TEMATIC STRUCTURE

The underlying theme of Hansberry’s Raisin is in the question posed by Langston Hughes’ poem “Montage of a Dream Deferred,” when he asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” and then goes on to
list the various things that might happen to a person if his dreams are put “on hold,” emphasizing that whatever happens to a postponed dream is never good. More simply, the question Hansberry poses in
her play is, “What happens to a person whose dreams grow more and more passionate — while his hopes of ever achieving those dreams grow dimmer each day?” Even the Bible concerns itself with this
problem; in Proverbs 13:12, we read: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” We see clearly what happens to Walter as his dream continues to be postponed
by too many circumstances that are beyond his control.
Several other motifs are also successfully intertwined into this drama. Hansberry’s avant-garde concerns, her prophetic political vision, and her ability to perceive the future importance of events that few
people in 1959 were even aware of are used as lesser motifs or minor themes throughout the play.
The issue of feminism is one such example. Three generations of women reside in the Younger household, each possessing a different political perspective of herself as a woman. Mama (Lena Younger), in
her early sixties, speaks “matter-of-factly” about her husband’s prior womanizing. Ruth, about thirty, is more vocal about her feelings to her own husband than Mama was; still, Ruth is not as enlightened
about a woman’s “place” as is Beneatha, who is about twenty and pursuing a career that, in 1959, was largely a male-dominated profession.
Much of the conflict between Beneatha and Walter revolves around Walter’s chauvinistic view of Beneatha. When Walter complains that Beneatha’s medical schooling will cost more than the family can
afford, he bases his argument on the fact that since Beneatha is a woman, she should not even want to become a doctor. Walter’s resentment and anger erupts in Act I, Scene 1: “Who in the hell told you
you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ’bout messing ’round with sick people — then go be a nurse like other women — or just get married and be quiet.”
Beneatha’s defiance toward Walter is symbolic of her defiance toward all barriers of stereotype. She never yields to Walter and, in some cases, even goads him into a confrontation. Ruth’s advice to
Beneatha is that she should just “be nice” sometimes and not argue over every one of Walter’s insensitive remarks. This advice is, of course, totally unacceptable to a character like Beneatha, to whom
feistiness is a virtue and docility a “sin.” Whereas Ruth tries to change herself in order to please everyone in her life, most especially to please her husband, Beneatha insists that others accept her as she is.
She makes it clear, early on, that she has no use for George Murchison because of his shallow beliefs. She makes it clear to Ruth that she doesn’t understand how anyone could have married someone like
Walter. And she defies her mother on religious points; in fact, Mama has to slap Beneatha before she will back down. However, after Mama has left the room, Beneatha still says to Ruth that there is no
God.
Mama is the “head of her household” only by default. She had to take charge after the death of Big Walter, whose name suggests that he was in charge of his family prior to his death. Mama appears to be
always ready to hand over the reins to her son and let him be “head of the household” for one reason: He is a man. She entrusts Walter with the remaining insurance money because she feels that she has
robbed him of his “manhood” by having done with the money what she thought was best. Mama is the type of woman who believes that the man should be in charge. Ruth apparently agrees, but Beneatha
does not. Hansberry skillfully introduces issues of feminism that were not addressed as a political issue until a decade after the play’s Broadway opening.
Along with feminism, the theme of fecundity (fertility; being fruitfully prolific) is threaded throughout this play. Three generations of Youngers live in the same household; in addition, both Ruth’s possible
pregnancy and her contemplation of abortion become focal points of the drama, and Mama’s reference to the child that she lost is emphasized. She does not merely mention Baby Claude in conversation;
rather she dwells upon her loss dramatically.
At the beginning of the play, Ruth serves eggs — but not without getting into an argument with Walter over the eggs — which again accentuates the importance of this symbol of fertility to the play. In
addition, toward the end of the play, we learn that Mama’s maiden name was Lena Eggleston, a name that underscores the theme of fecundity as much as the argument over eggs at the beginning of the
play.
A related motif is the subject of abortion, which was taboo and illegal in 1959. Ruth considers an abortion in order to save her “living family” from further economic distress. The slightest reference to the
word, however, sends the other family members into an emotional tailspin. Conflicts erupt between Mama and Walter, between Mama and Ruth, and between Ruth and Walter. Even Beneatha’s
inadvertently callous response to Ruth’s pregnancy is “Where is it going to sleep? On the roof?” Other remarks are also proof that Beneatha’s views on unplanned pregnancy differ sharply from her
mother’s. Mama says in exasperation: “We [are] a people who give children life, not who destroys them”; she would never agree to Ruth’s having an abortion.
