While the family does move anyway, they are changed. Walter learns that he cannot trust everyone and every fly-by-night idea is probably just a fraud. Curing the sick was the most important thing to Beneatha before Walter lost the money. After the i Continue Reading...
(Steinbeck, 1939) When the Grapes of Wrath is compared with the other works that are discussed earlier, it is clear that this is showing the negative side of the American dream. In this situation, things did not work as planned for the Joads. Inste Continue Reading...
As J. Charles Washington notes, Mama and Walter have two different versions or ideas what the American Dream means in Raisin in the Sun. For Mama the dream is simply about change and doing what is necessary to protect and preserve one’s family. Continue Reading...
FILM -- "A RAISIN IN THE SUN" AND THE AMERICAN DREAM Lena (Mama) What is the dream? Lena is the strong, traditional matriarch of the Younger family. Her dream is for her family: that they will be safe, emotionally and physically well, principled a Continue Reading...
The end of the play is not entirely happy. Beneatha cannot going to go to medical school because of her brother's mistakes. The Youngers will likely face racist in their new neighborhood. They will have to struggle to meet their mortgage payments. Continue Reading...
At the time these issues were groundbreaking topics. The play explored the decision that Ruth had to make because her economic conditions dictated that she could not afford another child. In addition, Beneatha's prospects of becoming a doctor and ge Continue Reading...
While Baraka's play Dutchman ends in fatal violence against a young black male endeavoring in vain to assert his individual identity and manhood, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, which takes place in the 1950's, on Chicago's South Side, en Continue Reading...
Antonia: Introduction etc. The landscape of the agrarian lifestyle in Nebraska is such that Mr. Shimerda is the least suited for this type of life. He has the soul of an artist and so longs for a more refined world in which to express himself. He i Continue Reading...
His actions motivate the entire family to draw upon each other, and rely on each other's common strength to challenge the established racial and social standards. Walter's brave decision to move regardless of the racial and financial problems that t Continue Reading...
Raisin in the Sun Beneatha is ahead of her time in a Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha is the daughter of Lena Younger and younger sister of Walter Lee who is married to Ruth. Walter Lee an Continue Reading...
.. Don't understand nothing about building their men up and making 'em feel like they somebody. Like they can do something" (Hansberry, I, i.). It is clear that Walter Lee still believes it is the woman's role to support the man in his endeavors, and Continue Reading...
She is also a dreamer in that she believes that she will be able to help everyone. When Walter loses the money, her view changes somewhat in that she understands the world a little better. She knows that no doctor can cure "what ails mankind" (2254) Continue Reading...
As to Walter's decision to use the money as he saw fit, we find a man who's suffering and discontent had blinded him to the real sustenance and value in his family. Truly, for the unhappiness which he had bore, and for the racial abuse shown to the Continue Reading...
She misrepresents the proposal of marriage of Asagai and is unable to provide the man who loves her so much and who understand her well. The complex character of Beneatha demonstrates another hidden quality towards the end of the play. The confronta Continue Reading...
It is the last thing Mama carries out of the apartment when the family moves, symbolizing the family's failure to thrive in their neighborhood. Both the plant and the Younger family are expected to blossom in their new surroundings. Walter Jr. want Continue Reading...
At the same time Bernice doesn't tell her daughter the history of the heirloom, in fear of waking the spirit. This means that even Bernice is not using her legacy positively, but is afraid of it. Both characters are able to embrace their history wit Continue Reading...
Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry [...] elements of drama and literary qualities of the play. This play was anything but conventional when it debuted on Broadway in 1959. It explored issues of racism, prejudice, and the dreams of others that m Continue Reading...
The climax opens Walter's eyes to the wickedness of people. He realizes he cannot trust everyone. Life is full of those who take and those who are taken. He admits to being "mixed up bad" (2258). His dream was short-lived and so was the money. He le Continue Reading...
Walter's desire for financial success and his stories of rich white people are a metaphor for the self-respect he lacks in himself. It's easy to say that Walter should pay more attention to what is really important in life: family, respect, love, et Continue Reading...
He needs this chance, Lena" (Hansberry 26). Ruth dreams of rekindling the love that used to exist between them, and she knows that it has changed or altered somehow, and that something is missing in her relationship with him. She believes in him eno Continue Reading...
