Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun

Dreams and goals are a big part of every day life. People need dreams and goals to survive. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the characters all have different dreams and goals that they’re trying to accomplish. Without dreams and goals people settle for what they have and don’t strive for anything higher.

In the beginning of A Raisin in the Sun Walter Lee is trying to convince his family that his dream to invest in a liquor store will help them in the long run. In act 1 scene 1 Walter and Ruth are discussing how they’re tired of everything, tired of living in their “beat up hole of a house” (Hansberry 32). Walter states that all he wants is to invest in a liquor store with a couple of his friends and every thing will be different, “I got me a dream, I got to change my life” (Hansberry 33). Throughout the play Walter’s family tries telling him that the liquor store is a waste of time and money, but he keeps on believing that some day his dream will come true. Walter finally has a chance to have his dream and goal come true but the only thing is he has to use the money from his father’s death and he’s risking other people’s dreams and goals in the process. Dreams and goals are meant to happen to those people who work hard and strive for what they want. Walter is a perfect example of a person not wanting to work towards their dreams or goals; he wants the easy way out. They want it given to them on a silver platter with no work at all.

Beneatha had a dream to become a doctor; she wants to be able to cure the sick. Walter Lee is always pestering her because of her dream to be a doctor. “Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people-then go be a nurse like other women- or just get married and be quiet…..” (Hansberry 38). Beneatha never let any words of disencouragement get in her way of accomplishing her dreams and goals. She was going to school and not taking it for granted. She was working hard at achieving her dream of becoming a doctor. Beneatha never expected for mother to pay for her education, she never asked for the money it was given to her. When Walter Lee lost all the families money she thought that her dreams and goals were gone. The reader can tell that she wants to continue to strive to accomplish her long lived dream. Beneatha is a good example of someone knowing what they want in live and doing any thing to accomplish it, know matter if people tell