Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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The American Dream is the belief that anybody can achieve success by hard work, sacrifice, and risk taking. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger family did everything the American Dream believed to equal success and were only partly successful. The play also expressed that successful and rich people don't seem to work hard, sacrifice for the opportunity to earn more, and take risks. The American Dream does not guarantee success like it says and people who follow it to success will most likely fail. There is an assumption that people who are rich and successful have worked hard all their life and deserve all their success. However, very few successful people seem to work hard to achieve what they dream. In an interaction …show more content…

While they did end up moving into their dream house after they got the insurance for when Walter’s father died, Walter never got to open his dream liquor store and Beneatha lost all her money for her medical school. They only got a portion of what they wanted, which proves that people like them will almost never be able to be completely satisfied no matter how much hard work they do. Another example of this is when Asagai, a friend of Beneatha, commented that having food was not enough for her. Asagai has known Beneatha for years and knows that she wants much more than just the basic necessities. Beneatha is struggling and has to work extra hard because there has never been a woman who became a doctor in America at that time. Ambitious people seeking success will sacrifice a lot to have an opportunity to earn more. When they got the insurance money from Walter’s late father, Walter saw that the money could be sacrificed and used to earn more. However, when Walter told George Murchison about his plans for partnering and using his money for great things that could possibly change the city, Murchison responded “(With boredom) Yeah—sometimes we’ll have to do that, Walter” (Hansberry

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