A Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Lorraine Hansberry’s
SETTING
 About
the 1950s
 Chicago’s Southside
 Poor Area
 Small Apartment
CHARACTERS
 The
Younger Family
○ Walter
○ Ruth
○ Mama
○ Beneatha
○ Travis

Ruth Younger
 Wife and Mother

Walter Younger
 Husband and Father
Ruth is characterized as a hard worker who takes care of the tiny
apartment. She is frustrated about living in poverty. She is pretty and loves
her husband.
Walter is characterized as a dreamer. He wants to be rich through
investing in a liquor store. He loves his son, drinks to avoid his problems in
life, works as a chauffer and wants to do more with his life.
Mama (Lena)Younger
- Walter’s Mother
Mama is characterized as the matriarch (female head of the
family), strong, religious, kind-hearted and moral.
 Beneatha
Younger
 Walter’s sister
 Travis
Younger
 Walter and Ruth’s son
(8 or 9yrs old)
Beneatha is characterized as intellectual
and well-educated. She dreams of being a
doctor, does not share the same religious
beliefs as her mother and wants a man to
appreciate her intelligence more than her
beauty.
Other Characters





Joseph Asagai – Born in Africa, Dating
Beneatha
George Murchison – Wealthy, Dating Beneatha
Mrs. Johnson – Nosy neighbor
Karl Lindner – Head of the Clybourne Park
Improvement Association
Bobo and Willy Harris – Friends of Walter, who
he plans to do business with.
Symbols

Scrambled Eggs
 Walter’s dreams being mixed up and out of reach.
 He feels no one values what he wants and listens to what
he says, like what he wants to eat and what he wants to do
with the money.
Symbols

Mama’s Plant
 Her caring nature and
dreams for her family.
 The plant never gets much
water, sunlight or the
opportunity to grow and
bloom, just like the younger
family.
 It represents Mama’s
dream to own a little house
with a garden.
Symbols

Kitchen Window
 There is only one window
in the house, and it allows
only a little of sunlight
inside.
 This represents “the small
window of opportunity” that
the Younger Family has to
make it out of the ghetto,
where they currently live.
 The sunshine that comes in
represents the little amount
of hope the family has.
Symbols

Beneatha’s Natural Hair
 When her hair is straightened
(mutilated) it represents her
assimilation into American
culture.
 After spending more time with
Asagai, she cuts it short. It
becomes natural and curly.
This reflects her embracing her
African heritage.
 It also represents her cultural
pluralistic beliefs.

Cultural Pluralism (Salad Bowl Theory)
 Different cultures can exist side by
side in the same society while
keeping their individual
characteristics (speech, dress, hair,
etc.)
vs.

Cultural Assimilation (Melting Pot Theory)
 Different cultures blend together, giving
up individual cultural characteristics.
QUOTES

“I wanted to do that.
I always thought it
was the one
concrete thing in the
world that a being
could do.
Fix up the sick,
you know --- and
make them whole.”

Beneatha to Asagai
 Beneatha is talking about
how and why she wanted
to be a doctor, but the loss
of the money because of
Walter’s bad choice makes
her feel like there is no
point anymore.
QUOTES

“You read the books
– to learn the facts –
to get good grades –
to pass the course –
to get a degree.
That’s all – it has
nothing to do with
thoughts.”

George to Beneatha
 Beneatha is talking about the
importance of learning and
progress. George’s response
is that school is just about
getting a degree in order to
get a job.
QUOTES

“Bitter? Man, I’m a
volcano. Bitter?
Here I am a giant –
surrounded by ants!
Ants who cannot
even understand
what it is the giant is
talking about.”

Walter to George
 Walter tells George how he
has a lot of ideas. George
seems uninterested and
Walter gets angry. George
says that Walter is bitter.
QUOTES

“At the moment, the
overwhelming majority
of our people out
there feel that people
get along better, take
more of a common
interest in the life of
the community, when
they share a common
background.”

Mr. Lindner to Ruth, Walter
and Beneatha
 Mr. Lindner is from the
Clybourne Park Improvement
Association. He offers them
more money than the house is
worth for them to not move into
their neighborhood.
QUOTES

“I’ll work 20 hours a
day in all the
kitchens in Chicago
--- I’ll strap my baby
on my back if I have
to and scrub all the
floors in America.”

Ruth to Mama
 After the loss of the
money, Mama says that
they will stay in the
apartment and make the
best of it. Ruth wants to
move into the house no
matter what the situation
is.
QUOTES

“If you a son of
mine, tell her! You -- you are a disgrace
to your father’s
memory.”

Mama to Walter
 Ruth has seen a woman
doctor about getting an
abortion. She tells
Walter to tell her wife
not to do that and he
doesn’t say anything.
He opens his mouth, but
can’t seem to say it.
QUOTES

“When a cat take off
with your money he
don’t leave no
maps.”

Bobo to Walter
 After Bobo tells
Walter that Willy took
off with the money,
walter says they need
to go find him. This is
Bobo’s response.
QUOTES

“Between a man
and a woman there
need be only one
kind of feeling. I
have that for you
now…now
even…right this
moment.”

Asagai to Beneatha
 Beneatha talks about
different kinds of feelings.
Asagai responds that he
has only one kind of feeling
for Beneatha (love) and
that is all there needs to
be.
QUOTES

“You know it’s all
divided up. Life is.
Sure enough.
Between the takers
and the ‘tooken’.”

Walter to Mama,
Ruth and Beneatha
 Walter has decided to
call Mr. Lindner and
accept money from
him. He says it is the
only way to function
in this world
QUOTES

“Well, do me a favor
and don’t ask him a
whole lot of ignorant
questions about
Africans. I mean, do
they wear clothes
and that.”

Beneatha to Mama
 Joseph Asagai is coming
over for a visit and
Beneatha is concerned
that her mother will base
her comments on
stereotypes about Africa.
THEMES

Families can overcome difficult circumstances if
the members work together.

It is important to remain focused when dreams
are deferred.

Careful thought should be put in to where
money is invested.