Dreams in a raisin in the sun
“What happens to a dream deferred?,” (1) Langston Hughes asked in his 1959 Poem “Harlem: A Dream Deferred.” In Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play “A Raisin in the Sun,” she expr In her play, Hansberry described the dreams of the Younger family and how those dreams became “dreams deferred.” The family consisted of Mama (Lena Younger), Walter Lee (her son), Ruth (his wife), Travis (their son), and Beneatha (Walter younger sister). They all have a common dream of having a better life. Mama… Walter wants to get rich quickly by investing the money in a liquor store. Mama and Walter’s wife, Ruth, both want to leave their house in the ghetto for a nicer one where Walter’s son, Travis, can have his own bedroom and a yard in which to play. Walter’s sister, Beneatha, would rather use the money to finish education. The Younger’s dreams are deferred for so long that frustration grows inside of them and eventually bursts out.Walter is Mama’s son, Ruth darling husband, Travis caring father, and Beneatha’s belligerent brother. Critic Ossie Davis said that Walter was “corrupted by the materialistic aspirations at the heart of Western Civilization, and his corruption is bodied forth in his petty, little d
Lena Younger, Walter and Beneatha’s mother, became a widow in her early sixties. She devoted her life to her children after her husband’s death. She demands that members of her family respect themselves and take pride in their dreams. When the insurance money arrived, mama fantacise about what she would do with it. ream. But it was his dream, and it was all he had.” (401) Like his father, he wants his family to have a better life and wants to invest the money from the insurance check in a liquor store. He wants to give his family what they never had and he feels like a slave to family economic hardship. His dream has been deferred by his poverty and his inability to find decent employment. Over the course of the play, his character evolves and material wealth is no longer his top priority. Beneatha’s two suitors embody the dichotomy between the conflicting identities available to blacks: the identity that seeks assimilation and the identity that rejects assimilation. George, as his common name suggests, represents a black person assimilating into the white world. Asagai, on the other hand, with his ethnically rich name, stands for the New African culture that those who opposed assimilation. As Beneatha dances in a robe that Asagai gives her, George deems her interest in her African roots absurd. His comments put him further at odds with Beneatha. She begins to feel more of an affinity with Asagai, and her African roots, than with George, and what she considers his false roots in American society. She would rather be with Asagai than pretty and rich, George who she claims she would not marry him to save her family. Ruth believes Beneatha is odd because she would not consider marrying George. Beneatha, her daughter wants to become a doctor. She is an attractive college student who provides a young, independent, feminist perspective. Her desire to become a doctor demonstrates her great ambition. Throughout the play, she searches for her identity. She dates two very different men: Joseph Asagai and George Murchison. Beneatha can be described as an early feminist. She is tipicaly self-oriented, as oppose to family-oriented.
Some topics in this essay:
Mama Dreams,
Walter Lee,
Clybourne Park,
Murchison Beneatha,
Asagai African,
Karl Lindner,
Western Civilization,
Park Walter’s,
Mama Walter’s,
Walter Beneatha’s,
clybourne park,
walter lee,
insurance money,
mama money,
don’t aim speak,
bank beneatha’s,
wife ruth,
liquor store,
lena walter,
beneatha’s education,
house clybourne,
house clybourne park,
bank beneatha’s education,
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Approximate Word count = 1719
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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