Their dreams become dried up like a raisin in the sun. Not just dreams are dried up though; Walter Lee and Ruth's marriage became dried up also. Their marriage was no longer of much importance, like a dream it was post-poned and it became dry. Their struggle for happiness dried up because they had to concentrate all of their energies on surviving. Their needs seem no longer to be satisfied by each other. But they both saw a resolution in the insurance check arriving in the mail. The money would let Ruth fulfill her dream of owning her own house and leaving the apartment. Walter would use the money towards his dream of owning a business and not having to work for someone. This would allow him to provide for his family. Emotionally, the stress from not having their dreams realized has left them despising each other.

Their sadness at unfulfilled dreams overlain with the burden of Ruth's pregnancy gets out of hand when Walter says, "Who even cares about you?" T

Walter Lee is the volcano about to explode. He does whatever he can to fulfill his dream because his dream is bubbling and needs to come out. But he is also explosive in another way. In an explosive moment, he fulfills his family's dream of having a house of their own. He stands up for his family against the "Clybourne Park Improvement Association" and lives up to his responsibilities. Mama's dream is also the one that explodes. She finally decided to fulfill the dream that she had had for so many years. But then she saw it threatened when Walter Lee lost all of their money and the liquor store would never bring in the money she was counting on. Her reaction was a violent one. "Mama stops and looks at her son without recognition and then, quite without thinking about it, starts to beat him senselessly in the face."

Even Walter, selfish as he seemed to be, put his family's need before his own. He had lost all the money and was going to recuperate some of it by taking Mr. Lindner's offer. This way they would have been able to have some money but would have had to stay in the same apartment. In the end he thought about his family and ancestors and decided to not sell the house.

The themes of the play all have to do with what is learned through life experiences. The Younger family learned certain things by experiencing them. Unfortunately, these life lessons came at an expensive price to all of them.

A theme of the play is to put the family's needs first. This theme is shown with Ruth and her unborn baby. Ruth was thinking about having an abortion and had even paid a five-dollar down payment to the doctor. Her explanation to Walter was, "...I-I'm sorry about this new baby, Walter. I guess maybe I better go on and do what I started... I guess I just didn't realize how bad things was with us... I guess I just didn't realize." Ruth was going to destroy the baby because she felt that she and Walter did not have enough money to support another family member. She also felt that the baby would have been brought into a world of fighting. Beneatha also had influence on Ruth's decision when she asked, "... where is he going to live? On the roof?" Beneatha felt that if Ruth had another baby the already strenuous living situation would just be complicated more. But Ruth later realized that she should not take the life of her baby and decided to keep it. She felt encouraged by the improvement in her relationship with Walter and the new spacious house. She put her unborn baby's needs before her own.

he two of them realize at that time that their relationship has dwindled to nothing but nagging and rude comments. Walter may be sorry for having said that to his wife, because he probably loves her, but he is at the end of his rope. He feels that every dream he has had has been taken away from him, either by bad timing or by the white man in general. Ruth, on the other hand, has never had any other dream except to keep her family together and in working order, and now that is falling apart.

Beneatha's dream is the one that "just sags like a heavy load." Beneatha comes to a realization that all that she had believed in since her youth appears now to be false. She assumed that by being a doctor, she could cure people of what ails them. She witnessed her brother's insanity after losing the money he was to use for his family and realized that someone she did not know had also stolen the means for her education. This caused her to realize that the ailments of man are not just of a physical nature. She was forced to accept that the problems of the Younger family would persist, regardless of the means that appeared to help. She felt that all that she had hoped for since she was a child was taken away from her without her knowledge. Asagai tried to convince her that not all was lost. He tried to convince her that it was more of an opportunity for the future doctor, as she would be able to apply what she learned from the difficulties in her l

Some common words found in the essay are:
Walter Lee, Mama Oh, Walter Mama, Morgan Park, Lee Ruth's, Chicago's Southside, Charlie Atkins, Mama Mama's, Mama Son-I, Beneatha Ruth, walter lee, liquor store, fulfill dream, provide family, walter money, raisin sun, willy harris, money walter, dream walter, lost money, married eleven boy, boy sleeps living, dream walter lee's, eleven boy sleeps, walter lee's dream,
Approximate Word count = 3921
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)