Comparing The American Dream In John Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

“The Everlasting and Ever Changing Prevalence of The American Dream” The American dream, as the world knows it, can be defined in three terms: money, power, and glory. Each of these terms encompasses several key ideas. For example, “power” can come in the form of a high title in society, whereas “glory” can be as simple as winning the heart of the picture-perfect man or woman. The American dream has no limitations; therefore, throughout history its aspiration has been seen in both men and women, natives and immigrants, the black and white. The idea has also been reflected through American Literature, depicting people of all sorts struggling through the climb to the top. Despite the poverty-stricken and primarily black setting of A Raisin

While the big-picture idea can be attributed all the way back to The Declaration of Independence, where in this case the dream is made only for white people, there are traces of the concept all throughout history. The ideology, when stripped of all racism or any other limitations, can be described as the “opportunity to improve your life, no matter who you are” (Amadeo). In A Raisin In The Sun, Hansberry writes the story relatable to that of many lower-class black families in the early to mid 1900s. The Youngers, a struggling family of five on the southside of Chicago, desired something more than the rundown apartment they were living in and their servantry-like jobs. As the Youngers spent their day to day lives working for wealthy white people, their longing for a better reality grew stronger. Walter Lee Younger, the man of the house, wished for change more than anyone in the family. He was never content with what he had and at one point Ruth, his wife, put his constant unhappiness into perspective when she said, “So you would rather be Mr. Arnold than be his chauffeur. So- I would rather be living in the Buckingham Palace” (Hansberry). The Youngers, despite their healthy and somewhat joyful family, needed to move forward from the state they were in. This same drive to do better is present in contemporary life today and is an ever changing idea

In a video interview conducted by the New York Times titled “Defining the American Dream”, several people were asked to simply explain what their life would be like if they were living that reality. For Susan Mendez, a marketing agent who participated as one of the interviewees, the American dream “is to have a great family and a great home on the beach somewhere” (Shayla Harris). Again, much of the dynamics of the Younger's values reflects what is seen in contemporary society in that the aspects of what one’s American dream is can be a variety of things. One of the most common ideas about the American dream in relation to poverty is that “when times are hard, people shift their definition of the American dream. It becomes more about values like freedom and opportunity and less about things like material success” (Shayla Harris). This is shown in the play as what the family desires waivers between pure happiness and materialism depending on when they had money and when they did