Raisin in the Sun: Walter Lee's Dream Deferred Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun chronicles the struggles of the African-American Younger family to gain a foothold in American middle-class society. One of the most poignant characters is the Continue Reading...
This is the essence of true faith. It never leaves you forever. You can curse your life but you must not abandon it or dreams will be deferred for good. Walter for example gives up his dream of becoming his own boss. He wants to be financially secur Continue Reading...
The development of the character of his sister is in direct defiance of his personality. It is interesting to note that it is the sister who wants to have the family return to their African roots and Walter who seems to want to join the white capit Continue Reading...
Raisin in the Sun Reading this play carefully, a person can see that while the characters and setting -- and dialogue -- are related to African-Americans, this play has a universal tone to it. The problems facing this family and the way children in Continue Reading...
This is similar to the specifics of the legal case that Hansberry's father became engaged in over their house in an all white neighborhood. In the real-life version of events, however, things were far less polite. Hansberry's father was actually bre Continue Reading...
" The Aftermath Uncle Tom characters were common in both white and black productions of the time, yet no director before Micheaux had so much as dared to shine a light on the psychology that ravages such characters. By essentially bowing to the two Continue Reading...
Eugene O'Neill's play, "The Emperor Jones (1921)," is the horrifying story of Rufus Jones, the monarch of a West Indian island, presented in a single act of eight scenes of violence and disturbing images. O'Neill's sense of tragedy comes out undilute Continue Reading...
Message of Empowerment in Dream Deferred, Dreams, and Daystar Dream Deferred (Harlem) by Langston Hughes, Dreams by Nikki Giovanni, and Daystar by Rita Dove are most often categorized as poetry offering insight into the frustration of African-Ameri Continue Reading...
In 1934 he published his first collection of short stories, entitled, the Ways of White Folks, which provided a series of short insights into the humorous and tragic interactions between the two races. During this time Hughes also established severa Continue Reading...
Analyzing Lorraine Hansberrys 'A Raisin in the Sun': An Exploration of Themes, Symbolism, Setting, and Narrative Voice (Rough Draft)Introduction"A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, first performed in 1959, is a play that captures the dreams a Continue Reading...
Analysis of A Raisin in the SunOverviewA Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry first performed in 1959. The play is about a small black family in Chicago. The family is poor, but Mama has come into some money by way of inheritance. Ruth i Continue Reading...
Perseverance and Hope Amidst Defeat: An Analysis of A Raisin in the SunIntroductionLorraine Hansberry\\\'s \\\"A Raisin in the Sun\\\" is a monumental piece in American theatre that underscores the trials and tribulations of the African-American expe Continue Reading...
The Folkloric Elements in \\\"A Raisin in the Sun\\\": A Study in Cultural RepresentationIntroductionThe American Folklore Society (AFS) defines folklore as \\\"the traditional art, literature, knowledge, and practices that are disseminated largely t Continue Reading...
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Fiction as a Catalyst for Fact The Origins of a Living Document Stage Night North and South Polarized: Critics Respond The Abolitionist Debates The Tom Caricature The Greatest Impact The Origins of a Living Document In her Continue Reading...
Yank in "Hairy Ape" by Eugene O'Neill In the play, "Hairy Ape," by Eugene O'Neill, the character of Yank portrays the individual who seeks to conform in his society and is always in need to belong with other people. Robert Smith, or Yank, is illustr Continue Reading...
" The drying up of the dream like a raisin suggests that the spirit of someone who is the victim of prejudice experiences a kind of living death, with all vital forces sucked away from his or her sprit like dried fruit. The dream can also "crust over Continue Reading...
To combat the power of their oppressive circumstances, many would sing to chase away the blue. This tradition is captured in the " Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor" (22). The song is about oppression and an attempt to be happy regardl Continue Reading...
Washington was not afraid to appeal to intelligence. He was also a great believer in hope. Washington lived to see his world change in incredible ways and while he did not know if he would see reconciliation, he believed it would happen anyway. He w Continue Reading...
In the Struggle for Democracy (Greenberg, 483-84) the author explains that gradually, little by little, the Supreme Court of the United States responded to the need to rule segregation unconstitutional. And in the process the Court ruled that any l Continue Reading...
Similar to Hughes' usage of strong emotions to effectively convey his message in the poem, "Dream Deferred," Billie Holiday's songs focus mainly on the emotional, using the themes of love, pain, and loneliness as the anchors through which Holiday e Continue Reading...
