Preview

A Raisin in the Sun Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
845 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Raisin in the Sun Essay
A Raisin in the Sun Essay Test
To become successful, people have to be determined and have to work hard to achieve their goal. Setting goals and standards can help achieve and motivate a person to succeed. People have to have a positive attitude and the right personality traits. Sometimes there are obstacles that get in the way of dreams, such as social injustices. In A Raisin in the Sun, a play by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha Younger’s dream is to go to medical school and become a doctor. Beneatha affects her and her family’s dream because she is independent, ambitious, and intelligent.
Beneatha Younger’s aim for independence in the play affects her and her family’s dream. Beneatha refuses to accept the traditional African American woman role in society. She did not want to marry George Murchison and did not want to become dependent on a man to achieve her dream. She wanted to break away from the stereotypical African American women. Beneatha said, “Listen, I’m going to be a doctor. I’m not worried about who I’m going to marry yet – if I ever get married” (Hansberry 50). Beneatha believed she could become a doctor and earn her money by herself instead of marrying a rich man. Beneatha’s goal to go to medical school and become independent affects her family because they are sacrificing their money. Walter Lee Younger expected Beneatha to become a nurse like other African American women or get married. Beneatha’s dream would affect Walter because he wanted the life insurance money for his liquor business. Beneatha told Walter, “And forgive me for ever wanting to be anything at all! FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME!” (37). Beneatha wants to become a doctor, unlike most African American women in the 1950s. Becoming a doctor will provide Beneatha and her family with more support. She expresses her independence by not conforming to society. Beneatha Younger’s independence impacts her and her family’s dream.
To accomplish her dream of becoming a doctor, Beneatha

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    It is known that children laugh more than adults. Why is that? They do not have a car to drive, money to spend, or people to see. However, what they do have is family to spend time with and follow. In addition, director Daniel Petrie portrayals the theme of it doesn’t matter how much money you have, if you don’t have the support of your own family you won’t be happy in the 1961 version of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun better than Kenny Leon in his 2008’s version.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    All people have dreams whether it is to be famous, have a nice family or even just to pass high school. Walter Lee Younger’s dream was to make a lot of money. In pursuit of his dream, Walter let it get in the way of his family and values. In the Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter realizes that his family is more important than his dreams because, in the beginning, all he cared about was money and he was selfish but, in the end, he decided his family was more important than money.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people have dreams that they want to accomplish. In A Raisin in the Sun, characters have a goal. Walter’s passion is to own a liquor store because he wants to be an entrepreneur. Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor to help cure people. Mama pursues her dream of having a garden and a house. Each person’s aspiration is important to them. Thesis…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Since the foundation of the United States of America it has always be portrayed as the land of endless opportunities in which its people can do freely what they desire. This is also known as the American Dream, which is set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, achieved through hard work. However, can prosperity and success be achieved by everyone or do certain ethnic groups have discriminatory barriers limiting their success? In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry it becomes painfully clear that African Americans have to deal with racial prejudices complicating the completion of their desired dreams of a better prosperous future. Even though, the diverse…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The French author Victor Hugo once said, “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” The quote means whenever you have a dream, the dream shapes and sets your future. Hugo’s quote is correct because dreams are the key to setting your goals so you can achieve further in the future. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, this quote is true because of Walter’s dream to be the man of the house, Benethea’s dream to live past society’s expectations of an African American woman and become a doctor, and Mama’s dream is to have her family united as one.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Albert Einstein once said “Try not to become a man of success rather try to become a man of value.” A Raisin In the Sun was written by Lorraine Hansberry in nineteen fifty nine.The play explores the struggles of an African American family to achieve their dreams. In the play Walter Lee Younger Jr. the son of Mama(Lena) evolves throughout the trials and tribulations the family faces in the play.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dreams take place in the subconscious of the human mind, and many times, humans are unaware that these dreams are taking place; however, as shown in A Raisin in the Sun, dreams often are at the forefront of the human mind and motivate those looking to follow them to do anything they can to achieve them. As analyzed using the Freudian literary theory, A Raisin in the Sun contains many examples of this theory, including each character's individual goals and dreams and how the dreams are personified through the use of symbols.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is realistic fiction in which the play's title and characters represent the play's themes. The play focused on black Americans struggles to reach the American Dream of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness during the 1950’s and 1960’s. the idea of everyone having a the chance to achieve a better life should exist. Hansberry created her title using a line from Langston Hughes poem “ A Dream Deferred”. The original poem was written in 1951 about Harlem. Hughes line from the poem claimed that when dreams are deferred they become broken. This meant that they are lost/hopeless. Hughes poem further suggested that when dreams and goals are denied to be pursued people forget about them and put them off.…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Some people have the opportunity and easier access to make the American dream a reality, for others it remains just a dream. A dream that is deferred by many obstacles and such. Larry Hughes poem, a dream deferred describes this situation. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family each have dreams that they want to fulfill but is disrupted because of family selfishness and family issues. Each character had different dreams of their own. Big Walter, Walter Lee, and Mama Younger and the effects of their dreams on the family’s morale. Hughes uses a metaphor of a raisin to describe neglected hopes and dreams, which in turn is reflected in Hansberry’s exanple of the Younger family and their greed to fulfill the American…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When I finished A Raisin in the Sun, I sat back and reflected on the primary thematic messages the author had shown. One of the themes I came across was the strength of a dream. Throughout the play, you are reminded of every dream each character has. Beneatha yearns to have a medical degree and become a doctor while Mama’s dream is for her children to be humble and grateful in a new home. Walter’s dream is to open up a liquor store and make money for his family to have a “better” life. Early on in the story, readers find out that Mama has a large check coming from her late husband’s life insurance. This excitement starts to create a large uproar of arguments in the family. The arguments ranged from Walter and Ruth to Mama and Walter to…

