The title of the play “A Raisin in the Sun” represents how the dreams of the characters Walter, Mama, and Beneatha are dried up like a raisin. The Youngers are a black family living in Chicago in the 1950’s. Walter's dream is to own a liquor store and take care of his family with the money he makes with the businesses. Mama’s dream is to be free and have rights like everyone else. Lastly, Beneatha’s dream is to be a doctor and take care of the people around her to make the world a better place. All of these examples show how our character’s dreams can be related back to the title “A Raisin in the Sun” if they are unable to achieve their dreams. Walter’s dream is to own a few liquor stores around the city and make lots of money to take care of his family. On page 109 in “A Raisin in the Sun” it states “You wouldn’t understand yet, son, but your daddy’s gonna make a transaction. a business transaction that’s going to change our lives”. …show more content…
On page 51 in “A Raisin in the Sun” it states, “Oh I probably will. but first I'm going to be a doctor and George for one still thinks that's pretty funny. I couldn't be bothered and everybody around her understood that”. This piece of evidence shows how Beneatha has made up her mind and wants to be a doctor. She is now dedicated to becoming a doctor and helping the people around her. Later on, Beneatha realizes her dream is gone because she can't go into medical school because Walter has lost the money. On page 133 it states” That was the most marvelous thing in the world. I wanted to do that. I always thought it was the one concrete thing in the world that a human being could do. Fix up the sick, you know—and make them whole again”. This piece of evidence shows how Beneatha is now disappointed she can’t follow her dreams and that her dreams are
“Check coming today?” The Life Insurance check that Mama will soon be receiving is the source of all the dreams in the Younger family. A major argument that Lorraine Hansberry makes in her play A Raisin in the Sun is the importance of dreams. Dreams are what each member of the Younger family is driven by. Mama wants to have her own home in a nice part of town; she does not want her children growing up in a place with rats. Walter wants to have a successful business so he can surpass the poverty that has plagued his family. And Beneatha wants to get a good education, become a doctor, and marry a nice man. Dreams are especially important to the Younger family as they come from a poverty laden family and desire to live the “American Dream.” Every member of the Younger family has a dream but each one is different with a different view on what the true “American Dream” really is.
The American dream has been visualized and pursued by nearly everyone in this nation. Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about the Younger family that strived for the American dream. The members of the Younger family shared a dream of a better tomorrow. In order to reach that dream, however, they each took different routes, which typified the routes taken by different black Americans.
Lorraine Hansberry, the author of A Raisin in the Sun, supports the theme of her play from a montage of, A Dream Deferred, by Langston Hughes. Hughes asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” He suggests many alternatives to answering the question. That it might “dry up like a raisin in the sun,” or “fester like a sore.” Yet the play maybe more closely related to Hughes final question of the poem, “Or does it explode?” The play is full of bombs that are explosions of emotion set off by the frustration of the Younger family, who are unable to grasp the possible reality of their dreams. The family shares the dream of having a better life but compete against each other for the insurance money given to Mama after her husband’s death. The son of Mama, Walter, dreams of being a rich black man by investing the money in a liquor store. His sister, Beneatha, wants to use the money to finish school, so she can pursue her life as a doctor. Mama would rather use the money to buy a home and leave their run down house in the ghetto. Their frustration is obtained from their dreams being deferred and the emotions burst like an exploding time bomb.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The primary focus of the play is the American Dream. The American Dream is one’s conception of a better life. Each of the main characters in the play has their own idea of what they consider to be a better life. A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes the importance of dreams regardless of the various oppressive struggles of life.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about the Younger family, a black family trying to achieve their goals, and help their family financially. Walter’s dream is to open a liquor store, Mama’s dream is to buy a house, and Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor. While some may argue that Walter’s dream may provide an immediate and steady income, statistics say that 60% of local businesses fail within the first 18 months (Engel n.p.). Some may also argue that Mama’s dream is more important; however, if they buy a house, and don’t have enough money to pay the bills, the Younger family would be back to where they were before. Beneatha's dream of becoming a doctor would benefit her family in the long run, promote the idea of women becoming doctors, and help to end racial differences.
