Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Importance of dream
Dreams and their meaning essays
Dreams and their meaning essays
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Importance of dream
Throughout the play, the characters’ dreams reflect something they feel that is missing in life; Benetha’s lack of identity and Walter’s lack of authority being two major points in the play. Like the continuous flow of nonsense from a desperate student’s brain through fingertips and onto a badly constructed paper, what the characters are lacking in life inspire the dreams that eventually cause their actions. In A Raisin in the Sun, the main characters’ attainment of his or her respective dream continuously affect their individual actions. Lorraine Hansberry utilizes dialogue and symbolism to portray the importance of the family unit and how individual dreams and desires affect it.
The Younger family is the focal point of the play, however, throughout A Raisin in the Sun the characters’ individual actions are what affect the family rather than decisions they make as a whole.
Walter is a constant pest throughout the play; never hesitant to make his thoughts or desires known to the family, especially to Ruth. When Ruth learns about her pregnancy, all she has in mind is for the good of her marriage and the good of her family. She understands the strains of having another child in the cramped apartment, and decides that the best decision for everyone is to abort the child. “Ruth understands Walter's frustration but is helpless to do anything about it - except, perhaps, have an abortion, which will give him one less mouth to feed.” (Freydberg) When Lena confronts Walter about his inaction and disinterest in his wife, she explains that “[w]hen the world gets ugly enough-a woman will do anything for her family. The part that’s already living,”(Hansberry) to which Walter responds violently. Ruth decides to abort the child and does not...
... middle of paper ...
...un. New York: Random House, 1994. Print.
Lund, Charles. “Teaching ‘A Raisin in the Sun’: Literature and Life.” College Teaching 37.3 (1989): 83-86. Print.
Matthews, Kristin L. “The Politics Of ”Home“ In Lorraine Hansberry’s ”A Raisin In The Sun..“ Modern Drama 51.4 (2008): 556-578. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
McGovern, Edythe M. “A Raisin In The Sun.” Masterplots II: Women’S Literature Series (1995): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Tackach, James. “A Raisin In The Sun.” Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Washington, Gladys J. “A Raisin In The Sun.” Masterplots II: African American Literature, Revised Edition (2008): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Wilkerson, M. B. (1986). A Raisin in the Sun: Anniversary of an American Classic. Theatre Journal, 38(4), 441-452.
Print Mays, Kelly. A. “The Historical Significance of a Raisin in the Sun.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. The. Ed.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2002.
Wilkerson, Margaret B. “’A Raisin in the Sun’: Anniversary of an American Classic.” Johns Hopkins University Press 38.4 (1986): 441-52. JSTOR. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. .
Hansberry, Lorraine. ?A Raisin in the Sun.? Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin?s 2008.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011. 950-1023. Print.
A Raisin in the Sun is basically about dreams, as the main characters struggle to deal with the oppressive circumstances that rule their lives. The Youngers struggle to attain these dreams throughout the play, and much of their happiness and depression is directly related to their attainment of, or failure to attain, these dreams. By the end of the play, they learn that the dream of a house is the most important dream because it unites the family.
Differences in generations can cause people to have different viewpoints in life. A Raisin In The Sun is a play set in the 1950s written by Lorraine Hansberry. The Youngers are a black family who lives in a cramped apartment in the South Side of Chicago. When Mama receives a check of insurance money, members of the family are divided in their own hopes of what it will be used for. Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha are the three women of the Younger household and their generational differences clearly show through their actions. The difference between generations is why Mama is the most devout, Ruth is an agreeable person, and Beneatha is outspoken and has modern views.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a dramatic play written in 1959. The play is about an African American family that lived on the Chicago South Side in the 1950’s. Hansberry shows the struggles and difficulties that the family encounters due to discrimination. Inspired by her personal experience with discrimination, she uses the characters of the play, A Raisin In The Sun, to show how this issue affects families. Hansberry faces housing discrimination due to her race, which affects her family.
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 the words of Jim Cocola and Ross Douthat, Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun to mimic how she grew up in the 1930s. Her purpose was to tell how life was for a black family living during the pre-civil rights era when segregation was still legal (spark notes). Hansberry introduces us to the Youngers’, a black family living in Chicago’s Southside during the 1950s pre-civil rights movement. The Younger family consists of Mama, who is the head of the household, Walter and Beneatha, who are Mama’s children, Ruth, who is Walter’s wife, and Travis, who is Walter and Ruth’s son. Throughout the play the Youngers’ address poverty, discrimination, marital problems, and abortion. Mama is waiting on a check from the insurance company because of the recent passing of her husband. Throughout the play Walter tries to convince Mama to let him invest the money in a liquor store. Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor while embracing her African heritage, and Ruth just found out that she is pregnant and is struggling to keep her marriage going. The Youngers’ live in a very small apartment that is falling apart because of the wear and tear that the place has endured over the years. Mama dreams of having her own house and ends up using part of the insurance money for a down payment on a house in an up-scale neighborhood. The Youngers’ meet Mr. Lindner, who is the head of the welcoming committee. Mr. Lindner voices the community’s concerns of the Youngers’ moving into their neighborhood. Is the play A Raisin in the Sun focused on racial or universal issues?
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The primary focus of the play is the American Dream. The American Dream is one’s conception of a better life. Each of the main characters in the play has their own idea of what they consider to be a better life. A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes the importance of dreams regardless of the various oppressive struggles of life.
Works Cited Austin, Addell. A Raisin in the Sun. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, Revised. Third Edition (1998): 1-2. Literary Reference Center.
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.
(Sapiro 441) A Raisin in the Sun anticipates the massive changes in gender relations-principally, the rise of feminism and the sexual revolution. Hansberry explores controversial issues such as abortion, the value of marriage, and morphing gender roles for women and men. Asagai argues that love should be enough for women, but Beneatha argues that she needs more- a career, for instance.
Dreams of owning a business and having money to accomplish goals are two key parts played out throughout the whole process. Walter Younger is determined to have his own business and he will go to ends meet to see that dream come true. Financial bridges are crossed and obstacles arise when Walter makes a bad decision regarding money that could have helped the family and not only himself, if he had thought smarter. His pride and dignity are tested throughout the story and he is forced to set up for his family. The Raisin in the Sun helps readers to understand the history of racial discrimination and how racial discrimination has an effect on the people in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well as how that has an effect on the characters within the play.