A Dream Deferred

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[monica l.]

Monica
Levi
March 31st, 2010

Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred” can specifically
relate to the broken dreams of Walter and Ruth. Walter has always
wanted to open his own business by investing in a liquor store and he
is willing to take that chance, however, Mama is the only character
with a sufficient amount of money to spend. Walter can relate to the
line “fester like a sore and then run” from Hughes’ poem when he says
“I’ve got to change my life, I’m choking to death”. It shows how his
dream of becoming rich and owning a liquor store is always nagging at
him but is never within his reach. When Walter found out that Mama
spent the money on a new house rather than using it towards his
investment, he became extremely angry. “The explosion comes from
Walter at the end of the revelation and he jumps up and turns away
from all of them in fury.” This can connect to the line in Hugh’s poem
about deferred dreams exploding. Walter exploded in an act of rage
when he found out that his dream wouldn’t come true. Another character
with a deferred dream would be Ruth. Hansberry describes her in the
beginning of the novel, “Now it is apparent that life has been little
that she expected, and disappointment has already begun to hang in her
face”. This can relate to when Hughes says “Maybe it just sags like a
heavy load”. It is clear that all of Ruth’s hopes and dreams have been
diminished and have been replaced by discontent in the way her life
has turned out. Her life goals are incomplete and she carries them
around like a massive weight on her shoulders. Both Walter and Ruth
are characters whose dreams were deferred in A Raisin in the Sun.

[Jake...@hotmail.com]

Jake Russell


Langston Hughes poem “A Dream Deferred” says “What happens to a dream
deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun?” This relates to
Walter from the play A Raisin in the sun. Walter always had a dream to
open up his own liquor store, and have a better life for himself, his
wife, and his kid. But these dreams never come true, and they seem to
“dry up”. Walter once said, “I got a boy who sleeps in the living room
and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people
live” (34) Walter wishes he could have a better house, so his son
doesn’t have to sleep in the living room. But, this dream of his just
seemed to dry up like a raisin in the sun. Ruth can also relate to the
poem “A Dream Deferred”. The novel says, “Now it is apparent that life

has been little that she expected, and disappointment has already

begun to hang in her face” (24). This shows how she has not lived up
to the way she dreamed life would be like, and it seems to bother her
constantly. This can be related to the line in the poem that says, “Or
fester like a sore”. A festering sore would constantly bother someone,
just like Ruth’s unhappiness seems to hang over her head and
constantly bother her.

[Kathia Bailey]

Kathia Bailey

Langston Hughes' poem "A Dream Deferred" is applicable to the
characters in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun". Despite the
lack of support from his family, Walter Younger dreams of opening a
local liquor store. At the start of the play, Walter mentions while
reading the morning paper, "Set off another bomb
yesterday" (Hansberry, 26) However, Walter is unaware of the explosion
of emotion that is soon to come in his own household. He begins to
express his rage by insulting George and fighting with his wife Ruth.
When his own mother, Momma, decides to use the family's inheritance to
buy a home instead of supporting Walter's dream, Walter expresses an
explosion of anger. "“The explosion comes from Walter at the end of

the revelation and he jumps up and turns away from all of them in

fury.” (91) These actions can relate to Hughes' line "does it
explode?" Contrary, Beneatha has a dream that seems to never come.
Unlike Walter, her dream does not appear ruined. Beneatha portrays a
powerful character in the play who seems to be ahead of the modern
woman of her time. She is a feminist who wants to become a doctor and
explore the life she could live, and the person she can be. While
hanging on to her African culture, it seems that her heritage is a
disadvantage that has prevented Beneatha to reach her dreams. This
situation can relate to the line "Maybe it just sags like a heavy
load." Both Walter and Beneatha have deferred dreams, however they
both obtain different characteristics that can be explained in Hughes'
"A Dream Deferred".

