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Comparing Douglass And A Raisin In The Sun

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The illustration of the house with the white picket fence has generally been noted to represent the idea of the American Dream. A Raisin in the Sun, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry in 1959 tells the story of one' mans' American Dream of becoming rich, so he would be happy. A second piece entitled " Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass" discuss how Fredrick Douglass' American Dream is learning to read and write, so he would be free as a slave. The narrative and play are similar and different in many ways. Both discuss the American Dream, however, they have different interpretations of the American Dream. First, the characters in the narrative and play both want something better for themselves. For examples in the narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass", Fredrick importance in life is education and self-improvement. " I succeeded in learning to read and write. In accomplishing this, I will be compelled to resort to various stratagems." In the play, Walter chases after money in order to gain happiness. " I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy... Mama look at me." Another way they are the same is that both characters find themselves in difficult stages in their life. For instance, Walter is unhappy with his life and is in financial need. Frederick Douglass is an American slave …show more content…

One of the difference is each character American Dream is different from the other. For example, in the narrative, Frederick American Dream is education. " I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free." In the play, Walter American Dream is Money. "WALTER sits down and grasps in close and counts off the zeros) Ten thousand dollars." Another difference is between the two is their identity. Walter is a married man who willing to do anything in order to provide for his family, while Frederick Douglass in a salve who wish to be

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The play “Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, is a powerful play that displays what it like is to have dreams deferred. Hansberry extracted her title from a well-known poem called “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. “Harlem” serves as an epigraph for the play and Hansberry’s play does an excellent job expressing the poem’s themes. The play provokes feelings of suspense and drama as we watch the character’s endeavors, only to be crushed by the very same thing that they yearn for. My analysis of the play and the poem proves that Hansberry’s play was able to capture and manifest the themes of the poem

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Contrasting All My Sons to A Raisin in the Sun Not everything is seen by people the same. Everyone has their own take on things. All My Sons shows Chris’s thinking when it comes to money, and then there's Walter from a raisin in the sun and how he feels about money. Plus the contrasting of different American dreams between the 2 plays.

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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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The biggest contrast however, is that these stories differ in the sense of what leads the individual to happiness. Walter believes is it wealth, meanwhile Douglass believes it is

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“People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get” – Fredrick Douglass. The Life of Fredrick Douglass by Fredrick Douglass was published in 1845. He was a slave who ran away to the North to be labeled as free in America. He soon became an abolitionist who was the voice of civil and political rights of slaves. On the other hand, a play called, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry in 1959, expresses how wealth is a dream in Walter’s eyes.

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Dreams lie at the core of A Raisin in the Sun and serve to push the action of the story forward while creating tension between characters whose dreams appear to others as obstacles. The theme of ownership runs through both Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play and the 1961 film, manifesting itself primarily in the Younger family’s individual dreams and

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As soon as the American class system was established, discussions and evaluations of the "American Dream" have been at the center of Western thought. The concept that a person with humble beginnings can rise to socio-economic prosperity in this capitalist system we call our own has been the subject of many works and writings, with differing definitions of what it is, and how to achieve it. Take the play, "A Raisin in the Sun," for example. This play features a young man by the name of Walter, who firmly believes that wealth leads to happiness, and therefore success. On the other hand, the self-proclaimed erudite Frederick Douglass was in support of the idea that, rather than wealth, knowledge is the true guide to happiness.

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He wants to be a businessman and own a liquor store. He wants to be able to provide for his family and give them what they have never had. Walter also wants to take his mother’s position as the head of the house and make the financial decisions for the family. Walter can be seen as selfish as instead of putting the money for him and his sister in the bank he uses it all and loses it trying to fulfill his own dreams with no regard to his sister’s dreams or the rest of the family’s.

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Fredrick Douglass, an Abolitionist writer and escaped slave, has come to be one of the forefathers of the anti-slavery movement in mid-19th century America. In his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, he showed his audience in grotesque detail the injustices and tortures of slavery. Douglass was born in Talbot County in Maryland, where as a child he owned by a cruel man named Captain Anthony. Throughout his life as a slave he is juggled between a few masters, all in the same family. When Douglass is given to Captain Anthony’s son-in-law, Hugh Auld, he moved from the horrible plantation to city life in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Both characters try to reach their dreams by moving their families and responsibility aside. For example, Walter Lee dreams of opening a liquor store, so to reach his dreams he took his family is money trying to act like a man but then that money was stolen by his friend Willy

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Douglass managed to overcome the maltreatment of his wretched slave owners through the eventual attainment of freedom. The injustice imposed upon the African-American slaves by their owners was the crux of Douglass’s motivation to escape this inhumane life. Adolescents in today’s society could use Frederick’s determination as an example of moving forward to better oneself or one’s situation regardless of

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In the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave recollects on his life after seizing his freedom. Frederick Douglass details his feelings in order to convince the Northern whites that they will never understand the emotions that course through the minds of fugitive slaves. Douglass describes his sentiment towards the circumstance he positioned himself in. The author employs a shifting tone in his work.

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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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Walter is a thin and intense man in his mid thirties. He tends to have nervous movements and irregular speech habits (Hansberry 25). Walter is African American which is important because during the 1950s, segregation was common. African Americans were not allowed to do what they wanted and this affected Walter, by making him think he could not be as smart or rich as a white man. His

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I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy… Mama – look at me.” Page 75. Money is mentally consuming Walter’s mind. He has so many hopes and dreams for his family and being the man of the household, not being able to provide for his family results in him lashing out.

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