In the play A Raisin in the Sun, a theme I can relate to is dreams. Throughout the play Lorraine Hansberry has very dynamic characters. She shows how much a person is willing to go through for their dream, and how other people can suffer.
Beneatha Younger has a very unusual dream for an African American woman in the 1930’s. She wants to be a doctor. This causes a multitude of problems for her. A lot of people try to convince her that she should be something else including her own brother who said to her “ Who the hell told you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people – then go be a nurse like other women – or just get married and be quiet…” (pg. 38)Some people do support her but a lot of the characters believe
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The first mention of Walter’s dream ,which is one of the biggest parts of the plot, is on page 33 when he starts arguing with his wife Ruth about buying a liquor store. As more members of the Younger family find out about Walter’s plan it soon become obvious they think that his dream is outrageous. Mama makes it clear to Ruth she doesn’t think Walter’s idea is good, “We ain’t no business people, Ruth. We just plain working folks.”(pg. 42) After it becomes clear to Walter that Mama most likely won’t help him with his dream he becomes depressed and acts out. He starts heavily drinking and becomes aggressive with Mama and the rest of his family because he feels they ruined his future.”...So you butchered up a dream of mine-you-who always talking ‘bout your children’s dreams…” (pg. 95) Mama feels bad for him but she doesn’t want to stop her daughter from achieving her dream. Mama ends up giving Walter 6,500 dollars and says put 3,000 dollars of it into an account for his sister. Walter ends up using all 6,500 dollars to spend on the liquor store believing his dream is more important than giving his sister 3,000 dollars and that he will eventually be able to put Beneatha through medical school with the money he earns from the store. One of his friends end up running with the money and all of the money that Mama gave Walter and Beneatha is gone. His selfishness and hope for his …show more content…
Every time someone would tell me I wouldn’t be able to do those things I would instantly be sad. The idea that you could be something and then to have that hope taken away is crushing. Currently, I want to be a biomechanical engineer and I know I will have to work very hard to get there. So far only a few people have told me I won't be able to make it, but almost my entire family believes in me. By far the most supportive is my mother, quite like Mama in A Raisin in the Sun. My mother was talking to my cousin Justin a few days ago and his wife was surprised that I wanted to do something like that and Justin replied with “Well why wouldn’t she? She is smart, her and my brother are the smart ones.” I can’t imagine being told by my own brother that I should be a nurse because I am a girl. A few of my family members have tried to convince me to be a nurse practitioner because it has more reasonable hours and still has good pay when they realized I was serious about going into the medical field. Recently I found out about biomechanical engineering and decided that’s what I really want to do and my family has stopped trying to convince me to do something else. I know that nowadays women have more rights and are able to do more things, but I’ve been told on many occasions I can’t be something because I was a girl. A few years ago I was with my great-grandmother, grandmother, and
Mama talks to Walter about her fears of the family falling apart. This is the reason she bought the house and she wants him to understand. Walter doesn't understand and gets angry. "What you need me to say you done right for? You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it. So what you need for me to say it was all right for? So you butchered up a dream of mine - you - who always talking 'bout your children's dreams..." Walter is so obsessive over money that he yells at his mom for not giving him all of it. He doesn't know that what his mom is doing is for the family. He thinks that having money will make the family happy, when in reality the family doesn't need anymore than what they have to be happy.
When your dreams are set aside, delayed or deferred you can experience a number of different emotions. You might feel frustration or angst, angry at the obstacles that might be holding you back from pursuing your dream and worried that you may never be able to reach your goals. You may feel stuck or defeated, if you think that your dream has no sustenance to keep it alive. You could feel defensive if those who you would expect to support you in your pursuit of happiness are instead turning against you and resisting the actions that you are taking in order to reach your goals. When being presented with a life changing amount of money, a family can be torn apart in conflict or brought together in a unified front towards happiness.
In Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun,” she uses the Younger family to show that as individuals strive to reach their dreams they often ignore the aspirations of others but they may eventually learn to support each other in an attempt to better their lives. Hansberry uses each character to express the different views people may have about the American Dream. Each family member has their own pursuit of happiness, which is accompanied by their American Dream. From Momma’s dream of having a better life for her family, Beneatha’s dream of becoming a doctor, and Walter’s dreams of being rich, the Younger family show’s typical dreams of an African American family in the 1950’s.
