Comparing Douglass And A Raisin In The Sun

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. Both of these routes

In this excerpt, Douglass accounts his first experiences with reading, and how learning how to learn gave him the world in the palms of his hands. After his mistress is no longer allowed to teach him, Douglass trades his lunch for knowledge with the white childeren in the street. About this, he writes, "This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge." In this instance, Douglass expresses the belief that the learning is more valuable than the bread he trades. This idea can be expanded, if one consideres "bread" as a metaphor for all material or luxurious things. If the story is read this way, then Douglass is more directly saying that freedom is found in erudition, not in material

Douglass's belief that freedom is found in learning could be referred to as the optimistic approach. While ideally, knowledge would be one among the highest of virtues, and therefore be the key to a lessened life burden, our current financial system does not behave this way. In a metaphysical sense however, scholarship is indeed the torch to light the way. While many erudites and ponderers in America's history have experienced the deepest poverty all their lives, perhaps the freedom to whcih Douglass refers is of the mind, and not of the pocketbook. In this sense, Douglass is entirely correct. In order to be free from ones own oppressive mind, an individual must absorb as much of the world as possible, through not only physical travel, but through research and reading as