The Strength of Family in Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun

1211 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The American Dream examined in Literature

The American Dream is a vision of economic opportunity available to all those who work for it, regardless of race or class. However, as seen in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”, perverted conceptions of the American Dream convince certain characters that they are entitled to the fruits of miracles. Despite their best intentions for supporting their families, Walter Younger and Willy Loman encounter unsurpassable obstacles and are unable to fulfill their dreams. When all hope has been lost, family is the only thing that these characters have left. “Death of a Salesman” and “A Raisin in the Sun” portray family as asylums of safety amidst the hopeless ambitions of tragic heroes. Both Lena Younger and Linda Loman serve as arbiters of peace within their households; however, Lena’s matriarchal figure provides moral direction for the tragic hero while Linda’s optimism and mere encouragement is unsuccessful at binding the family together.

Lena Younger from “A Raisin in the Sun” preserves the fundamental values of family by virtue of a strong personality that guides Walter, the tragic hero, to redemption. The Youngers are a dysfunctional family of African Americans constantly plagued by financial need and questions of racial identity. Among the characters cooped up in the Younger’s small apartment are Lena’s two children, Walter and Beneatha, who compete against each other in order to fulfill their own ambitions. The fact that Walter and Beneatha even fight over the shared bathroom is symbolic in that conflicting dreams have torn the family apart. Lena constantly attempts to heal this deep-seated sibling rivalry, even in her darkest hour of discovering that Walter has breached her trust ...

... middle of paper ...

...mbitious dreams. Lena tries to bring sibling rivalries together and convinces Walter that family is ultimately more important than his reckless chasing of his American Dream. Linda is also mindful of the tensions pervading the household and tries to mend relationships between Willy and Biff while her optimism preserves Willy’s ambition to the very end. As a result, Lena actively guides the tragic hero to redemption while Linda merely mollifies and thus is unable to deal with the fundamental flaw that ultimately destroys Miller’s tragic hero. It is not the intoxicating Dream that brings home fruits of miracles, but instead the unwavering strength of family that endures and provides the true basis of fulfillment.

Works Cited

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage, 1994. Print.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. U.K.: Penguin, 2013.

Show More
Related

  • A Raisin In The Sun Family Analysis

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    In life there are always going to be ups and downs, good and bad times, because families go through extensive amounts of arguments. Within the play A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, there are a few complications that the Younger family face. Moreover, the main complications occur between Lena Younger (Mama) and Walter Lee Younger (the son of Mama). Throughout the play, the biggest complication they face is how to spend Walter Lee Senior’s life insurance money. The Younger family goes through several challenging times; however, the family shows that no matter what, everyone should stick together.

    Read More

  • Dreams in A Raisin in the Sun

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lena, Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha Younger all lived under the same roof, but their dreams were all different. Being the head of the household, Lena dreamed the dreams of her children and would do whatever it took to make those dreams come true. Walter, Lena's oldest son, set his dream on the liquor store that he planned to invest with the money of his mother. Beneatha, in the other hand, wanted to become a doctor when she got out of college and Ruth, Walter's wife, wanted to be wealthy. "A Raisin in the Sun" was a book about "dreams deferred", and in this book that Lorraine Hansberry had fluently described the dreams of the Younger family and how those dreams became "dreams deferred."

    Read More

  • Essay Outline for Conflict in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    I. Conflicts in the Play - There are many types of conflict evident in this play. Some are as follows:

    Read More

  • Pursuit of the American Dream in Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman

    1321 Words  | 3 Pages

    People from all around the world have dreamed of coming to America and building a successful life for themselves. The "American Dream" is the idea that, through hard work and perseverance, the sky is the limit in terms of financial success and a reliable future. While everyone has a different interpretation of the "American Dream," some people use it as an excuse to justify their own greed and selfish desires. Two respected works of modern American literature, The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, give us insight into how the individual interpretation and pursuit of the "American Dream" can produce tragic results.

    Read More

  • An Overview of 'A Raisin in the Sun'

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Raisin in the Sun is a play telling the story of an African-American tragedy. The play is about the Younger family near the end of the 1950s. The Younger family lives in the ghetto and is at a crossroads after the father’s death. Mother Lena Younger and her grown up children Walter Lee and Beneatha share a cramped apartment in a poor district of Chicago, in which she and Walter Lee's wife Ruth and son Travis barely fit together inside.

    Read More

  • A Raisin in the Sun: The Foundation of Family

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011. 950-1023. Print.

    Read More

  • Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that journey is not the same for every individual. Media often leads its viewers toward a “one size fits all” version of success that may help themselves, but will rarely help the viewers. This is seen in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Miller includes multiple instances of symbolism and personification to reveal to the reader the situational irony in Willy’s life, underlining the theme of self-deception in regard to the American Dream. This American Dream, fueled by money, is the main source of anxiety in Willy’s life. The anxiety of income is reflected today in the issue of minimum wage. James Sherk, a writer of the Tribune News Service, plots thoughtful points against raising the minimum wage. However, his use of over-exaggeration and odd comparisons leave his argument less than convincing.

