Essay: One’s experience in America and the American dream in relation to “A Raisin in the Sun”
Lorraine Hansberry's play "A Raisin in the Sun" is a story of the Younger’s, a poor African- American family who is living in a congested two-bedroom apartment in Chicago’s Southside. The title of the play “A raisin in the Sun” uses dull black and bright white colored imagery to show a black family’s experience in America by considering black family’s dreams as the raisin and American culture as the Sun. The play's setting wraps up a fundamental time for race relations in America after World War II and before 1959. The Younger’s family is struggling against racial discrimination because they attempt to better themselves with an insurance payment
…show more content…
Lena informs Walter that she has used $3500 out of ten thousand dollars worth insurance money to make the down payment on the new house; she asks him to put three thousand dollars aside in savings account for Beneatha's medical schooling and to keep rest of the money in a checking account for himself to fulfill his own dream. (325). But, in Act II, Scene 3, Walter informs everyone in his family that he has invested all the $6500 in liquor store business plan and his potential business partner named Willy Harris, runs off with all the money.(340) Hearing this, Beneatha gets a shock and thinks about her deferred dream. If Lena has divided that money between Beneatha and Walter instead of giving all of the money to Walter, potentially Beneatha could have achieved her goals. From this event, it is clear that Lena trusts her son more than her daughter by not giving them their own part of the money to fulfill their dreams. At the last moments of play, Mr. Lindner who is a white male character arrives at the Youngers' apartment from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association to offer them a deal, if they do not move into his white neighborhood; then Lena asks Walter to take decision and he decides to reject Mr. Linder eventually (353-354). This event represents Lena’s gender favoritism attitude again because she only asks Walter to make a final choice whether to reject or accept Mr. Linder’s deal. She does not think that Beneatha is also her daughter, who should have equal right to participate in this decision. This is how, Lena’s decisions become barrier unintentionally for her daughter’s dream, which naturally represents her gender partiality against Beneatha. However, Lena understands her daughter, when she dislikes George Murchison who is one of Beneatha’s
Lena Younger, Walter and Beneatha's mother, was a widow in her early sixties who devoted her life to her children after her husband's death. Retired from working for the Holiday's family, she was waiting for her husband's insurance money to arrive. With the ten tho...
¨There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing.”- Lorraine Hansberry. This quote helps me understand how much Lena loves her family. Ruth's dream was to move and get a better, improved house. Beneatha's dream in the future was to become a doctor and go to college. Lena had a dream to make her family happy.
Stephanie Kelley Comp 2 Ms. Caldwell 12 November 2016 The American Dream 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.
The Younger’s, an African American family living on the south-side of Chicago in the 1950s, live in an undersized apartment for their family of five. Lena Younger, the mother of the house, receives a check of ten thousand dollars and dreams of owning her own house in a white neighborhood. Beneatha’s brother, Walter, has high hopes of investing the money in a liquor store. Walter’s wife, Ruth does all she can to support his ideas while caring for their son, Travis. But, to become a doctor, Beneatha wants and needs the money to pay for her schooling. Walter and Beneatha’s wants for the money cause disputes throughout the house.
Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, centers on an African American family in the late 1950s. Hansberry directs her work towards specifically the struggles faced by African Americans during the late 1950s. Through the dialogue and actions of her characters, she encourages not only a sense of pride in heritage, but a national and self-pride in African Americans as well.
When Walter loses his "sister's school money," the consequences are widespread and Beneatha sees that dream diminish before her eyes. She sees her slipping through Walter's fingers and finds her lifelong goals changing. From the days of her childhood, she has longed "to be a doctor" and "fix up the sick." While her family and friends do not understand Beneatha's dream, she continues longing for the education she needs to create a successful life she desires rather than one where she is waiting "to get married.
For example, momma said “Once upon a time freedom used to be life, now it’s money. I guess the world really do change." and Walter replies to her, "No it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it." This quote shows that Lena Younger faced a difficult past as an African American women to get herself and the family where they are now. It also shows how Lena could care less about money and is grateful for where she has progressed in life. When Momma receives her check, she spends it on her dream, to own a home for a better living condition for her family. Lena’s goal is to keep the family together. For Example, Lena Younger said “Son--you--you understand what I done, don’t you? I--I just seen my family falling apart today...just falling into pieces in front of my eyes...We couldn’t of gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forwards--talking ‘bout killing babies and wishing each other was dead...When it gets like that in life--you just got to do something different, push on out and do something bigger…” This quote shows that Lena would do anything for her family to get them out of poverty and would pick family over anything else. As problems and tensions grew between the family, Lena would give her family advice and teach them lessons to reunite her
She shares that not only would she be able to get married as well as become a doctor, she would get to live in Africa. Her mother does not say no, but she kind of “brushes off” the news Beneatha shares with her as if it is not an option. Her brother, Walter, tells her to forget about it and marry rich. Neither her mother or brother are supportive in this moment. Hansberry ends the play shortly after this moment, so it is unclear what Beneatha’s final decision was. Was she independent enough to liberate herself from her family’s hold? Or did she remain trapped and dependent by their expectations of what her future should look like?
