Theme of Dream in a Raisin in the Sun and Mother to Son

Should you give up on a dream if something you can’t control prevents you from doing so? In life, this is a deterrent to most people’s dreams, which often results in those plans being given up and left out with the trash. In the two texts, the characters do not let these factors overcome their aspirations. The themes of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” similarly display the themes of progress made through pursuing dreams even in the face of outside forces.

One of the similar themes in both A Raisin in the Sun and “Mother to Son” is the idea of the difficulty of achieving dreams due to outside forces. In A Raisin in the Sun, one of the main dreams that the Younger family shares are to rise up out of poverty and move forward, just as their deceased father was able to do for them. This goal is mainly highlighted by Walter Younger, the man of the family. He wants to become rich so that he can prove that he can provide for his family, but his job does not make a lot of income. As he says to his wife, Ruth, “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” (Hansberry, 34). As Walter admits, he does not have the means to properly support his family, and as he is only a chauffeur, he can’t do this as well as he’d like. He can not control what jobs he gets, which becomes even harder once one considers the color of his skin. Conversely, in the poem “Mother To Son”, one can see that the motherly speaker also faces some challenges that she has to overcome. As she talks about her metaphorical stairway, she notes her difficulties. Her stairs “Had tacks in it,/And splinters/And boards torn up/” (Hughes, 3-5). These physical obstacles are from outside sources as it would be illogical for her to make these on her own, as it would only make it harder for her. She has to navigate around these obstacles to reach higher. Hence, from both written works, we can begin to see the relationship between the themes, specifically of dreams and the complexity of them being reached by external forces.

As most people know, dreams do not always come to pass. This usually happens to people’s dreams when they do not try hard enough, but it can also happen to people who try very hard for them to come true, such as the Younger family from Lorraine Hansberry’s play and the speaker from Langston Hughes’ poem. For the Youngers, Walter’s dream of being able to support and move his family forward is planned out in his creation of a liquor store with some friends, including Willy Harris. However, once Walter gets the money they need to start, Willy skips town with the money. After finding out about this, Walter speaks to the non-existent Willy, exclaiming, “Willy…dont do it…Please don't do it…Man, not with that money…Man, please, not with that money…Man… I trusted you…Man, I put my life in your hands… (Hansberry, 128)” This utter desperation highlights how this deal was Walter Younger’s only shot at obtaining more money than his chaffering job gave him already if he wanted to fulfill his aspirations. Now, Walter has lost almost all of his father’s life insurance money and the finish line to his dream is even further away from where it was earlier in the play. In the other text, there is also a possibility that the speaker may not reach her goal. She, at an older age, still has not reached her goal. As the speaker tells her son, “I’se still goin’, honey,/I’se still climbin’ (Hughes, 18, 29)” While we do not know for sure if in the future she will reach her goal that is metaphorically reaching the end of her stair, we do know that she has not reached it yet, and she might never will. From both of these texts, we can continue to observe the overlapping themes of dreams that may not come true.

The final synonymous theme of both “Mother to Son” and A Raisin in the Sun is that even in the midst of uncontrollable circumstances and defied dreams, it is important to continue to progress. This is displayed in Lorraine Hansberry’s play as even after the devastating hit of losing the insurance money, the Younger family continued on in order to gain a better home for themselves. They plan to work harder to raise the money for the bigger rent, as Ruth exclaims, “I’ll strap my baby on my back if I have to and scrub all the floors in America and wash all the sheets in America if I have to- but we got to MOVE! We got to get OUT OF HERE!! (Hansberry, 140). Ruth’s determination in this quote shows her desire to work hard to get closer to her family’s goal of not being in poverty, even if it does not completely achieve it. Similarly, in “Mother to Son”, the mother encourages her son to continue on, saying, “So boy, don’t you turn back./Don’t you set down on the steps/’Cause you finds it’s kinda hard” (Hughes, 14-16). Here, the mom is encouraging her son to continue up his stairs even with the challenges that he might face along the way, which is similar to Ruth’s perseverance, as they both illustrate the importance of persistence. Therefore, both mothers from the two works show the importance of continuing on in the face of failure, as it might lead to progress.

In analysis, the development of dreams that occurs through perseverance even with independent factors barring the way is present in both the themes of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son”. These ideas are shown through the Younger family from their dream of emerging out of poverty and moving on further, which is blocked by their troubles earning money, as well as being swindled by their friend, however, they progress by moving to a better house. In “Mother to Son”, the themes are illustrated by the metaphorical obstacles on the stairs, which have led to the stairs not being finished, even so, the climber of the stairs has passed on their advice to their kin and plans to keep climbing. From this evidence, one can conclude that the positives of chasing a dream far outweigh the negatives, as the worst thing that can happen if you continue to follow it is that it won’t happen, while if you give up on your dream, you won’t ever know if it will ever come true.