A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, is one of the most prolific American plays ever written. Centering around an African American family in the 1950s, the play showcases the dreams that each character has for themselves and how it will change the rest of their families lives. Throughout most of the play the family is concerned about a check that has come in the mail. This is a Life Insurance check that is made out for $10,000, due to Lena Younger’s husband dying. For a family in this time period, not to mention a family that is also African American, this money could be the opportunity to start fresh, to do something they’ve always dreamed of, or to fix their problems in the past. This insurance check that the family receives
A Raisin in the Sun In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry dramatizes the emotional impact of a “dream deferred,” relying on Langston Hughes’ famous poem, which she uses as an epigraph. In the poem, Hughes believes a dream deferred is a dream that a person has had since he/she was young but never could accomplish because life got in the way. In the play, Walter and Mamma suffer pain and frustration as they see their dreams of a happy and safe life being deferred.
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.
In literature, genres such as dramas can have characters that do not do much; however, they impact the story in a major way. In the poem A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry introduces a few characters that function in this way, though one of the most impactful would be Mr. Karl Lindner, the president of the board of the community that the Younger family plans to move into. About halfway through the book, Mr. Lindner makes the family an offer: “Our association is prepared, through the collective effort of our people, to buy the house at a financial gain to your family” (Hansberry 118), because he believes that “Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities”(118). Because of what Lindner says, tension is created among
Lorraine Hansberry the author of Raisin In The Sun is a mid 20th century African American Playwright and writer. Langston Hughes was an American poet of the same time. It is because of Hughes's poem Harlem that Hansberry got the inspiration to write Raisin In The Sun. The two pieces of work both involve the theme of dreams and the ways that they are deferred. In her play, Raisin In The Sun Hansberry uses Mama, Beneatha, and Walter to show the negative consequences that occur when you put off your dream.
Dreams often require plenty of thought and have an end result of something detailed and extraordinary. These spectacular dreams aren’t designated to just one person and in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, insight is provided to be able to experience many of the dreams of the characters throughout the play. A Raisin in the Sun is a play about a family where after the father’s death, they receive a 10,000 dollar check of all his life's savings. The decision on how they will spend it is tough, considering the family members are competing against one another to use that money for their goals and aspirations in life. Lorraine Hansberry is able to thoroughly discuss the dreams of Walter, Beneatha, and Ruth while describing through the context how those dreams are both similar and different.
Money is the key, a key to growth and success. Money brings homes to the homeless, businesses to business owners, and dreams to young adults. Money isn’t the all-time lead to opportunity, it also causes conflict between family or friends. Money creates conflicts in the pursuit of the American Dream.
Many writers employ techniques to integrate their own lives into their works. It just seems natural to manipulate and implement ideas and topics from real life into other aspects of life, like writing. Authors may discuss their favorite memories or spell out an experience of a hard time that they had to deal with throughout a long period in their life. In order to withstand this type of hardship, many authors will write about the events that occurred. Even if they do not publish these works, many will still write as part of a healing process for themselves. In cases where these writers do publish pieces that reflect their lives, we must analyze both the writing and the author to fully understand how the two are related.
In this new day and age, our society has become more accepting of different cultures and their involvement in media and entertainment. Our society hasn't always been like that, and its evident in the play A Raisin in the Sun which was released in 1959 on Broadway in New York by Lorraine Hansberry. In regards to the play, she was known as the first African-American playwright. Many audiences today see the play as a view into what life was like for those who were colored, without focusing about them being colored. The main reason behind the play's significance was the era that it was released in, and the responses that it received from critics. Not only has the play received varying recognition, but it has had memorable performances both on Broadway
Walter, Beneatha, and Mama all want a better way of life, they all express this in different ways. Walter Lee dreams of owning his own liquor store, he’s hoping to gain success and to actually feel like he can accomplish something without being looked down upon by the whole family, he is in search of feeling like a “real” man. Becoming a doctor is a dream of Beneatha’s, she is so immune to being criticized about this that she is determined to do everything in her power to make this dream come true.
Why is it so hard to be a Black person living in America? It is due to the fact that White culture has never wanted to see Blacks as equal or superior to their race. To prevent the collective success of Black folks, Whites have constructed obstacles to impede the intellectual growth of African-Americans. Therefore, in order obtain basic human rights and have their own identity, Blacks must cope with White supremacy and stereotypes on a daily basis. This is evident in the novels and stories read in this African-American Literature course. The psychological effects of being Black in America are the following. The Younger family, in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, is not welcomed in an all-White neighborhood. Emmett Till, in “The
She brings many ideas home and takes her education as seriously as possible. Walter, however, pesters her for wanting to go above and beyond to be a doctor (most African – American females would have been nurses in this time period). Beneatha’s determination and love for learning is what helps her throughout the entire play.