The Importance of Dreams in The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

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The poem “The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost and the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry both portray stories of the reality of dreams. Robert Frost tackles the obstacles of having to choose which path to take when there becomes a fork in the road. Not all forks in the road will give you the same two options; some will be obvious, some will be difficult, and some will leave you very uncertain that these two options are even logical for you to choose from. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, the audience is introduced to the Younger family. The Youngers are going to receive a 10,000 dollar insurance check for the death of Mr. Younger. “So it is no wonder that after the death of her husband, Lena sees buying a house as the first, best use of the insurance proceeds. When she goes out and does it, on her own, without consulting even her elder child, Walter Lee, family members are shocked.” (Gates, Anita. "Race, Family and Pride in a Revived ‘Raisin’"). Each of the adult characters in the play has a dream of what they would like to do with the money to make the family's life better. They have the option to spend the money frivolously or take time to contemplate what would work best in the end. Focusing on a Walter Lee Younger and the main character of “The Road not Taken” I will examine the choices and actions of both characters and how it affected each story. Walter is the protagonist of the play and at times very difficult for other characters to get along with. The main character in “The Road not Taken” is a loner and the only character, so the decisions that he makes will only affect him unlike Walter whose choices affect his whole family. These decisions leave Walter with controversial feelings of anger, happiness...

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...d up to make the best decisions for his family. “He finally come into his manhood today, didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain” (Mama act 3).

Works Cited

Gates, Anita. "Race, Family and Pride in a Revived ‘Raisin’." The New York Times. The New York Times, 20 Oct. 2012. Web. 4 May 2014. .

Frost, Robert. "Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken." Poetry Genius. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2014. .

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the sun. Dir. Lorraine Hansberry. Monterey Video, 19882000. Film.

"Raisin in the Sun, a (1959)." The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Credo Reference. Web. 12 May 2014.

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