A Raisin In The Sun And The American Dream

The idea of the American Dream was first introduced in the mid 1900's, it was the idea that everyone had the equal opportunity to achieve happiness and financial stability. People that believed that equal education and determination could lead them to content, but in reality, many struggle to make ends meet after letting their dreams collect dust. While the majority of people can achieve the American Dream, it is much more difficult to succeed unless one is wealthy to begin with. The play, "A Raisin in the Sun", captures the struggle of young Americans who want to own their own house, become a doctor, start a business and maybe even leave a legacy. All of these dreams are unique, but they all have one thing in common, they all require a decent
Back in the 50's, bankers and blue collar laborers lived together in the same neighborhoods and their children went to the same schools. Nowadays "The American dream has morphed into a split-screen American nightmare…" (Putnam). The bankers prosper financially but the workers either get replaced by machines, or get paid even less. The statistics show it too, from 2007 to 2012, "The richest 5% earned $28,000 more, while the poorest 20% saw income drop $4,000."(Mendoza). The wealth gap increases even larger today, indicating that the poor stay poor while the rich get richer. Another sign of the increasing income gap is the subtle separation of housing. The wealthy can outbid the average person for rent and that means that city area housing is absurdly high. "An $800-a-month, two-bedroom apartment near AT&T's Dallas headquarters would cost about $1,700 near Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. Dental visits, hamburgers, washing machine repairs, movie tickets - all are above national averages." (Mendoza). The wealthy, have in fact influenced entire cities and made it only accessible to them. While the rich prosper many have given up. Arwin Buditom, an Indonesian immigrant, moved here for a brighter future but reality has hit hard. He has been in America for 30 years, but Arwin still works as a security guard for a multi-billion tech company for only $13 an hour. When interviewed by USA Today, he claims, "I'm so passed over by the American Dream, I don't even want to dream anymore… It's impossible to get ahead, I'm just trying to survive."(Mendoza). Another struggling person is Joseph Farfan. He is an electrician/plumber for multi-billion dollar company yet he still has rely on his local food pantry to afford rent and living expenses (Mendoza). These jobs are not seen as valuable, so the only way to be financially stable