Analyzing The American Dream In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

The great American dream is about seizing an opportunity when it passes by, in the form of education, or blood, sweat, and tears, otherwise known as hard work. America is an opportunistic society, not egalitarian. One has to forge one’s own way in the path of social mobility versus waiting for an equal and fair

A Raisin in the sun shows the hardship many needed to face in order to attain this notion of the American Dream. The play did more than simply show what everyone faced, she shows the struggles that many African Americans families had to face when trying to achieve the notion of the American Dream. She does this by showing the environment that many African Americans lived in when there was bombing in the neighborhood or when white people would force African Americans who finally bought a home, out. Lorraine also shows the struggles of the characters of the play like Walter who struggles with the decision he makes and the contradictions that stop him from achieving his goals of being wealthy or when Beneatha goes against the norms of society by becoming a Doctor and trying to do activities that men usually do.While American Dream is quintessential to America because you’re able to go from nothing to something, this notion is unique to African-American since the society work against them even with having the same aspiration because of the prejudice they faced from the society.

A Raisin in the sun shows the hardship many need to face in order to attain this notion of the American Dream. The book did more than then just show what everyone faced, she shows the struggles that many African American families had to face when trying to achieve the notion of the American Dream. She does this by showing the environment that many African American lived in when there was bombing in the neighborhood or when white people would force African American who finally bought a home, out. Lorraine also shows the struggles of the characters of the book like Walter who struggles with the decision he makes and the contradictions that stop him from achieving his goals of being wealthy or when Beneatha goes against the norms of society

In Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun,” she uses the Younger family to show that as characters strive to reach their dreams they often disdain the determinations of others but they may eventually learn to care one another in effort to better their lives. 'A Raisin in the Sun' by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about a family in the late 1940s that struggles through lack and discrimination to find the American Dream. American Dream the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. This message explores their hopes and dreams. As it shown in the book that everybody wanted to pursue their own dreams and goals. They weren’t thinking about anybody else but their self. The absence of the American Dream does infiltrate much of the play. Each main character in the play seeks to appropriate the "American Dream" in their own lives. The family consist of the Mama, the deeply Christian grandmother; her son Walter Lee, his wife Ruth and son Travis; and Beneatha, her daughter.

The "American Dream" is an idea that has always been different throughouttime. It changes in diverse forms and in the end involves success. The "American Dream" was a phrase used by the American people and peoplewanting to become American. It was always the idea that you can become a success. This is true in a partial way, but the true "American Dream" is that with somework and determination anyone can build themselves up in the economic classsystem.

The promise of America is that anyone, from anywhere, can live a free and prosperous life in the United States. As President FDR once said "We are all bound together by a hope of a common future rather than by reverence for a common past". He and many others believed in the American Dream, that has drawn hopeful masses of people to this country in search of "a better life". Although some believe that the American promise is still achievable, America no longer provides access to this dream. It has evolved to be a pursuit of money not liberation, and the discrimination of groups of people has masked the fundamental ideals that the dream is based upon. The American Dream is rooted in equality and success, and has become about riches. Everyone

A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry's is play by a black family in 1959 Chicago, set in the family very crowded apartment, Walter Lee and Ruth share a room while Beneatha and Mama have the other; Travis must sleep out in the living room on the couch and they must all share a bathroom with other tenants in the building. From what we know from the lay out there is one small window in the kitchen and the apartment is scattered with worn furniture. The story focuses on the different dreams of each of the member of this family as they discuss what they can do with a $10,000 life insurance payment. The overall theme is the aspirations that make up the American dream - the idea that anyone can do well for themselves if they work hard to provide for our family.

The term “American Dream” is defined as an idea which believes that all people have the possibility of prosperity and success. The idea first came from James Adams, a noted American writer and historian. He claimed, “Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability and achievement.” Therefore, the core concepts of the American Dream were closely linked to hard work and opportunity.

The American dream is something people, mainly immigrants, strive to reach. People all over see the Americas as a magical place, or a place of unlimited opportunities that everyone wants to have. " The American dream is a dream of "getting ahead..."(the right to fail, William Zinsser). What provides for the American dream in modern day society is the rights given to you when you become an American, and the rights to get a job and earn money. The American Dream is accessible because those who can achieve it, and those who try to, can reach it. but because the focus has shifted to realistic terms, it may or may not be accessible to all. It is still accessible because if you try hard enough, you will be able to achieve the American dream of freedom, a home, a job for money, and anything else you wish to be able to do when being an American. Anything can be achieved if you try hard enough and you want it bad enough to work for it. If you don’t try to work, or try to succeed, then you don’t want to achieve the American dream.

The American dream is the idea held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity.

The American Dream is something many Americans desire. The desire to the mind – set or belief that anyone can be successful if they worked hard for what they’ve been yearning. It is considered to be a ‘perfect life’; it can be full of money, contentedness or even love. There are many divergent opinions given by people. Walter Younger from Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ and Willy Loman from Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of the Salesman’ both have their own views on the American Dream and how it can be achieved. Walter Lee Younger, a

The American Dream can mean different things depending on who is asked. Some will answer it is the freedom of religion, class or race, others will claim it is about the ability to choose where they want to work, what they want to wear, or what’s for breakfast the next day.

Everybody has dreams. Some dreams are small, some are large, and some are seemingly impossible. The American dream is an individual's pursuit and completion of their own dreams through hard work and determination. In Lorraine Hansberry’s book A Raisin in the Sun, Bethena is given all three types of dreams and demonstrates the theme of achieving the American dream by working hard to achieve those dreams. Bethena, an African American woman, was very proud of her African heritage, and she worked hard to preserve it. One thing she made very clear was her hate for “assimilationist Negroes”(Hansberry 81). This was one characteristic that played a significant role in her choosing someone to marry. Her dream of marriage, however, was second to her primary dream of becoming a doctor. This dream of becoming a doctor was by far the most difficult of the three, as not only was she poor, but also living in Chicago in the 1950s and 60s when racism and sexism were still very prevalent. Despite this, Beneatha demonstrated the theme of working hard to achieve her American dream by progressing toward her small dream of honoring her African heritage, her large dream of finding a husband, and her seemingly impossible dream of becoming a doctor.

“ American Dream” as defined in the Google dictionary is “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. (“American Dream” def 1) . Walter Lee had his own view on the American Dream and how it can be achieved. Walter Lee wanted to achieve his dream of opening a liquor store and thought his father’s life insurance money would be his perfect opportunity. Since it was Mama’s decision on what to do with the money, she ended buying a house and giving the rest to him which Willy Harris stole.

“Check coming today?” The Life Insurance check that Mama will soon be receiving is the source of all the dreams in the Younger family. A major argument that Lorraine Hansberry makes in her play A Raisin in the Sun is the importance of dreams. Dreams are what each member of the Younger family is driven by. Mama wants to have her own home in a nice part of town; she does not want her children growing up in a place with rats. Walter wants to have a successful business so he can surpass the poverty that has plagued his family. And Beneatha wants to get a good education, become a doctor, and marry a nice man. Dreams are especially important to the Younger family as they come from a poverty laden family and desire to live the “American Dream.”