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

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Reality of the American Dream The American Dream isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The real ideas of the American Dream aren’t as luxurious as one might think. The reality of the American Dream is that it's more about scraping by than living care free. I will analyze the true American Dream by comparing ideas from A Raisin in The Sun with the poems Harlem, The Road Not Taken, and See It Through. The recurring themes in the text are making it by no matter what struggles you endure, accomplishing your own goals, just staying alive and making a name for yourself. Lorraine Hansberry based the name of her play, A Raisin in The Sun, after a line from the poem Harlem. “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” Hansbury named her play after this line of the poem, she did this because in the book it talks about …show more content…

Just like in real life, the play has people and situations that affect the way of life of the characters. “Black may be the clouds about you, And your future may seem grim, But don’t let your nerve desert you; Keep yourself in fighting trim. If the worst is bound to happen, Spite of all that you can do, Running from it will not save you, See it through!” These lines from the poem See It Through relate to the reality of the American Dream, because it states that even if your dreams don’t come true or you hit roadblocks you have to keep trying to achieve your goals. “When you’re up against a trouble, Meet it squarely, face to face; Lift your chin and set your shoulders, Plant your feet and take a brace. When it’s vain to try to dodge it, Do the best that you can do; You may fail, but you may conquer, See it through!”This quote from the poem sums up the main idea of how you have to keep trying your best and making a name for

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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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867 Words | 4 Pages

The hidden meanings in the references that authors write about, when they write their novels or plays, change how a play or book is thought of and also commences the development of better critical thinking skills.. In the play, A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses many different types of literary devices for the play to have a deeper meaning or idea than what is just read. Taking place during the 1950’s in Southside Chicago, the play is about an African American family who live through many struggles, racially and financially. When the father dies and the Younger family receives $10,000, their hopes and dreams are possible and may come true. It is until they lose their money that they realized they “aimed to high”(140), especially Mama and Walter Younger.

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432 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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754 Words | 4 Pages

The strength to never give up and the sacrifice one is willing to make to reach their dreams when facing problems that are hopeless makes one different from others. “Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry and demonstrates the strength to never give up, and the sacrifice one is willing to make to reach their dreams when facing problems that seem hopeless. Walter is fascinated with the money that they are getting from the death of big water. He plans to invest the money in the liquor store that his friend Harris told him about. Instead, Mama buys a house, Walter is mad at his mother's decision and believes that she crushed her dreams.

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1015 Words | 5 Pages

The American dream is not as easy as people say it is. The American Dream is being able to afford the necessities you need, without having to struggle and suffer just to put food on a table for their families. People think it’s easy to live the American Dream, but little do they know that there are people out there struggling to support their family. The American Dream is difficult to achieve but very possible if people could find the opportunity and available to them.

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600 Words | 3 Pages

The title of the play “A Raisin in the Sun” comes from the poem “Harlem” written by Langston Hughes. The poem is asking what happen to dreams that are not accomplished, What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ Like a raisin in the sun (Hughes) in the play many character have unaccomplished or deferred dreams. Mama dreams is moving her family out of their small apartment and into a house in a nice area with a yard for Travis and a garden for herself. She has had this dream for a long time but has never been able to accomplish it financially. After the death of her husband, the family receives a $10,000 life insurance check this money gives mama of the opportunity to buy the house she has always dreamed for her family.

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502 Words | 3 Pages

Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, derived from “Harlem,” a poem written by Langston Hughes. Both the play and poem explore the theme of deferred dreams. A raisin symbolizes one’s dreams, while the sun represents time; as more time is spent in the sun, the longer the dream is deferred. The theme signifies that not everyone is able to accomplish their version of the American Dream. Also, feminism is a key theme exhibited through the women of the Younger family.

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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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Many Americans work numerous long days with extended hours in order to achieve this goal. What separates people who achieve the dream and people who do not achieve it? The American dream is real but what many found is that it is not attainable to everyone due to the lack of education and financial status within their upbringing. The American dream is not attainable to everyone because of the lack of education.

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The American Dream: The ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American person. In the play A Raisin in the Sun each character has different dreams. Each character develops the theme of The American Dream differently. One character in specific is Ruth Younger. Ruth is very optimistic, support everyone's decisions, and is not the stereotypical housewife of the 1950’s.

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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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732 Words | 3 Pages

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

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1664 Words | 7 Pages

Chicago served as a home to numerous walks of life in the 1950’s, and much of the differences in realities were based on differences in race and people’s opinions of segregation. Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun is based off of real life experiences, and it authentically tells the story of an african american family that strives for equality and The American Dream. Walter Younger, the father of the family, battles with deferred dreams of his own and for his family. Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun and Nina Simone’s song “I Wish I knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” both portray Walter’s emotions throughout his daily struggles with his family as they dealt with segregation and destitution. Money was a large contributor

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562 Words | 3 Pages

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who was born in Stagira in 384 BC. Stagira is a small town in Greece on the north coast that used to be a seaport Aristotle didn’t know much of his mom because people seem to believe she died when he was young. His father was Nicomachusl. A physician to the Macedonian king he died when Aristotle was young. After the death of his father, Aristotle he lived with his sister Arimneste and her husband Proxenus.

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The American Dream Explained What is the American Dream? James Truslow Adams stated in his book The Epic of America, that the American Dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement…” (p.214-215). The American Dream has changed from our Founding Fathers writing of the Declaration of Independence protecting our opportunity to improve our life, no matter who we are to the materialistic things that the American Dream is for some today in the year 2018.

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