    • 1483 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.”- Pope John XXIII. Everybody has dreams or goals that they want to achieve in order to better their future, or the future of their family. Everybody also has challenges that they have to overcome in order to make these hopes and dreams come true. An example of this can be seen in Lorraine Hansberry’s most notable and landmark play A Raisin in the Sun. This groundbreaking play is about the younger family who are a poor black family that lives on the Southside of Chicago. In this play Walter, Elaine, Beneatha have…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Raisin In the Sun Essay

    • 1016 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When the curtain falls and Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun comes to an end, do the Youngers, moving into an all white neighborhood, have a glimmer of hope in their future? For many years, even before the story begins, the Youngers seem to know what their future was going to consist of: working for the white man and cleaning their apartment that is constantly encumbered in filth. This drab thought of this family's existence, generation after generation comes to an end when the Younger family receives $10,000 in the mail as compensation for a death in the family. Walter, the son of Mama, loses the majority of it and they keep just enough to buy a new house. Having said this, every member of the Younger family has a chance of success in the future, which gives this play a happy ending because it is one the reader can think optimistically about.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dreams of the future can be changed, manipulated, or can even hold false hope. One can dream of being or doing something they truly aspire and it can make them accomplish it. Even though this is possible, people can experience not having the support from people that are in their everyday lives. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun” and the novel “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, both authors convey the idea that women must work hard for their dreams of having a better future even when men do not support their idea like Beneatha when she is told by his brother, Walter, and her boyfriend, George, that she is wasting her time on studying on becoming a doctor and Alicia knowing that she has to fulfill her duty of being…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raisin in the Sun Essay

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    was once said by Lorraine Hansberry, "There is only one large circle that we march in, around and around, each of us within our own little picture - in front of us - our own little mirage that we think is the future." The quote means that each individual has their perspective on life within the continuous life cycle and each person has their own decisions and prospect to determine their fates. This theme relates to the three generations of women mentioned in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun because the daily dilemmas and altercations in the Younger family may cause Beneatha, Ruth, and Mama to convoy the same fate though they have diverse expectations for the future.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walter Mitty Dreams

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages

    [A] Countless psychological studies show the truth: hope, dreams, and goals are the psychological vehicles driving success. [B] In Of Mice and Men, the dream is to leave the life of work and travel behind and live on a ranch, in War Dance, the goal is to do well at the national music competition, and in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter Mitty hopes for a more interesting life in a series of daydreams, to ultimately find that he has been living the true daydream. [C] Hope, dreams, and goals allowed the people portrayed, fictional or not, to strive for more. [D] Hopes, dreams, and goals allow people to increase their motivation, perform better, and seek new concepts.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays