Essay 4

“A Raisin in the Sun” Every one of the characters in “The Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, had a dream which involved an insurance check they received after the death of Lena’s husband. Lena dreamed to have a home of her own and to see her children accomplish their own dreams. Beneatha dreamed to become a doctor and to find the correct way to “express” herself. Ruth dreamed to be wealthy and have a happy family and Walter dreamed one day to be the owner of a business and become a "real man". It is these dreams that serve to explain the personality of the characters, provide a meaningful context for the development and decline of conflicts between them, and help the readers either admire or revile them. Beneatha’s dream to become a doctor was related to her desire to find her true identity, an independent woman free from the stereotypical house. A working woman by becoming successful without relying on a man, an anti-assimilation idealist who was against embracing the white American culture and argued the need for African Americans to pride themselves on and celebrate their real heritage and roots from Africa. “It means someone who willing to give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant, and in this case oppressive, culture!” (Hansberry 407). Beneatha was also an intellectual who believed that education was a tool primarily for an increase in understanding rather than money and her solution (her dream) was to attend college, at least initially, and become a doctor. In the end, this self-indulging dream became a far outcry of failure (when Walter spent her share of the money from the insurance check on his own failed investment) which even led Beneatha to almost give up on her search for her true identity. Walter’s dream for an investment in an alcohol business in his hope for manhood and “success” was also crushed. Like Beneatha’s dream, this was also self-invested. Apart from the fact that he may have wanted to