In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, one of the most important themes is the American Dream. Many of the characters in this play have hopes and aspirations; they all strive towards their goals throughout the play. However, many of the characters in the play have different dreams that clash with each other. Problems seem to arise when different people’s dreams conflict with one another; such as Walter’s versus Bennie’s, George’s versus Asagai’s, and the Clybourne Park versus the Younger’s.
Walter and Bennie both have very different mindsets and they constantly are fighting, therefor they both have very different dreams that are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Walter’s dream is to be his own boss in a liquor store. All he dreams about is the liquor business that he will have, it is his life. When he finds he lost the money later in the novel, he says “… Man, I put my life in your hands… ” ( ) All he ever dreamed of was the liquor business, when he lets out this statement of desperation, the reader really realizes how much all of it meant to him.
Bennie’s dreams are very different, she wants to be a female doctor. This dream was very unusual for a “colored” girl in the 50’s. Her dream requires money from Mama, but so does Walter’s; it is ironic when both of them lose their dreams when the money is gone. When the money is lost, the reader also realizes how large of a role it played in Bennie’s dreams because of the large cost of medical school. They constantly battle with each other over the legitimacy and importance of each other’s dreams. They both are greedy in wanting what’s best for them, and they fail to see how each other’s dreams can help the whole family in general.
If Walter would realize that if Bennie became a doctor they would make more money, then he might have supported her because it would help the family. Bennie would have supported Walter’s dreams more if she realized how profitable a liquor store could be, and how that could possibly help pay for medical school. It is this stubbornness (on Walter’s behalf mainly) that loses them the money. The second set of dreams that are in conflict with each other is George’s Dream vs. Agasis’s dream. George’s dream is simply to blend in, become successful.
He feels as if he is as much an American as anyone else, White or Black, and it is his dream to blend in and assimilate. George accepts that he has become part of American culture and society, he wants to be. Furthermore, he tries to impose he viewpoints on Bennie, and get her to disregard the ideas that Asagai is telling her. Agasis’s Dream is to make a successful Africa. All he wants to do is create a better Africa, and a better home for his people. He says, “I will go home and much of what I will have to say will seem strange to the people of my village.
But I will teach and work and things will happen, slowly and swiftly. ” ( ) This shows how he has only one dream – the dream of saving Africa, but this dream is very different from George’s dream of assimilationism. Both characters try to persuade Bennie to agree with their own views and dreams. The third set of clashing dreams, and the most significant, is the dream of the white people in Clybourne Park versus the Younger’s dream. The only thing that matters in the end to the Younger’s is to be able to live in a new house with enough rooms for all of them and a nice neighborhood.
All that the White people dream about is to keep their neighborhood white. Mr. Linder says ” But you’ve got to admit that a man, right or wrong, has the right to want to have the neighborhood he lives in a certain kind of way. ” ( ) He means that they want to keep the dream of having a white neighborhood. Both the Younger’s and the people at Clybourne Park cannot have their dreams because the Younger’s cannot have their new house unless they move in, and then the Clybourne Park dream is lost.
Likewise, the folks of Clybourne Park cannot keep their dream of an all white neighborhood unless they destroy the Younger’s dream of owning a new house. Though out he play, A Raisin in the Sun, many different people have many different conflicting dreams, however the main characters seem to get their dream in the end when they decide to move into their new house. Perhaps their dreams individually do not come true as much as their common dream as a whole – the dream to stay together and fight for what they believe in.
