Using your analysis of the images in “Dream Deferred”, how do the images represent Walter’s dream in A Raisin in the Sun? -give...

"A Dream Deferred" is full of powerful sensory images
which are undeniably represented in this play, as Hansberry includes the poem in the
published work and references it in the title.  The question is: "what happens to a
dream deferred?"  The answer is a series of possibilities: does it dry up, fester,
stink, crust over, sag, or explode.  It's pretty clear Walter is the one who most
exemplifies these images and emotions of an unrealized
dream. 

Walter wants to do something to have a business of
his own.  We know he's not particular, because he was interested in a dry cleaning
business and now he wants to own a liquor store.  He hates his job working for someone
else (as a chauffeur) and doing anything else would be better than
what he's been doing.  He's distraught that he can't provide for his family without
help, he's angry that black men don't have as many opportunities, and he obviously feels
like he's not doing his job as a man. 

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"Somebody tell me – tell me, who decides which...
women is suppose to wear pearls in this world. I tell you I am a man – and I think my
wife should wear some pearls in this
world!" 

Despite that
sentiment, he is not able to do what he wishes he could--and some of that is clearly his
own fault.  His anger and frustration are building. 

When
it becomes increasingly clear Walter is not going to get any of the insurance money to
invest, he literally explodes.  He goes and gets drunk; he walks away from his wife in
anger; he is content, for a time, to let his wife get an abortion because a baby feels
like just one more burden; he quits going to work; he fights with his sister; he
disrespects his mother.  He's angry and accusatory and walking around with a giant chip
on his shoulder.  He feels as if he's misunderstood and certainly underestimated, which
is especially hurtful to him:

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"WALTER:  Man, I’m a volcano, a giant surrounded
by ants. Ants can’t understand a thing giants talking
about."

The volcano imagery
is certainly apt, given the poem's imagery. 

Mama finally
understands what is happening to her son, and she does give him the money.  Of course,
he is too trusting and he loses the better part of their inheritance.  This is a weight
which causes him to "sag like a heavy load."  It is short-lived, though, as Mama does
what she must to save her family, and especially her son.  The play does end with hope,
and while the Youngers will never be rich, they will, we think, be
content.

It's an interesting twist that the poem lists many
images of discontent and rottenness and sickness and shriveling--ending with an
explosion.  In the play, however, the explosion is not the last
thing; is does happen, but it's not the end.  Instead, there is a new kind of
explosion:

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"MAMA:  He finally come into his...manhood today,
didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain....
RUTH (Biting her lip,
lest her own pride explode in front of Mama)  Yes,
Lena."

How Walter sees his
life sets the tone for the rest of them.  Walter may still hate being a chauffeur; but
he has something more than he started with, and there is a hope and anticipation for the
entire family as they continue to live their lives. For Walter and his family, the dream
may have been deferred, but it does finally become a reality.