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

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Immediately following World War I, an artistic, social, and cultural movement known as the “Harlem Renaissance” began to flourish in a small area of New York City called Harlem. African Americans either succumbed to the discrimination, or took a stand against the rest of society. They were finally free, but were subjected to poor quality lives due to the fact that most African Americans during the early to mid 1900s lacked the education they needed in order to acquire better jobs and to reach the American Dream. It is apparent that life for African Americans living in America during the early to mid 1900s was difficult, and that they faced many hardships. Segregation was a common issue for black families in America, and they were unwanted in …show more content…

Achieving the American Dream seemed impossible for African Americans during the early to mid 1900s. In A Raisin in The Sun the interpretation of the American Dream changes from generation to generation. Mama has always been concerned with the general happiness and welfare of her family, by getting the check she would be able to purchase a home, that in her eyes is ultimately the American Dream, where as for Walter it is wanting a liquor store and becoming rich. Momma was disappointed in Walter because he was not living up to his father 's expectations and being a provider for his family. She expressed her feelings by telling Walter that "Something has changed. You something new, boy. In my time we was worried about not being lynched and getting to the North if we could and how to stay alive and still have a pinch of dignity too”(Hansberry 74). For Momma escaping slavery alone was a big step towards the American Dream for African Americans, but Walters generation was never satisfied with the little things in life, causing an issue amongst the different generations. Hansberry is trying to show how the American Dream was only obtainable for the Youngers because big Walter had passed away, and it was not achieved through hard

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The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that took place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. It was a very cultural, social, and artistic movement where African American jazz performers, authors, poets, musicians, entertainers, and actors all gave themselves a name. But during the time it was known as the “New Negro Movement” named after Alain Locke. This was a time where new cultural expressions were coming about the urban areas in the Northeast of the United States. But this whole “new negro movement” didn’t just happen out of nowhere, there is a cause of how this happened.

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The Harlem Renaissance was a period in American history, which occurred in the 1920s in Harlem, New York. The cultural movement was an opportunity for African Americans to celebrate their heritage through intellectual and artistic works. Langston Hughes, a famous poet, was a product of the Harlem Renaissance. One notable piece of literature by Hughes is “Dream Deferred”. However, the discussion of African American culture isn’t limited to the 1920s.

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Duke Ellington was a jazz author, conductor, and entertainer amid the Harlem Renaissance. During the developmental Cotton Club years, he explored different avenues regarding and built up the style that would rapidly bring him overall achievement. Ellington would be among the first to concentrate on melodic shape and sythesis in jazz. Ellington composed more than 2000 pieces in his lifetime. The Duke Ellington Orchestra was the "house" symphony for various years at the Cotton Club.

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It shows this because Walter diminishes his sisters Beneatha’s dream of becoming a doctor by making a misogynist comment in which insinuates on her settling on being a nurse due to a doctor clearly being an often male dominant profession. Furthermore, Walter is deluded by greed on opening a liquor store which causes him to have no regard for the feelings or desires of others. Clearly, the central idea of the text is that in trying to achieve a dream it can bring out a person selfish tendency because people tend to disparage others dreams in order to attain theirs. The author 's use of conflict is important to the developing the central idea that oneself can become selfish when trying to obtain the American dream because it creates tension.

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This shows the family such as Mama and Ruth that they can’t trust Walter with anything now because he lost all of the portion of the money. He is looked down upon for not becoming the “Man” of the house and taking full responsibility when he is supposed to. Another traditional gender role that I see Hansberry challenging is Beneatha in the middle of the book. Beneatha explains how she has started taking guitar lessons Mama and Ruth laugh out loud making fun of her and asking why she wants to play the guitar. All of sudden she gets upset when Mama and Ruth don’t take it seriously “How come you done taken it in your mind to learn to play the guitar?”

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“It [the Harlem Renaissance] was a time of black individualism, a time marked by a vast array of characters whose uniqueness challenged the traditional inability of white Americans to differentiate between blacks.” (Clement Alexander Price). Price’s mentality describes the tradition of American society persecuting African Americans. This reference to tradition forces the audience to consider how this persecution began. African Americans were abducted and forced into slavery.

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The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great cultural growth in the black community. It is accepted that it started in 1918 and lasted throughout the 1930s. Though named the ‘Harlem’ Renaissance, it was a country-wide phenomenon of pride and development among black Americans, the likes of which had never existed in such grand scale. Among the varying political actions and movements for equality, a surge of new art appeared: musical, visual, and even theatre. With said surge, many of the most well-known black authors, poets, musicians and actors rose to prevalence including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Louis Armstrong, and Eulalie Spence.

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Hardships of the Youngers In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the characters of Mama, Walter ,and Beneatha are faced with hardships associated with their dreams being destroyed by discriminatory housing,racial inequality and lack of support from her family towards her education. In the play all the characters have some kind of dream. Mama wants to get a house for the family, Walter wants to have money to provide for his family and plans to do that with a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to become a doctor. Beneatha is going to school and at the same time she’s trying to discover herself,but her family is not supportive of this.

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The American Dream of wanting less material goods in order to live a more fulfilling life that is indulged in the natural beauty of the world was the American Dream that McCandless was seeking. Christopher McCandless rejected the American Dream, as it’s traditionally defined in pursuit of a more emotionally and spiritually fulfilling existence free from the social pressures of our materialistic society in the Alaskan wilderness. The irony of McCandless's rejection of the traditional American dream is that he lived such a perfect life. a life many would want to live and achieve as a part of their own American Dream and yet he wanted to remove himself from society's standards. An important part of the traditional American dream is the “perfect American family” which is essentially the family that McCandless grew up in.

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In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Loraine Hansberry, both Walter and Mama have great dreams and encounter barriers on the path to achieving their dreams. Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and being able to better provide for his family, a dream that changes when he faces the barrier of his money being stolen by Willy Harris. Mama dreams of living in a real house with a garden and also encounters barrier of her money being stolen by Willy Harris. Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and being able to financially support his family. Walter’s dream is shown in act 1, scene 1 when he explains to Ruth how the liquor store he and his friends are buying will help their family have enough money to do more than just make ends meet (32,33).

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The Harlem Renaissance The 1920’s was a historic time period in which many things changed from beliefs to technology in the U.S.. One of the most important events in this time period was The Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was an important period in the U.S.’s history in which African American culture was finally appreciated because of their achievements in the arts , literature, and music. Like every other story , they all have a beginning , someplace where everything started. It began with many African Americans moving from the south to the north of the U.S. to avoid racism.

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Dreams can come true if you believe and never give up. The American Dream consists of a national idea that success and prosperity are things to continually strive for. There are many diverse opinions and reasons that people get idea that the American Dream is alive or dead. It is the different stories that are told as examples, that give viewers their opinions. People can twist words in ways that can make the americans hopeful that the american dream is alive, and change it into ways that the american dream is dead.

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