Ruth is trapped both by poverty and by the knowledge that her relationship with Walter Lee is rapidly deteriorating. Walter, although surprised to learn that she is contemplating an abortion, is still too
caught up with his “get-rich-quick” scheme to offer her emotional support. Ruth contemplates an abortion because she believes this decision would be in the best interest of her family. Whether or not
Ruth will actually decide on an abortion is debatable, for Ruth says to Mama in Act I, “Ain’t no thin’ can tear at you like losin’ your baby.” Ruth says this as Mama is recounting the pain of having lost her
own baby, Claude. At this point in the play, Ruth’s pregnancy has not yet been verified, but the dialogue spawned by the abortion controversy in this drama is as relevant today as it was in 1959, when the
play opened.
Afrocentrism, or the expression of pride in one’s African heritage, so popular among the black youth of the 1990s, was, in 1959, a little-known phenomenon. But Lorraine Hansberry’s affinity for all things
African resulted from the people of greatness that she was acquainted with through her family. Langston Hughes, for example, was a friend of her father’s and often came to the Hansberry home for
dinner. Lorraine’s uncle, Leo Hansberry, a noted historian and professor, was the teacher of Kwame Nkrumah while he was a student at Howard University. (Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of the fight
for freedom of the Gold Coast from British rule and became its first president in 1957. The British name “Gold Coast” was changed to the Republic of Ghana in honor of that ancient kingdom.)
Hansberry’s knowledge and pride in her African heritage was a result of her family and her family’s associations, something of which few other blacks could boast.
In this play, Beneatha expresses Hansberry’s knowledge of and pride in her African heritage. Beneatha’s Afrocentric spirit is nurtured by her relationship with the African, Asagai. Not only is Beneatha’s
dialogue peppered with a knowledge of 1959 African politics, but her dialogue also shows a knowledge of the ancient kingdoms of Africa, something few historians spoke of and even fewer people knew
about.
In Act II, Scene 1, when Beneatha defines an “assimilationist Negro” as being “someone who is willing to give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant . . . oppressive culture,”
George Murchison responds immediately with, “Here we go! A lecture on the African past! On our Great West African Heritage! In one second we will hear all about the great Ashanti empires; the great
Songhay civilizations and the great sculpture of Benin and then some poetry in the Bantu. . . . Let’s face it, baby, your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts.”
In response to George’s self-deprecating sarcasm about the historical achievements of black people, Beneatha screams at him from another room: “the Ashanti were performing surgical operations when
the English — were still tatooing themselves with blue dragons.” It is clear that whatever George knows about Africa’s past great civilizations has been learned through his association with Beneatha.
Note that when Beneatha’s African suitor, Asagai, is on his way to the Younger apartment, Beneatha gives her mother a hasty briefmg on African history, coaching her mother in conversational protocol.
She tells Mama that Asagai is from Nigeria, which Mama immediately confuses with Liberia. After correcting her, Beneatha begs Mama not to make stereotypical comments about Africans and tells her
that the only thing that most people seem to know about Africa has been learned from Tarzan movies. Beneatha berates those missionaries who, like Mama, are more concerned with changing the
African’s religion than in overthrowing colonial rule.
After Asagai arrives, Mama’s attempt to impress him with her new knowledge of Africa is almost pathetic as she parrots what Beneatha has just told her, echoing Beneatha’s previous dialogue almost
verbatim. When Raisin opened in 1959, most people’s knowledge of Africa was as limited as Mama’s. Although a more enlightened modern audience might be chagrined by the political misconceptions of
the late 50s, Lorraine Hansberry’s prophetic vision is accurate and important, as though she envisioned the day that the true history of Africa would be widely known and that the shackles of colonialism
would be broken. In 1959, when Raisin opened on Broadway, most African countries were under European rule. The following year, 1960, fifteen African countries gained their independence, and in eight
more years, thirteen more had become independent.
In Act III, Beneatha and Asagai address the possibility of the African countries’ replacing oppressive colonial rule with corrupt African leaders. Beneatha asks, “Independence and then what? What about
the crooks and thieves and just plain idiots who will come into power and steal and plunder the same as before — only now they will be black and do it in the name of the new Independence.” Kwame
Nkrumah received worldwide praise for his role in leading Ghana into independence in 1960.
However, immediately after taking office, Nkrumah began to spend the country’s money with reckless abandon and embraced the Communist Parry. The people rebelled against all of his dealings, staged a
successful coup d’etat, and he was overthrown in 1966. In retrospect, Hansberry’s prophetic accuracy is once again evident, for Nkrumah, in particular, was one of the leaders most admired by Hansberry
in 1959, when Raisin opened. Other African nations also experienced political instability after their post-1959 independence.
