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A Raisin In The Sun & The American Dream

I believe that Beneatha gave up on her dreams because she was afraid. Afraid that she would not get too far or accomplish everything that she wanted accomplish. Beneatha was afraid that despite her achievement she would still fail. In the beginning of the play, it is straightened and halfway through the play, she cuts it to an afro. The afro, another symbol of nature represents her embracing her natural heritage. It can be seen here that this powerful social statement has been controlled by nature-her natural hair.

  • Dissecting texts like these allow the reader to think beyond the physical natural things discussed or mentioned in a story, like animals or dirt.
  • Through the mention of a small and struggling houseplant, yearning to become a garden, Hansberry dissects the achievability of dreams for a family that seems to have the whole world against them.
  • The dream matters to Lena because she lived through the difficult time in which many blacks left the South and moved North to make life better for themselves.
  • Once the family received the insurance check from the father’s death it formed a wedge in the family.
  • Several minor characters have a major impact on the story and serve an important function within the play.

African Americans have been treated unfairly for the past several decades and their history and struggles are yet unknown to many… At paperdue.com, we provide students the tools they need to streamline their studying, researching, and writing tasks. The No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001 in order to improve overall students’ performance and to decrease the performance gap between minority and mainstream students. Through this cause and effect essay, author sheds light on effects of the NCLB. It has been discussed, how the NCLB has helped to improve education levels as well as how school administrators are facing challenges to meet the standards of this act. Unlike Lena, Ruth engages her husband in arguments although she goes ahead to please him by commenting positively about the liquor business to Lena.

The American Dream In a Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

The hope to escape poverty is only given concrete assistance by the death of the father, but when most of this money is stolen the family comes together in a show of unity. It is as though the play argues finally that just by having the dream one will become a success as hope has triumphed over adversity. As the stage directions for Act One, Scene One reveal, the Younger family live in cramped conditions and as they talk it becomes all the more evident that their lives are dominated by the combined traps of poverty and racism. As Walter points, it has always been about money and this telling remark represents how this play tries to demonstrate that poverty both justifies and creates inequalities.

a raisin in the sun theme essay

The phrase “fluidly adapted” supports the idea that melodramas focus on real issues, their characters caricatures of the men and women of the time in which they are based, a method of commenting on our ever-changing society through entertainment. Before analysing and comparing the genre which links these two films, it is important to note the periods in which they were set and made, and the social constructions behind both their main themes and their characters’ actions. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was made in 1945, the year in which the Second World War ended.

Themes And Meanings

However, she conveys the message that money is not life, as Walter claimed it was. Rather, family, pride in yourself, and pursuing your dreams are the things that are really important. The character that seems to express this view the closest is Mama. In Act I Mama tells Beneatha, “There is always something left to love. Even theme of mother tongue after all the mistakes Walter has made, Mama shows that love for your family, not money holds greater value.

Money became a necessity to get them out of their current situation. Once the family received the insurance check from the father’s death it formed a wedge in the family. They began to debate on who deserved the rights to use the money, who needed the money. Money was the answer to all of the conflict in the play likewise it caused more conflict.

a raisin in the sun theme essay

The Younger household is not a safe haven, especially for women who question male leadership. After years of labor, Walter Senior passed away, but from his hard work came an Insurance check that represented his dedicated life to his children. Mama’s nurturing personality is also represented in the play, this is symbolized by the way she treats the houseplant. Much the same as her family, Mama’s plant does not have the essential assets to prosper.

What Is Beneathas Dream In A Raisin In The Sun

She becomes willing to sacrifice anything for her children’s future. However, one can argue that the catalyst for her family’s success is money, wealth. A Raisin in the Sun is a play telling the story of an African-American tragedy. The Younger family lives in the ghetto and is at a crossroads after the father’s death. Mother Lena Younger and her grown up children Walter Lee and Beneatha share a cramped apartment in a poor district of Chicago, in which she and Walter Lee’s wife Ruth and son Travis barely fit together inside. Lena’s husband, the family’s father died and his life insurance brings the family $ 10,000.