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry is realistic fictional drama in which the play 's title and the character represent the play 's theme. The play focused on Black America 's Struggle to reach the American Dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness during the 1950s and the 1960s. The idea of everyone having the chance to achieve a better life should exist for all. Hansberry conceives her title using a line from Langston Hughes poem “A dream deferred”. The original poem was written in 1951 about Harlem. Hughes’ line from the poem state that when dreams are deferred “Does it dry up like a Raisin in the Sun”. This meant that they describe them as being small and already pretty withered. Hughes poem further suggested that when
In Europe during the Middle ages - from 476 to 1100 - there were many things happening at once. There was the plague, holy wars, and poverty. These events inspired the Italian Scholar Petrarch to dub it a “Dark Age”. But there were also many positive things, as listed below. The Dark Ages were not a dark period as Petrarch suggested. They were a time of ________
Walter destroyed what you would call a family. You would think that money could be the solution of all of your problems, but instead Walter let the insurance money influence him and let it control him. A Raisin in the Sun is a play that took place in the 1950s in Southside Chicago which made a major difference on how family acted towards each other. When Walter spends all of the money that Mama has trusted him with Beneatha, Mama, and Ruth are disappointment at him. Even at one point Beneatha states “Bad? Say anything bad to him? No-I told him he was a sweet boy and full of dreams and everything is strictly peachy keen, as the ofay kids say!” With this, you can see that Beneatha is beyond disappointed and she believes that Walter cannot be saved from his illness which is in this case the money. According to Masterplots,Fourth Edition November 2010,p1-3 it states “These opportunities, however, create tensions and competition in the Younger family dramatized by Walter’s verbal battles with his mother and sister and Beneatha’s arguments with her mother. Moreover, the elusiveness of these dreams create frustration that leads to bitterness.”(Tackach). What I believe this quote indicates is that since the Younger family knew about insurance money there has been competition between the Youngers siblings deciding who gets the money either if it Walter for his
The concept of the American Dream has always been that everyone wants something in life, no matter if it is wealth, education, financial stability, safety, or a decent standard of living. In addition, everyone will try to strive to get what they want. The American Dream, is said to be that everyone should try and get what they hope they can get in life. In the play A Raisin in the Sun the author Hansberry tells us about a family where each has an American Dream, and Hughes in the poem “ Let America be America Again “is telling us to let America be the America that was free for us to obtain The American Dream. Hansberry and Langston see America like as a place to find the dream desired, although they also see limitation to obtain the American Dream, such as poverty, freedom, inequality, racism and discrimination.
In ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, Lorraine Hansberry describes each of the family’s dreams and how they are deferred. In the beginning of the play Lorraine Hansberry chose Langston Hughes’s poem to try describe what the play is about and how, in life, dreams can sometimes be deferred.
Everyone grows up with the thought of an American dream in mind . Unfortunately that American dream is only limited to the people who are not of color. Sadly the people of color and the american dream don 't match up to well. I feel that this is because it can’t be easily obtained due to improper education and never being given the opportunity to show what they’re made of. Maybe if we weren 't categorized by our living arrangements, or the amount of our wealth, or better yet being presumed as these incompetent animals who aren’t good for nothing. Then we too would be able to achieve our own american dreams ,but as people of color the chances of that are not likely living in a world that feeds us with this improper mindset.
Due to the large number of opportunities and freedom that the American Dream supposedly offers, individuals from all walks of life have their own personal American Dream that they wish to achieve. For most people those dreams will, however, never turn into reality. Especially African Americans, they have a hard time realizing their dreams and achieving their goals in the 1950’s through the 60’s. Too many challenges that hamper the achievements of their dreams were part of their daily life and difficult to overcome in the. What adds to the hardships of black American families is a generation gap that seems to widen due to the diverging perceptions of the American Dream. Thereby, the aspirations for financial success, that were especially present among younger generations, display a far-off shot from the original paradigm of the American Dream, which used to be the pursuit of happiness, freedom, justice, and more fruitful future prospects for the coming generations. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she shows that achieving one’s dream, especially the American Dream can be difficult, through characterization, conflict, and setting.
The American Dream The American dream has always been a talk amongst the American culture. When people speak of it, they often think back to the 19th century. The American Dream can be thought about when learning information on the Declaration of Independence which states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. This was written by Thomas Jefferson.
Dreams of owning a business and having money to accomplish goals are two key parts played out throughout the whole process. Walter Younger is determined to have his own business and he will go to ends meet to see that dream come true. Financial bridges are crossed and obstacles arise when Walter makes a bad decision regarding money that could have helped the family and not only himself, if he had thought smarter. His pride and dignity are tested throughout the story and he is forced to set up for his family. The Raisin in the Sun helps readers to understand the history of racial discrimination and how racial discrimination has an effect on the people in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well as how that has an effect on the characters within the play.
“A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about an African-American family, who faces discrimination and financial struggles, but still remains united throughout their journey in buying a new home. Just like the Youngers, people create lifelong goals and dreams, in which they want to accomplish. When they do not fulfill their dreams, it simply becomes “a raisin in the sun” because just like a raisin loses its juice when kept outside for too long, a dream loses its significance as well. The Younger family all have distinctive dreams and throughout the play, they do not realize the importance of family until their dreams became deferred. The title “A Raisin in the Sun” is a representation of all the characters’ dreams being deferred.