Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun - Dignity and the American Dream

1234 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racial concerns in a raisin in the sun

Dignity and the American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun

The American Dream, although different for each of us, is what we all aspire to achieve. In Lorraine Hansberry's, play, A Raisin in the Sun, each member of the Younger family desperately hopes for their own opportunity to achieve the American Dream. The American Dream to the Younger family is to own a home, but beyond that, to Walter Younger, it is to be accepted by white society.

In the book entitled " Advertising the American Dream", Roland Marchand refers to the American Dream as the belief that "if you work hard and play by the rules, then you will achieve your goals" (Marchand 1). In the play, Walter Lee Younger does not do either one of these things. Walter doesn't show up for work regularly and he certainly has no intentions of playing by the rules to get a business licenses.

Walter Lee is a man stuck in a dead end job that he sees as demeaning and he becomes desperate to free himself from the bonds of poverty, oppression and racial discrimination. Walter Lee feels that with money he can change the hegemony's view of him as a poor, stupid, black servant. The hegemony's social construction of reality about blacks as being lesser and the hegemony's ethnocentric perception of being superior, is corroborated in an article titled "The Colour Bar of Beauty" from The Peak. Cristina Rodrigues, a member of the black cultural and social activist group Olodum, says " In Brazil, nobody wants to be black because the mass media equates black with poor and stupid" (Aujla 2).

Walter has a loving relationship with his family members, but he also has a relationship that frustrates him. Walter's family frustrations are brought on by society's lack o...

... middle of paper ...

...y." The Peak. 4 May 1998: 1-5. Available: http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/98-2/issue1/colourbar.html

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Signet, 1988.

Johnson, Lyndon B. "The American Promise." Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon Johnson, vol. 1 (1965), 281. 1-9.

Available: http://www.civnet.org/resoures/teach/basic/par6/40.htm

Marchand, Roland. Advertising the American Dream. Los Angeles, CA. University of California Press, 1985

Margolin, Michael. "Reasons in the Sun." Metro Times. 25 March 1998: 1-3.

Available: http://www.metrotimes.com/arts/stories/18/26/RasnInSn.html

U.S. Census Bureau. United States Government Bureau of Statistics. Available: http://www.census.gov/prod/3/98pub/p20-509u.pd

U.S. Federal Law. Cornell Law Resources. Available: http://law.cornell.edu/supct/html/97-156.ZS.html

Show More
Related

  • Character Analysis: My Brother Sam Is Dead

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel “My Brother Sam is Dead” is a story told through a boy named Tim meeker and how he admires his brother Sam meeker. But throughout the story Sam and his father argue about how they feel about each other’s differences and about separating from England. Meanwhile Tim finds himself very confused as to which side he should part take into. The story takes place in the 1700’s during the revolutionary war. Tim and his family go through many hardships in this novel.

    Read More

  • Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    The chasing of a mirage is a futile quest where an individual chases an imaginary image that he or she wants to capture. The goal of this impossible quest is in sight, but it is unattainable. Even with the knowledge that failure is inevitable, people still dream of catching a mirage. There is a fine line that separates those who are oblivious to this fact, and to those who are aware and accept this knowledge. The people who are oblivious represent those who are ignorant of the fact that their dream will be deferred. This denial is the core of the concept used in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. The perception of the American Dream is one that is highly subjective, but every individual dream ends in its own deferment.

    Read More

  • Success in America: A Raisin in the Sun

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    In America, every citizen is guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although each person is given these rights, it is how each person uses them that defines how successful they will be in America. There are several obstacles that some Americans face on their pursuit of happiness. In this country’s past, Americans lived by a very specific set of beliefs that valued the importance of hard work, faith, and family. As time progressed and America began to evolve as a nation, this capitalistic society no longer devoted itself to family and faith but rather success, and the pursuit of prosperity. The shift from dependence on tradition towards a society that values success and how people struggle to b successful when society makes it difficult marks a common theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. Two of the main characters in this story Lena Younger (Mama) and her son Walter Lee directly reflect the shift from tradition to a focus on success and capital and the struggles they face in regards to racism. Mama and Walter Lee’s contrasting values about the American dream and the way in which they pursue their own dreams while facing racism exemplifies the shift from valuing tradition like in previous generations in America, to valuing success and prosperity like in more current generations.