Walter and Beneatha’s relationship is very complex. The spiraling tension between the two siblings causes confrontation to form and creep into the Younger household. Walter needs his family to respect him as the man of the family, but his sister is constantly belittling him in front of his mother, wife, and son. This denigrating treatment taints Walter’s view of himself as a man, which carries into his decisions and actions. Beneatha also subconsciously deals with the dysfunctional relationship with her brother. She desires to have her brother’s support for her dream of becoming a doctor, yet Walter tends to taunt her aspiration and condemns her for having such a selfish dream. Mama as the head of the family is heartbroken by the juvenile hostility of her adult children, so in hopes to keep her family together she makes the brave move of purchasing a house. Mama’s reasoning for the bold purchase was,“ I—I just seen my family falling apart….just falling to pieces in front of my eyes…We couldn’t have gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forw...
This episode illustrates a major conflict throughout the story. As Walter dreams bigger and bigger he seems to leave the'smaller' things such as his family behind. This movement away from the family is against the furtherance of the values and morals of the family. While his father would have been happy simply working and caring for his family, Walter is more concerned with becoming a'mover and shaker' without thinking about the resulting consequences for his family. Later in the morning Beneatha, the younger sister of Walter, initiates a conflict by speaking in an unacceptable manner about God – seemingly rejecting values that have been taught to her since childhood.
At the end of the play it is unclear whether or not Beneatha would actually leave her family in order to find herself and pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor. She is obviously is not going to marry George, although Walter would like her to because of the money. Living in such close quarters for so many years with her family, she developed a love-hate relationship with all of them. I would be surprised if she did actually go to Africa. Like Nora, Beneatha at the end of the play has a strong sense of self. She knows what she wants, and is determined to accomplish her dream.
The siblings argue over Beneatha’s hope of becoming a doctor. Walter responds to Beneatha’s fantasy by saying, “Who the hell told you 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… “ (Hansberry, 38). Instead of being excited for his sister in becoming an African American doctor, he belittles her only dream by suggesting that she should either be a nurse or just get married. Walter talks in a sexest tone by implying that women should be nurses instead of doctors. Walter screams inappropriate, incomplete words signifying that he is embarrassed by his sister. The rude tone proves that he isn’t a sophisticated man. Later, Walter undergoes a turning point where he shows his new, grown addition. Mr. Lindner, a white man from the Youngers’ new neighborhood introduces himself. Mr. Lindner tells the family that he is the leader of the “Clybourne Park Improvement Association” and attempts to convince the family that he is helping them. He tries bribing the Youngers out of the white neighborhood and he claims that African American families are happier in their own black communities. Walter explains to Mr. Lindner that the family will keep the house regardless of Mr. Linder’s argument, Walter says, “I mean and we are very proud people. That’s my sister over there and she’s going to be a doctor and we are very
Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor. She believes that her dream was deferred when she was born since she is coloured and a female. Although she fights this, her dream is deferred even more when Walter looses the money which she needed to get into medical school.
In this section of her analysis she splits it up into three different categories; race,gender, and intellect. In the race subsection Price talks about how the Younger family all work for a ‘white’ person and can’t get anything better. She says, “They move in endless circles of backbreaking work serving others that will never get them ahead”. Then she talks about how Beneatha is trying to get out of this circle and become a doctor. Another thing talked about in this subsection is the reaction to them buying a house in a white neighborhood.
Beneatha is Mama's youngest child. She aspires to become a doctor. Mama wants Beneatha to become what she wants so she decided to put aside some of the insurance money for Beneatha's schooling. Beneatha struggles as a young independent woman who has yet to find her identity. She finds herself trying new hobbies and dating two very different men. During a conversation with one of those men, Asagai, Beneatha is forced by Asagai to realize that she is not very independent at all. In fact she has been depending on the insurance money to get her through school. After this realization, Beneatha gains thoughts on how to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor (Kohorn). She presents her mother with her decision of getting married and how she "plans to find her roots in Africa" with Asagai (Silver).