[Chris LoBosco]

Chris LoBosco
The poem, “A Dream Deferred,” By Langston Hughes, definitely relates
to Walter and Ruth. The play begins describing Ruth as upset because
of what her life has become; it is not as she would have wanted it to
be. Her dream of having a better life was destroyed, or deferred, as
her circumstances bind her to poverty. Instead she has to deal with
the fact that her dreams didn’t come true. Her circumstances do relate
to the line, “Or fester like a sore,” from, "A Dream Deferred,"
because, a sore is bothersome as Ruth’s unfulfilled dreams are.
However, Ruth’s life also relates to another line: "Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load." Ruth's dealing with her crushed dreams is the
heavy load that sags within her. Additionally, Walters’s circumstances
cause his dream of owning a liquor store to be deferred as well.
Because of his family's lack of support he is unable to open this
liquor store. His reaction to this is very severe. He is outraged when
he finds out the money he was hoping to spend on the liquor store was
spent on something else, and he "explodes." This clearly relates to
the line in the poem where it says a dream deferred might explode.

[monica l.]

I agree with Jake, Kathia and Chris that Walter is a character whom
relates the most back to the poem “A Dream Deferred” by Langston
Hughes. He’s the character that has probably faced the most rejection
in his lifetime. He was so close to having his dream of owning a
liquor store come true, only for it to be crushed yet again. Although
I agree with the conclusions about Walter, I disagree with Kathia
about Beneatha’s dreams being deferred. I think that Beneatha is
actually in fact taking huge steps towards achieving her goal. Rather
than sitting back and waiting for her dreams to just happen like
Walter, she is out getting an education in order to become a doctor.
She’s studying in college and is working her way up to obtain the
career choice that she’s always wanted. I think that Walter’s dreams
have definitely been deferred, while Beneatha’s dreams still have a
good chance at coming true.

[Jake]

Monica just made a great point above. I am also going to have to
disagree With Kathia about Beneatha's dreams being deferred. Out of
everyone in the book, Beneatha is taking the steps necessary to
achieve her dreams. She takes action, and studies to become a doctor.
She is going to college, and doing everything she can to reach her
goal. This makes her much different then Ruth and Walter, who have
seemed to just give up on their dreams. I also agree with Monica when
she said that Walter seems to face the most rejection. When his mom
got the money from Walter's death, he was very excited with the idea
that he may get to live his dream and get the liquor store.
Unfortunately, that dream was crushed yet again when his mom told him
he was not going to get the money.

[Kathia Bailey]

I would say i agree with Jake, Chris, and Monica that Walter and Ruth
both have deferred dreams. Walter however, is probably the character
who has the most deferred dream of all. Walter lives in a house
without support and only rejection. Having the people around you
believe that a dream is impossible, makes it even harder to achieve. I
also agree that Ruth has a deferred dream. Due to her poor money
situations, Ruth cannot provide her family with the qualifications of
a good life. For example, a nice home without roaches or a
neighborhood with class. What also stands in the way of both these
characters dreams is racism. There seems to be a surrounding in the
play that white people can be successful and only a handful of blacks
can. For instance George. I agree that Ruth and Walter both have
deferred dreams.

[Nicole Seara]

I agree with Kathia because Beneatha's dream is to become a doctor,
which is unrealistic for African Americans in that time period. In the
50's blacks weren't treated equally as whites, so for Beneatha to
obtain that job would be rare. Also the family's lack of money makes
it harder. I also agree with Jake that Ruth and Walter gave up on
their dreams but it is not Walter's fault that his dream didn't come
true. As Chris said, Ruth's dreams are deferred due to her poverty. It
is not her fault that she can't fufill her dreams. Overall, I think
every character's dream was deferred at one point or another, but it
was not necessarily their fault. I also think that overall the whole
poem describes the characters because they have crushed dreams and
there is nothing they can do about it. For example when it says "Does
it fester like a sore?, it relates because it keeps stinging and there
is nothing they could do about it.