Americans are always looking to the future. Sometimes, we let this get in the way of the beauty of the present, where people “want so many things that they are driving [them] kind of crazy” (Hansberry Act 1 scene 2). As shown mostly by Walter Lee in A Raisin in the Sun, this way of thinking may not always be beneficial and can be pretty risky because these thoughts can cloud our brains with falsities, where we are blind to reality. Our heads are always filled with dreams and thoughts of the future,
ENG-112-702 September 18, 2015 A Raisin in the Sun A Raisin in the Sun in a fascinating story of a struggling family's highs and lows taking place in a small apartment. The Youngers have a family of five Ruth, Lena, Beneatha, Walter Lee Jr, and Travis. This play by Lorraine Hansberry portrays how dreams can dry up just like a raisin in the sun. The main conflict within the story is that Lena (Mama) will be receiving a 10,000 dollar insurance check for the death of her husband Walter Lee Sr. and they all have
a lot of what we do. In the drama, The Death of a Salesman and A Raisin the Sun, this strain couldn’t be more apparent. These stories bear the lives of two classic American families who lived during the 1940’s. Their everyday activities showcase a very average life, in addition to the many trials that encompass it. The book Death of a Salesman tells the story of an every-day white family living in New York, while A Raisin in the Sun is the tale of an archetypal black family living in Chicago. While
A Raisin in the Sun “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up/Like a raisin in the sun?” Langston Hughes creates a vivid image of what happens to a dream when it gets delayed or postponed in his poem, A Dream Deferred. He explores the effect that dreams can have on the human spirit, much like Lorraine Hansberry’s dramatic play, A Raisin in the Sun. In her play, Hansberry offers the belief that the dreams that can urge on our ambitions can also destroy our psyche if not properly nurtured
Money is a large factor in A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, because the Younger family is very poor. Their apartment is very small, only four rooms total. Two bedrooms, a living area, and a kitchen. The living area also supplements as a bedroom for the youngest, Travis. The Younger Family shares a bathroom with multiple other families inside their apartment. The furniture is outdated and they only have one little windowsill, with one potted plant growing on it. The plant is Mama's
always some people who cannot get ahead in life. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun which is set in Southern Chicago in a period between 1950 and 1951, Walter Lee Young, the protagonist of the book, is a man who “cannot get ahead in life”. He is frustrated by his position in life. However, his pursuit of materialism and goal to prove his worth as a man illustrate his image as the biggest dreamer in the book. Walter Lee Younger’s identity as a dreamer directly leads to his vehemence toward
The American Dream Essay In the 1950s, many people’s American Dream consisted of raising a family, owning a house and a car, and maintaining stable incomes at their jobs. Economic stability was valued much more highly than money or materialism. However, as time passed, society changed and so did its measure of success; people became dissatisfied and wanted more. Not only do people today want everything those in the 1950’s wanted, but also aspire to lead more materialistic and wealthy lifestyles
Struggling to survive and living in a society that is antagonistic to one’s dreams are common themes in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Each family has forces, both internal and external, driving the characters towards success or failure. The forces acting on the families also affect the reader’s judgments of each family. The Lomans and Youngers are in similar situations and have many negative forces directed at them, but the strength of the family