Deferred Dreams in a Raisin in the Sun and a Streetcar Named Desire

Deferred Dreams

The two plays A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry are two classical plays that are based on the daily struggles by families trying to live life as best as they know how. There in are several setbacks and obstructions that come their way and work against them in achieving their dreams. Some of the hindrances are from without yet some are from within the family itself. One common factor between the families however is that they are both struggling to cope with the hostile societies that they live in and optimistic that some day things will look up and better days will come.

Langston Hughes in his poem poses the question "What happens to a dream deferred?" And there after gives several suggestions in form of questions to the possibilities that can befall a deferred dream. This poem perfectly applies to these two plays that are mentioned above. Deferred dreams in the two plays refuse to 'dry up like a raisin in the sun' and this is exemplified by the continued presence of Mama's plant that she carries whenever they relocated from one place to another. It is symbolic of a dream that Mama would not let dry in the sun and disappear. This refusal to let the dreams dry is also portrayed by Williams when in the play we see Stella giving birth towards the end of the play and the ill character that is Blanche is allowed to be raped and be sent to the asylum, an indication of a new and fresh era and generation, one that will live within the conscious of reality and morality, and not in self deceit like Blanche did.

In both plays, the authors at one point paint a picture of dreams 'that fester like a sore

And then run' just when the audience think things are working out for the god of the families. For instance in A Raisin in the Sun, just when the family gets the insurance compensation and the audience expect the family to stabilize du to the $10,000 compensation, it becomes the point of contention in the family pitching Mama against the son Walter Lee. The same is depicted in A Streetcar Named Desire when Blanche DuBois runs to New Orleans with the hope of starting a new life after losing her ancestral mansion yet she is met with hostility from the brother-in-law named Stanley who is filled with class resentment to a point of raping her and advocating for her to be sent to the insane asylum. Both cases display dreams that have festered or have become worse and the effects running over like a festering wound.

Both plays also depict families that are sagging under the weight of the dreams that they have for the future generation. They are primarily concerned with the well being of the family and those who are to come as well as decent living standards like the other members of the society. This is the burden that makes the Mama family to strive to own a house in the white neighborhood despite threats and warnings not to since they were black. It is the same burden that Blanche had and kept resilient even under the unbearable conditions that she was subjected to by Stanley. Indeed towards the end of the play, Blanche has the feeling that she has now overcome all obstacles and she was headed to live with a millionaire in a luxurious home. These dreams sag on all the central characters in the two plays like a load and they bear it with optimism that the following day would be better.