    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 achieving in America’s open markets, and become a self-made man from the sweat of one’s brow. The idea of become self-sufficient, and have 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 brushes upon the idea of what the American dream truly is, how one achieves the dream, and what the real fulfillment the dream encompasses.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Dream Deferred in Raisin in the Sun and Death of a Salesman

    1622 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many black men have to deal with a systematic racism that effects their role in society. The frustrations that a black man has to deal with can affect the family a great deal. For example, if Walter gets upset at work or has a bad day, he can't get irate with his boss and risk loosing his job; instead he takes it out on his wife Ruth. Also, the job that he holds can only provide so much to the family. He's not even capable of providing his son Travis with some pocket change without becoming broke himself. What type of "breadwinner" can a black man be in America? Walter Younger is thirty-five years old and all he is, is a limousine driver. He is unhappy with his job and he desperately seeks for an opportunity to improve his family standing. He tells his mother how he feels about his job when she wouldn't give him the ten thousand dollars; I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say,"Yes sir;no sir,very good sir; shall I take the drive, sir?" Mama, that ain't no kind of job... that ain't nothing at all.

    Read More

  • Themes Of The American Dream In A Raisin In The Sun

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    The concept of the American Dream has always been that everyone wants something in life, no matter if it is wealth, education, financial stability, safety, or a decent standard of living. In addition, everyone will try to strive to get what they want. The American Dream, is said to be that everyone should try and get what they hope they can get in life. In the play A Raisin in the Sun the author Hansberry tells us about a family where each has an American Dream, and Hughes in the poem “ Let America be America Again “is telling us to let America be the America that was free for us to obtain The American Dream. Hansberry and Langston see America like as a place to find the dream desired, although they also see limitation to obtain the American Dream, such as poverty, freedom, inequality, racism and discrimination.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby - Dreams of Happiness

    1685 Words  | 4 Pages

    Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.

    Read More

  • Women in the Early Republic

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    1. Roark, James L; Johnson, Michael P.; Cohen, Patricia Cline; Stage, Sarah; Hartmann, Susan M.. The American Promise: A History of the United States. Fifth Edition, Value

    Read More

  • Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    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

  • Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun – Freedom

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever found money coming between you and your family and disrupting love and life? Money can destroy families and change them for the worse. In the Raisin in the Sun, the author Lorraine Hansberry, uses events of her life to relate and explain how the Younger family, of Chicago's South side, struggles and improves throughout the book. One main cause for their family's problems is because of money and how it causes anger to control the family. The play deals with situations in which the family is dealing with unhappiness from money. Walter, the man of the house in the Younger family, tries impressing Travis, his son, too much with money instead of teaching him the more important lessons of life. Walter also dreams to invest in a liquor store and make a lot of money and becomes overwhelmed and badly caught up in his dream. Lastly, the Younger family is much too dependent on the check their Mama is receiving. The family has lost the fact that their mama tries to tell them, before, freedom was life but now money seems to have the controlling factor in life. When money becomes an obsession for a family, problems occur.

    Read More

  • Pride in A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry

    1854 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The American Dream in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Dream in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry is about living the "American Dream". Hansberry wrote her story in 1959. The "American Dream" that she describes and the one that currently exists are vastly different. In 1959, the dream was to work hard and live a comfortable life.

    Read More

  • Chinua Achebe's Heart of Darkness and Racism

    2066 Words  | 5 Pages

    at being in a critical point of the life of such a man as Mr Kurtz. No

    Read More

More about Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun - Dignity and the American Dream

Open Document