    Read More

  • An Inquiry on the American Dream

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American dream has been a tangible idea, greatly sought after by many over the course of American history. The dream has eluded many, to strive for success in America’s open markets, and become a self-made man from the sweat of one’s brow. The idea of becoming self-sufficient, and having limitless dreams that take one as far as they are willing to imagine is captured very differently from The Great Gatsby to A Raisin in the Sun. Both novels seem to have the American dream as their subject, but both end up having very different outcomes to how one achieves it, and if the dream is truly in existence, namely with the characters of Jay Gatsby and Walter Younger. The books mainly brush upon the idea of what the American dream truly is, how one achieves the dream, and what the real fulfillment of the dream encompasses.

    Read More

  • Destruction of the American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    A white picket fence surrounds the tangible icons of the American Dreams in the middle 1900's: a mortgage, an automobile, a kitchen appliance paid for on the monthly - installment - plan, and a silver trophy representative of high school football triumph. A pathetic tale examining the consequences of man's harmartias, Arthur Miller's "Death of A Salesman" satisfies many, but not all, of the essential elements of a tragedy. Reality peels away the thin layers of Willy Loman's American Dream; a dream built on a lifetime of poor choices and false values.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby - Dreams of Happiness

    1685 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American Dream seems almost non-existent to those who haven’t already achieved it. Every character in the novel has moments of feeling happy and endures a moment where they believe that they are about to achieve their dreams. Naturally everyone dreams of being a better person, having better things and in 1920’s America, the scheme of getting rich is quick. However, each character had their dreams crushed in the novel mainly because of social and economic situations and their dream of happiness becomes a ‘dead dream’ leading them back to their ‘shallow lives’ or no life at all.

    Read More

  • A Theme in the Work of Two Authors, Arthur Miller and John Steinbeck: Work and its Relationship to Human Dignity and American Values

    1946 Words  | 4 Pages

    Arthur Miller and John Steinbeck were both great writers of their times and are renowned today as ingenious authors. Both of their works that have been considered masterpieces by both critics and readers nationwide, were written on the simple issues of work, its relationship to both human rights and dignity, and common American values. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman concerns one man’s warped view of the American dream and how he causes his family to suffer by forcing them to give into his delusions. Miller accuses the modern American Dream as being solely rooted in materialism that has distorted the personal truth and moral visions of the original American Dream expressed by the Founding Fathers. John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath tells in detail the struggle of one family as they are forced to leave their Oklahoma home and join the thousands who travel to the promised land of California in search of a job. The Grapes of Wrath provides sharp criticism to the agricultural and consumer systems that effected how the migrant workers were treated. These two novels were written in completely different time periods. However, they both highlight the importance of fortitude, leadership, and family dynamics.

    Read More

  • Father-son Relationships and Conflicts in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    In many literary works, family relationships are the key to the plot. Through a family’s interaction with one another, the reader is able decipher the conflicts of the story. Within a literary family, various characters play different roles in each other’s lives. These are usually people that are emotionally and physically connected in one way or another. They can be brother and sister, mother and daughter, or in this case, father and son. In the Arthur Miller’s novel, Death of A Salesman, the interaction between Willy Loman and his sons, Happy and Biff, allows Miller to comment on father-son relationships and the conflicts that arise from them.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Great Gatsby And A Raisin In The Sun

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    As people go throughout their life, they strive to make dreams they believe are unachievable, come true. The iconic American Dream is a symbol of success within the United States that many people aim to secure throughout their lifetime at any cost, even compromising their true identity. In Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun, both authors work to display how Jay Gatsby and Walter Younger work towards obtaining their dream, but fall short due to society and timing. By attempting to reinvent themselves through money, gaining power within their personal life, and their image, Jay Gatsby and Walter Younger aim to complete their American Dream to become successful in their lives.

    Read More

  • Walter Lee's Dreams in A Raisin in The Sun

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down barriers to become an African American female doctor. Lastly, is Walter Lee Younger, son of Mama and husband of Ruth. Walter dreams of economic prosperity and desires to become a flourishing businessman. Over the course of Walter's life many things contributed to his desire to become a businessman. First and foremost, Walter's father had a philosophy that no man should have to do labor for another man. Being that Walter Lee was a chauffeur, Big Walter?s philosophy is completely contradicted. Also, in Walter?s past, he had the opportunity to go into the Laundromat business which he chose against. In the long run, he saw this choice was fiscally irresponsible this choice was. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee's dreams, which are his sole focus, lead to impaired judgement and a means to mend his shattered life.

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman American Dream Essay

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    An American dream is a dream that can only be achieved by passion and hard work towards your goals. People are chasing their dreams of better future for themselves and their children. The author Arthur Miller in Death of a Salesman has displayed a struggle of a common man to achieve the American dream. Willy Loman the protagonist of the play has spent his whole life in chasing the American dream. He was a successful salesman who has got old and unable to travel for his work, and no one at work gives him importance anymore. He is unhappy with his sons Happy and Biff because both of them are not successful in their lives. Moreover, Biff and Happy are also not happy with their father Willy because they don’t want to live a life that Willy wants them to live. The heated discussions of Willy and his older son Biff affect the family and the family starts to fall apart. However, Willy is unable to achieve the American dream and does not want to face the reality that his decisions for himself and his family have lead him to be a failure in the society. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the protagonist Willy Loman spends his whole life to achieve the American Dream by his own perception and denies facing the reality, just like nowadays people are selling themselves and attempting to find success in life.

    Read More

More about The Strength of Family in Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun

Open Document