Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work.
The Value and Purpose of Dreams
A Raisin in the Sun is essentially about
dreams, as the main characters struggle to deal with the oppressive
circumstances that rule their lives. The title of the play references
a conjecture that Langston Hughes famously posed in a poem he wrote
about dreams that were forgotten or put off. He wonders whether
those dreams shrivel up “like a raisin in the sun.” Every member
of the Younger family has a separate, individual dream—Beneatha
wants to become a doctor, for example, and Walter wants to have
money so that he can afford things for his family. The Youngers
struggle to attain these dreams throughout the play, and much of
their happiness and depression is directly related to their attainment
of, or failure to attain, these dreams. By the end of the play,
they learn that the dream of a house is the most important dream
because it unites the family.
The Need to Fight Racial Discrimination
The character of Mr. Lindner makes the theme of racial
discrimination prominent in the plot as an issue that the Youngers
cannot avoid. The governing body of the Youngers’ new neighborhood,
the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, sends Mr. Lindner to persuade
them not to move into the all-white Clybourne Park neighborhood.
Mr. Lindner and the people he represents can only see the color
of the Younger family’s skin, and his offer to bribe the -Youngers
to keep them from moving threatens to tear apart the Younger family
and the values for which it stands. Ultimately, the Youngers respond
to this discrimination with defiance and strength. The play powerfully
demonstrates that the way to deal with discrimination is to stand
up to it and reassert one’s dignity in the face of it rather than
allow it to pass unchecked.
The Importance of Family
The Youngers struggle socially and economically throughout
the play but unite in the end to realize their dream of buying a
house. Mama strongly believes in the importance of family, and she
tries to teach this value to her family as she struggles to keep
them together and functioning. Walter and Beneatha learn this lesson
about family at the end of the play, when Walter must deal with
the loss of the stolen insurance money and Beneatha denies Walter
as a brother. Even facing such trauma, they come together to reject
Mr. Lindner’s racist overtures. They are still strong individuals,
but they are now individuals who function as part of a family.
When they begin to put the family and the family’s wishes before
their own, they merge their individual dreams with the family’s
overarching dream.
