so many years. However, this plant seems to be limited, meaning it never has enough light or space to grow in. This represents his children as they also appear to be limited. In Walter's case, he is economically limited and this directly affects his self-esteem, while in Beneatha's case, she seems to be limited not only because of color but also because of gender. A mother's dream for her plant is the same as the one she dreams for her children. He wants to see them grow and develop into wonderful beings. During one of his confrontations with Walter, we can see that he suffers from his children's limitations. She says as she gives him the money “What you never understood is that I have nothing, I own nothing, I never really wanted anything that wasn't for you. There's nothing so precious to me... There's nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, anything else - if that means - if.