"Crossing the Swamp," a poem by Mary Oliver, confesses a struggle through "pathless, seamless, peerless mud" to a triumphant solitary victory in a "breathing palace of leaves. " Oliver's affair with the "black, slack earthsoup" is demonstrated as she faces her long coming combat against herself. Throughout this free verse poem, the wild spirit of the author is sensed in this flexible writing style. While Oliver's indecisiveness is obvious throughout the text, it is physically obvious in the shape of the poem itself.
Claire Aguilar-Hwang Mrs. Veitch 2 2/15/18 Endless Possibilities Entering a rocket, risking life, exhilarating adventures waiting. Travelling to the moon, to the endless possibilities in outer space, just like what 37 year old Charlie Gordon feels in the science fiction short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. He has a surgery, risking his life. There are highs and lows waiting for him the minute the surgery is complete.
Page 28). He also seems restless and impatient, but still respecting to his parents (he obeys his mother). To me it seems that Ruth and Walter are both stressed (they argue a lot and Ruth already has “disappointment hanging in her face” page 24), due to the family’s financial state. Their relationship seems rocky, yet you can tell they both love each other. Ruth seems to be tired and restless, having worked too much and doing housework.
“A racist system inevitably destroys and damages human beings; it brutalizes and dehumanizes them, blacks and whites alike” (Kenneth Clark). Kenneth Clark was a very important person in helping the Brown V. Board Of Education case win. Winning that case was important because a state law came into place that said separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. A Raisin in the Sun shows how Clark was right; a racist system affected the way the Youngers’ lived. The Youngers’ apartment in the Southside of Chicago: in the 1950s; significantly affected the Youngers’ lives.
“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” This statement is used as an inspirational message , by our coaches, to inspire the football team to work hard and give it our all. Hansberry depicts this idea of working hard in the text A Raisin In The Sun. She creates an idea that, if you don’t work hard you will not achieve great things. A Raisin In The Sun Is written by Lorraine Hansberry and is a historical fiction based on the everyday lives of African Americans, who work hard through the barriers of segregation to achieve their dreams.
“Being rich doesn't always mean having money. It means being happy with the amount that you have.” In the play, A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter Lee Younger Jr, a man who may not be happy until he has this check he's been waiting for in his hands. A man whose family has never been financially stable and wants the best for everyone. Younger has goals, he wants to open a bar and be a businessman.
When people are poor, they often have a lot of problems in their life. They struggle through every day, but they learn to appreciate everything that they have. However, when people are going through tough times, they often think that money will solve all of their problems. In “A Raisin In The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, she guides the audience through a black family -- impacted by the need for money -- living on the south side of Chicago. The Younger family gets Lena Younger’s dead husband’s insurance check and buys a house in a white neighborhood, and they save the remainder of the money for Beneatha’s medical degree and for starting a liquor store.
Dreams are a common thing in society that hold and bond people together. Hope is in many aspects of our life as well, and fuel many of the wishes Americans possess. From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's famous “I Have a Dream” speech, to Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun play, we find that accomplishing these dreams and goals is something that takes courage or passion. Throughout these two pieces of literature, equality, racism, dreams, and hope are common themes. We can find that real human beings and simple characters share the desire of freedom, and strive for better opportunities in life.
Josh Jameson, an avid author, once said, “There comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page and closing the book.” When facing a crossroads in life, one must always question whether to face adversity or give up in the pursuit of happiness. This idea also applies to the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, where Big Walter and his son, Walter Lee, choose between sacrificing their lives and dreams or giving up and living a monotonous life. Big Walter is an overworked father whose death provides his family a chance to escape their financial crisis. All the while, Walter is sacrificing his dream of investing since no one supports him.
“Choices made, whether bad or good, follow you forever and affect everyone in their path one way or another.” J.E.B. Spredemann. The theme I chose to analyze is choices and consequences. For this type of writing assignment, I’ve decided to choose the following readings. The poem titled Harlem was written by Langston Hughes in 1951.
Who is Margaret Walker? Margaret Walker was a poet who wrote five bibliography poems (Poetry Foundation). Margaret Walker wrote more poems but these are just the ones she wrote about her life. She leaned toward writing about nature and black lives, she addresses these things in the poems “Sorrow Home”, “ Memory”, and “Southern Song”, most people can relate to these types of poems because they can relate to being outdoors and doing hard work and putting forth the effort to get a job done. Margaret Walker was an interesting poet because her poems can transport the reader back to a time and place of hardships and struggles of the black community in the days of slavery and their strength to overcome these sometimes unbearable conditions.
As a civil rights activist, Stokely Carmichael once said, “We are told,” If you work hard, you’ll succeed”- but if that were true, black people would own the country. We are oppressed because we are black- not because we are ignorant, not because we are lazy, not because we are stupid, but because we are black!” This quote is still relevant even to this day, blacks are still considered a minority and they get treated differently simply because of the color of their skin. People continue to treat others by the color of their skin rather than their character. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the interaction between the themes of race and dreams demonstrates that your race can affect the dreams that you have and what you choose to do about it.
I listen to you every day, every night and every morning, and you never say nothing new.” Walter keeps trying to talk to Ruth about things with the liquor business, but she does not care which causes problems between them. Married couples are supposed to talk about their problems with each other, but Ruth and Walter do not which is one of the reasons why they are always fighting. When Ruth and Walter are arguing about things, Ruth gives up and usually just lets Walter win the argument. In the play, it says, “(She raises her head and stares at him vigorously-than says more quietly)”
Lorraine V. Hansberry Author Lorraine Hansberry, who is considered one of the Great American authors, wrote during the Modernist period. She wrote “A Raisin in the Sun” in 1959. In this work, we can see evidence of the characteristics, themes and style identified with the Modernist movement which was extant in American letters between 1850’s and after WWII. Lorraine Hansberry wrote during this time period of American literature, and such, remains one of the most identifiable and iconic writers of her time. Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois.
In Susan Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the themes identified are dreams and faith that each character signifies throughout their struggles in their daily lives. The theme dreams refer to how each of the main five characters: Ruth Younger, Walter Lee Younger, Travis Younger, Beneatha Younger, and Lena Younger dealt with different oppression situations that took part in their lives that put the dreams on hold. Furthermore, the theme also connects towards the faith that each main character had to pursue to keep their family together after the death of a love one. The characters’ in A Raisin in the Sun tries to chase after a separate dream, unfortunately their dreams are utterly pushed away to realize the importance of their family
