This essay was written for Introduction to Literature 211.
Grace A. Poynter
Dr. Julie Steward
English 211
23 November 2020
Shining a Light on Dreams
Beginning at a young age, many of us are told phrases such as “be anything you want to be” or “dream big.” Growing up with these thoughts in our heads, we harbor hopes of being the President of the United States or Olympians. Unfortunately, as we grow, the dreams we have been taught to embrace slowly move further away from us as we try to run after them. We learn it is unlikely to be the President and it takes a lot of hard work and talent to be an Olympian, and the heavy “real world” hammer forcefully crushes those dreams. Poet Oscar Wilde writes, “For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world” (Wilde). When our dreams originate in our imaginations, we see reality with a moonlit view instead of seeing the harsh actuality of our dreams. When we see this better-lit reality, our dreams weigh on us like a punishment, and those dreams feel more unachievable. This seemingly unachievable type of dream is written about in Langston Hughes’ “Harlem,” in which he asks a series of questions about what happens to a “dream deferred” (Hughes l. 1). In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, she answers Hughes’ question and details what can happen to these seemingly unachievable dreams and the people who are dreaming them.
Mama’s dream of owning a house and garden “rots” like the dream in Hughes’ “Harlem.” In A Raisin in the Sun, Mama harbors a plant and a dream to have a garden one day. The garden dream is first mentioned when Mama talks about how hard her husband, Mr. Younger, worked and “just couldn’t never catch up with his dreams” (Hansberry 1519). The dream of a garden symbolizes a hope of having peace and ease, like gardens often bring to many people. The plant, described as a “feeble little plant, growing doggedly in a small pot on the windowsill,” is the only greenery she can have due to their living conditions, and even that is not doing well (Hansberry 1516). This plant symbolizes growth for the family, but like the Younger family, the plant is not growing well, either: “Lord, if this little old plant don’t get more sun than it’s been getting it ain’t never going to see spring again” (Hansberry 1516). After Walter loses the money to Willy, Mama says, “Sometimes you just got to know when to give up some things…and hold on to what you got” (Hansberry 1564). In Langston Hughes’ “Harlem,” the speaker asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” and then asks, “Does it stink like rotten meat?” (Hughes l. 1; l. 6). Comparable to “rotten meat,” Mama knows she must give this dream up to go on living their lives before it starts to make their futures “smell”. If she keeps focusing on this dream, she may miss what is available to her to better the family. Even if it is not the perfect life she wants, she is accepting that her dream has rotted and needs to be thrown away. When the Younger family eventually leaves the apartment to move into Clybourne Park, Mama finally is able to take her growing objects – her plant and her family – somewhere healthier to help them flourish.
Ruth’s story is another response to Hughes’ question regarding deferred dreams, answering the question, “Or crust and sugar over-- / like a syrupy sweet?” (Hughes ll. 7-8). At the beginning of the story, Ruth is metaphorically working her way through syrup. Because progress is slow and painful while living in, as Ruth describes it, “this here rat trap,” there is not much hope of having anything better (Hansberry 1519). After Mama pays the down payment on a house, Ruth’s outlook changes (Hansberry 1542). She becomes elated, even though the house is in an all-white neighborhood, shouting, “Hallelujah! and good-bye misery … I don’t never want to see your ugly face again!” (Hansberry 1543). For Ruth, her dream of having a home for her family that does not have “marching roaches” or a “cramped little closet which ain’t now or never was no kitchen” ostensibly cannot be deferred simply because the neighborhood is not ideal (Hansberry 1543). By the time moving day arrives, Ruth has bought “hand-turned hems” and fantasized about taking baths in her own tub, instead of sharing it with other families (Hansberry 1549). Even the troubled relationship with her husband begins to change for the better; Ruth tells Beneatha of their trip to the movies and how they “held hands” (Hansberry 1549). Although the progress may have previously been slow like syrup, there was now something to look forward to. Sadly, like many sugary, liquid substances do, the family’s slow, syrupy progress turns hard and completely “crusts over” when Walter loses the insurance money. Ultimately, the slow progress and almost-deferred-dream shows Ruth that hope is worth holding on to.
Walter Lee’s story is the answer to Hughes’ final question about a deferred dream: “Or does it explode?” (Hughes l. 11). The theme of explosion follows Walter throughout the story. Walter’s angry outbursts such as “Damn my eggs…damn all the eggs that ever was!” and his unpredictable compulsiveness show that he is, self-described, “a volcano” (Hansberry 1513; 1539). Walter’s dream to be a businessman explodes in two ways: bursting to life when Mama trusts him with the money and burning himself and his entire family when he loses that money. When he is first given the money, Walter’s dreams begin to come to life, and he tells Travis about everything he will be able to do for the boy (Hansberry 1548). Like a firework, this explosion is beautiful, but gone too soon. When Walter loses all the money to Willy, he essentially sets a bomb on his dream of owning a liquor store and his entire family’s dreams. This decision consequentially enflames the Younger family’s dream of their new house in Clybourne Park and Beneatha’s dream of being a doctor. Additionally, this decision detonates the relationships in the family: Mama beats Walter “senselessly in the face” and Beneatha tells him, “I look at you and I see the final triumph of stupidity in the world!” (Hansberry 1559; 1563). Although Walter’s dream of being a businessman explodes, he realizes his mistake and maturely gathers the debris to provide his family with a home suitable for living.
Dreams, sometimes, can be cruel. Though it can feel as if being a dreamer is a punishment, due to being met with more harsh realities than if we did not dream at all, dreaming is a necessary part of life. Without his dream of desegregation, Martin Luther King, Jr. could have lived an average life for any African American in the late 20th century. His dream was challenging, and he was met with a brutal light that exposed the racist beliefs in America. Because his dream was ground shaking, he paved the way for other African Americans, such as the Younger family, to be able to dream as they wish. As well as Martin Luther King, Jr., artists like Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry tackled harsh realities and shone light onto them by writing about African American’s who, also, have a dream.
Works Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by
Kelly J. Mays, shorter 13th ed., W.W. Norton, 2019, pp. 1507-1570.
Hughes, Langston. “Harlem.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Kelly J. Mays,
shorter 13th ed., W. W. Norton, 2019, p. 1073.
Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde.” Literature Network, www.online-literature.com/wilde/1305/.
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