Summary Of ' A Raisin Of The Sun '

At the beginning of the play Walter Lee younger believes that manhood stems from being able to provide for one’s family. We first encounter Walter’s concept of manhood when he and Ruth are arguing over breakfast and Walter says, “I’m thirty-five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live…” (Hansberry 478). This begins to show his ideas because it shows that he is getting older and he still cannot provide for his family. One thing that might hurt Walter the most

During the 1900s many black families barely had enough money to pay for the basic necessities needed to live. At times some families would receive a significant sum of money, something they were not used to getting. Deciding on how to spend this money is what caused problems among some families. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she argues that there are times when in a state of financial instability and where money is a necessity to completing one’s dream that some family members choose to put their dreams over others when suddenly given the opportunity. After Mama’s husband died she was bound to receive an insurance check that would be used by the Younger family. Before even receiving the

Exposition : The Younger family has recently lost their head of the family, Mama’s husband, and are going to be given 10,000$ from their insurance. They are an African American family in the working class that lives on the South side of Chicago and struggling with financial difficulties.

“What happens to a dream deferred?” (Hughes l. 1) Langston Hughes asks in his 1959 poem “Dream Deferred.” He suggests that it might “dry up like a raisin in the sun” (Hughes ll. 2-3) or “stink like rotten meat” (Hughes l. 6); however, at the end of the poem, Hughes offers another alternative by asking, “Or does it explode?” (Hughes l. 11) This is the view Lorraine Hansberry supports in her 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, in witch she examines an African-American’s family’s struggle to break out of the poverty that is preventing them from achieving some sort of financial stability, or the American Dream. It focuses on Walter’s attempt in “making it,” or “being somebody.” She also analyzes how race, prejudice, and economic insecurity

Walter Younger wants to invest his money, and is tired of the white man stopping his desires. His dreams are to have money, so he can live the American dream just like the fellow white men. Also to provide for his family, and most importantly his children. He works as a chauffeur opening door, and driving the white man around. Walter in the story struggles with his living, and the poverty that his family are in. In the story, Walter tries to invest his money into opening a liquor business. After losing his money in the investment. Towards the end of the movie, he starts to realize that his dreams are already there. This was a major inciting incident in the story. To repeat, Walter and his family dreams are crushed by Walters poor choices.

The American Dream, the idea that anybody can be successful through hard work and dedication, has been a driving force in the American history. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby and Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun express the notion that the Dream itself is defined differently to different people. The American Dream is not the same for everybody, it is instead an idealistic achievement that changes based on who is driving themselves towards the Dream. Success through the Dream, therefore, is defined by the Dreamers themselves. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby achieves materialistic wealth, but that wealth is not enough to fulfill his definition of the Dream. Gatsby’s idea of success is to gain respect from others and to receive love back from the women he loves - Daisy. A Raisin in the Sun’s Walter Younger, on the other hand, desires wealth, and struggles utilizing the Dream’s ideals to attain said wealth. His definition of success revolves around a stable income that would allow him and his family a comfortable lifestyle where money is not as big an issue. Both Gatsby and Walter’s experiences and the polar differences in their Dream’s definitions reveals that the success of one’s Dream is based heavily on the person themselves and not measurable by tangible aspects such as wealth or respect.

The American Dream is defined as the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination and initiative. However, in 1950s to the 1960s, when the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was written, the American Dream was expressed slightly differently. Post World War II the idea of the American Dream was owning a home in a decent neighborhood; starting a business- becoming an entrepreneur; a good paying job with longevity; and family planning or controlling the number of offspring (Hansberry). Although, most may believe in having the American Dream or becoming successful in life, only a few seem to obtain it. Statistics

In the play Walter Lee Younger Junior is a 35-year protagonist who can't provide or stand up to be the man to his family. Walter Lee Younger Junior suffered so hard and he was tired of they way him and his family were living in poverty and he's trying to take away poverty from his family and try to figure out a new, and better ways to secure its economic prosperity. Walter is going insane due to all

    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.

“To realize the American Dream, the most important thing to understand is that it belongs to everybody. It is a human dream. If you understand this and work very hard it is possible.” However it is not always guaranteed. A Raisin in The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a story about a family who continues to struggle while reaching towards The American Dream. The American Dream is described as “The ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” The Youngers are a hard-working family who all have different interpretations of the American Dream. Mama, Walter, and Beneatha’s shared powerful dreams that give the a look into The American Dream. Despite

The Younger family is a black family that struggles to gain middle class acceptance. When the play opens, Mama, who is the mother of the Younger family, is waiting for a $10,000 life insurance check from the death of her husband. Walter Lee Younger who is the son of Mama, shows signs of disappointment with his current living conditions “I got a boy who sleeps in the living room… and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live…”(1477). Walter was desperate to attain a better live for their growing family that he

Upon walking out of Krannert's production of "A Raisin in the Sun," an eerie silence drizzled about the audience as people murmured and slowly shuffled towards the exits. After witnessing such a powerful yet melancholy piece of theater work, words seemed inappropriate. For three hours, "A Raisin in the Sun" encompassed us with racial, economic, and social issues of the 1950s. Swirling portions of humor, disgrace, pride, and sadness into a smooth blend, the play developed many twists and turns that kept the audience and myself completely alert. Throughout the three acts I could feel the audience, as well as myself, totally devoting themselves to the play. But after taking a step back, the play proved to

Walter Younger does not want to sit down, shut up, and eat his eggs; he wants to pursue the American Dream. The Younger family in “A Raisin in the Sun” struggle with social mobility and defining each of his/her own unique African American identity. Each family member has an individual perspective on what it means to be successful in America, and how to obtain this prosperity. Although the women in the repeat the mantra of shutting down and eating one’s eggs, none of them are content with the current living situation and strive for a new home that is symbolic of a safe and well connected unit.The family acquires a small fortunate that can be life changing, and how they intend to use this money defines their values and principles and critiques the misleading philosophy of the American Dream.

Having a dream plays an important role in one’s life and varies from person to person. It makes a person’s life purposeful. Some dreams are achievable and some aren’t, but hard work is essential for both of them. More, there are also some dreams that demand long time along with full dedication and devotion, such as dreams of getting freedom, dignity, status etc. In A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry describes throughout the story that how the dreams of the Younger family become “dreams deferred”. The younger family actually represents to all African- Americans families, who after a very long time, hard struggle, and sacrifices are able to achieve equal rights in the society along with whites.

At most times, the American Dream resembles an ideological puzzle more than a fully realizable image. Within the confines of her fantastical, theatrical world Lorraine Hansberry attempts to fit a few of these pieces together and, in the process, ends up showing exactly how everything doesn't just snap-together all nicely. The problems in her play, A Raisin In The Sun, deal primarily with the basic nature of humans and their respected struggle's to "make it" in America.