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American Dream In A Raisin In The Sun And Ellis Island

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The American Dream in Literature The American Dream is a common theme in literature, representing the ideals of freedom, opportunity, and equality for all, regardless of their background. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, “Two Kinds' ' by Amy Tan, and “Ellis Island' ' by Joseph Burchac all explore the idea of the American Dream. Through the struggles, challenges, and triumphs of the characters in each piece of literature, the authors put a unique perspective on the complexities of achieving the American Dream. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry portrays the theme of the American Dream through the Younger family’s aspirations for a better life and the obstacles that they face along the way. In the play, Walter Lee dreams of financial independence and success, which he believes will bring him and his family a better life. He tells his son, Travis, “just tell me where you want to go to school and you’ll go. Just tell me what it is you want to be- and you’ll be it” (Act I, Scene 2). This quote shows Walter’s desire to provide for his family and give those in his family anything they desire, as long as he archives the American Dream through hard work and determination. Additionally, Hansberry wrote, “We have decided to move into our house because my father- my father- he earned it for us brick by brick” (Act II, Scene 2). Benetha’s statement highlights …show more content…

For example, Bruchac wrote, “as dreams of forests and meadows / waiting for those who’d worked / a thousand years / yet never owned their own” (Lines 10-13). This quote says they have dreamed so long of the day that they come to the land of the free and own what they never would have worked hard enough to gain in their old countries. By arriving at Ellis Island, their dreams have come true, and they have gained freedom with the price of leaving

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Motivation for the American Dream Through Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck conveys that people are motivated because of the american dream. Steinbeck shows this theme when Lennie and George are talking about buying a place to live by themselves. When George and Lennie are around the fire, and they are talking about what they are motivated to do, George states “O.K. Someday-we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pics and-” “An live off the fatta the lan” Lennie shouted (18). This quote is significant because it shows how motivated and excited they are to get a house and live off the land.

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252 Words | 2 Pages

The American Dream is a byproduct of pride that is shown in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, and in the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In A Raisin in the Sun, the play follows a black family’s struggle to achieve their American Dreams to fruition. Walter Lee Jr. is the head

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463 Words | 2 Pages

Most people who dream the American Dream, will dream of a life with a white picket fence, a happy family and a happy home. A Raisin in the Sun, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry in 1959 tells a story of one's man's American Dream of becoming weathy, so he can be happy. A second piece entitled "Narrative Life of Fredrick Douglas" discusses how Fredrick Douglass' American Dream about how he wants to have an education. Hansberry and Fredrick Douglass discussed the similar and differences and the idea of the American Dream.

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1610 Words | 7 Pages

The concept of the American Dream has borne change since its conception in 1776, with the Declaration of Independence referencing men’s unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Its definition to the American people and its attainability is conditional upon the period it is prevalent in. In general, the American Dream refers to the idea that every American has the equality, freedom, and opportunity to strive. Many classic pieces of American Literature highlight this concept in a way that is most pertinent to the period they were written in. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, specifically highlights a more modern time period, from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.

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811 Words | 4 Pages

The book The glass Castle by Jeanette Walls is a very interesting as well as inspiring novel. She and her family the Walls carry the idea of the american dream throughout the entirety of the book. The American dream is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the idea that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” A big reason I believe the Walls experience the American dream is because of all of their traveling all over the United States. And also because of all of the neat experiences Jeannette has lived through and humbley told about.

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943 Words | 4 Pages

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun and Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass both use dramatic imagery and powerful stories to exemplify their idea of the "American Dream." However, their ideas of what makes an individual happy, differ. Walter's dream is to be successfull, after numerous events lead him to this conclusion. In contrast, Douglass, who is a slave, concludes that education and freedom are key.

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589 Words | 3 Pages

The American Dream is the long held belief that everybody can succeed in life by merit of hard work and perseverance. A man’s origins were not to be an inhibitor of his success. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's work The Great Gatsby the American Dream is portrayed as being misunderstood by the people of the 1920s. The American Dream became corrupted by people searching not for happiness, success, and honorable ambitions in life, but instead for wealth, power, and excess.

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1500 Words | 6 Pages

In the play Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry takes place on the southside of Chicago where Walter and his family are racially profiled and show us how the survive throughout their struggles. The central struggles for the younger family in their search for the American dream is mostly poverty and being racially profiled against for their actions. Hansberry challenges the traditional gender roles and issues of dominance throughout the play when Mama gives Walter lee the rest of the money at the end of the play. He becomes all excited and was supposed to save some for himself and put the rest of the money to Beneatha 's education. Instead, he gave all that money to Willy another character in the play which later on that he stole from him.

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921 Words | 4 Pages

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun follows the struggles of an African American family living in a neighborhood in 1950s South Side Chicago. The play discusses several issues pertaining to African Americans of the time, such as poverty and discrimination. One of the major themes of the story is the search for a sense of belonging; whether that’s a sense of belonging to the continent of Africa, a neighborhood in Chicago, or on a personal level within the Younger family. The play explores this theme through its characters Beneatha, Mama and Walter.

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1712 Words | 7 Pages

As represented in the quote, Joseph Asagai, a symbolistic static character in the play, expresses the comparison of being an idealist who doesn’t give up on their dream, to a realist who limits themselves from achieving their goals. He compares life to an infinite line stating the idea, that life has an endless amount of possibilities and it’s up to each individual to decide whether or not to take on the challenge to achieve these goals. The play A Raisin in the Sun written by the prominent playwright and writer Lorraine Hansberry, discusses and depicts themes of conflict between expectation, the American Dream, and strength of family, circling around the main idea of “dreams”. She epitomizes this message through a variety of well thought out characters and their journey through life’s barriers in the 1950’s as an African American family. It primarily focuses on three members of the Younger’s family, and how their dreams either alter or defer over the course of the story.

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752 Words | 4 Pages

The American Dream Many authors tie in an aspect of everyday life into their writing. “Fences” by August Wilson is just one example of how this can occur. Wilson ties in the aspect of the American Dream into this play through one character. Some would say the American Dream is the ability to dare and to dream.

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1521 Words | 7 Pages

Dreaming to Achieve In this day and age, everyone can dream, but what matters is what is done to accomplish those dreams. This separates the Dreamers from the Achievers. The achievers see an opportunity and they take it. The dreamers simply dream and wait for circumstances to fall into their lap. In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry tells the story of the African American Younger family living in poverty on the south side of Chicago during the 1950s.

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699 Words | 3 Pages

In A Raisin in the Sun, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, the audience was able to obtain a sense of the struggle for the American dream. We are introduced to the Youngerś a black family living in the Southside of Chicago around the 1950’s. Each member of this family has their own meaning to what is the American dream. A Raisin in the Sun teaches us that even though life might be full of conflicts, it is important to not give up on our dreams.

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1123 Words | 5 Pages

The American Dream: A Raisin in the Sun 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 defined slightly different. Post World War II the idea of the American Dream was owning a home -in a decent neighborhood, starting your own business- becoming an entrepreneur, a good paying job- with longevity, and family planning-

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1065 Words | 5 Pages

The key to success is working hard to reach the goal. The workmanship and struggle for success can be called the American Dream. The idea of an American Dream has existed for a long time. The proof is its being a hidden theme for many American Literature stories. In Two Kinds by Amy Tan, there is an underlying theme of the American Dreams and there are different types of an American Dream .That is why the story should be included in the text books for the high school students to read.

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