Answer:
A theme within <em>A Raisin In The Sun</em> is dreams
Explanation:
A Raisin in the Sun is named from a 1951 Langston Hughes poem titled Montage of a Dream Deferred, and dreams play an important role in the play. "What happens to a dream deferred?" the poet wonders in the poem, which also acts as the play's epigraph (a citation at the beginning of a book that elaborates on its primary themes). thinking about whether it will shrivel up "like a raisin in the sun" or erupt. The linked and competing desires of the Youngers drive the storyline of Hansberry's play, which is based on Hughes' unanswered question. Each character has their own goals that have been put on hold owing to the family's socioeconomic limits imposed by bigotry. Despite the conclusion's forecast of future challenges for the Clybourne Park family, the endurance of these ambitions gives the play a pervading feeling of hope. The drama is around Mama and her late husband Big Walter's goal of acquiring a home. Mama recalls Big Walter's comment that it appears "like God didn't see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams," tying the postponement of her dream to racial inequity, as she clings to a dream she hasn't had for over 35 years. Ironically, it is Big Walter's death, and the $10,000 insurance money that follows, that allows Mama to realize her ambition at the end of the play. Ruth, like Mama, clings to the idea of owning a house, which causes friction with her husband, Walter Lee, who aspires to be a self-sufficient company owner. Walter's ambition to operate a liquor shop (one of the few economic opportunities available to an African-American male in mid-century Chicago) contrasts sharply with his sister Beneatha's ambition to become a doctor. However, by the end of the play, Walter's squandered investment has jeopardized both his and Beneatha's aspirations, putting a pall over the play's semi-optimistic climax, which focuses on Mama's realized dream. With the insurance money gone, Walter and Beneatha's future plans look to be in jeopardy, evoking bigger fights with socioeconomic forces beyond the individuals' control.
