The American dream in A Raisin in the Sun revolves around how the Younger family, living in a crowded three-room tenement in Chicago's South Side, copes with the problem of how to allocate a $10,000 insurance check. The Younger family faces racial prejudice and know this windfall money probably represents their one shot at making life better for themselves. For this family, the American dream is represented in three possible uses for the money: investing in a business, investing in education, or investing in a house in a White suburb. All are paths to upper mobility, but after multiple problems, including being cheated out of a big part of the money, the family makes the decision to face down prejudice in the hopes of starting a better life in the suburbs.

In Trifles, the American dream is harder to locate, but it lies in the hope that two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, have of helping Mrs. Wright evade the injustice of the male dominated criminal justice system after she snaps and murders her abusive husband. By sticking together and defending a fellow woman by not revealing murder evidence, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters take a stand for a better life for all women. Their dream, though not spelled out, involves a world in which a woman doesn't have to tolerate an abusive husband.

Both of these stories are relevant today. Racial prejudice still limits opportunities for Black people, and sexism still leads to wife abuse and violence toward women.