Closely related to the theme of Afrocentrism in this play is Beneatha’s decision to change her hairstyle. Although the dialogue concerning Beneatha’s decision to change her hairstyle was omitted from the
original stage presentation and from the original screenplay, this dialogue is in the complete, original version of the play and was used in the 1989 American Playhouse TV presentation.
In Act I, Scene 2, Asagai’s off-hand remark about Beneatha’s straightened hair is the catalyst for her dramatic change in Act II, Scene 1 (ironically, for her date with George Murchison and not for a date
with Asagai). In Act I, Scene 2, when Asagai presents Beneatha with Nigerian tribal robes, he says, “You wear it well . . . mutilated hair and all.” His meaning is clear, although Beneatha’s sensitivity does
not permit her to immediately grasp his meaning. So Asagai explains by asking, “Were you born with it [your hair] like that?”
In Act II, Scene 1, Beneatha was supposed to have come out for her date with a natural (unstraightened) hairstyle; this scene, however, was omitted at the last minute from the original stage presentation
because the actress, Diana Sands, in the role of Beneatha, received an imperfect haircut. Since this would have given a negative impression of the natural look, both Hansberry and Sands decided to omit
the hairstyle change from the Broadway opening. It is interesting to note that in 1959, Beneatha’s new hairstyle would have sent some shock waves throughout the audience, whereas ten years later, the
same style had become so popular nationwide that it was promoted by Madison Avenue as the “Afro.” Once again, Hansberry’s prophetic vision was accurate and on target.
Throughout Raisin, Hansberry expresses her own desire to see blacks in entrepreneurial ventures. So few blacks were in business in 1959 that sociologists of that day addressed this concern in academic
publications. Mama says, in response to Ruth’s echoing Walter’s dream of owning his own business, “We ain’t no business people, Ruth. We just plain working folks,” and Ruth answers with: “Ain’t
nobody business people till they go into business. Walter Lee says colored people ain’t never going to start getting ahead till they start gambling on some different kinds of things in the world —
investments and things.” Because the percentage of black people who own their own businesses has increased dramatically since 1959, one might conclude that, here once again, Hansberry had an accurate
view of the future.
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Summary
Walter and Ruth Younger, their son Travis, along with Walter’s mother Lena (Mama) and sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a dilapidated two-bedroom apartment on Chicago’s south side. Walter is
barely making a living as a limousine driver. Though Ruth is content with their lot, Walter is not and desperately wishes to become wealthy. His plan is to invest in a liquor store in partnership with Willy
and Bobo, street-smart acquaintances of Walter’s.
At the beginning of the play, their father has recently died, and Mama is waiting for a life insurance check for $10,000. Walter has a sense of entitlement to the money, but Mama has religious objections to
alcohol and Beneatha has to remind him it is Mama’s call how to spend it. Eventually Mama puts some of the money down on a new house, choosing an all-white neighborhood over a black one for the
practical reason that it happens to be much cheaper. Later she relents and gives the rest of the money to Walter to invest with the provision that he reserve $3,000 for Beneatha’s education. Walter passes
the money on to Willy’s naive sidekick Bobo, who gives it to Willy, who absconds with it, depriving Walter and Beneatha of their dreams, though not the Youngers of their new home. Meanwhile, Karl
Lindner, a white representative of the neighborhood they plan to move to, makes a generous offer to buy them out. He wishes to avoid neighborhood tensions over interracial population, which to the three
women’s horror Walter prepares to accept as a solution to their financial setback. Lena says that while money was something they try to work for, they should never take it if it was a person’s way of
telling them they weren’t fit to walk the same earth as them.
While all this is going on, Beneatha’s character and direction in life are being defined for us by two different men: Beneatha’s wealthy and educated boyfriend George Murchison, and Joseph Asagai.
Neither man is actively involved in the Youngers’ financial ups and downs. George represents the “fully assimilated black man” who denies his African heritage with a “smarter than thou” attitude, which
Beneatha finds disgusting, while dismissively mocking Walter’s lack of money and education. Asagai patiently teaches Beneatha about her African heritage; he gives her thoughtfully useful gifts from
Africa, while pointing out she is unwittingly assimilating herself into white ways. She straightens her hair, for example, which he characterizes as “mutilation.”
When Beneatha becomes distraught at the loss of the money, she is upbraided by Joseph for her materialism. She eventually accepts his point of view that things will get better with a lot of effort, along
with his proposal of marriage and his invitation to move with him to Nigeria to practice medicine.
Walter is oblivious to the stark contrast between George and Joseph: his pursuit of wealth can only be attained by liberating himself from Joseph’s culture, to which he attributes his poverty, and rising to
George’s level, wherein he sees his salvation. Walter redeems himself and black pride at the end by changing his mind and not accepting the buyout offer, stating that they are proud of who they are and
will try to be good neighbors. The play closes with the family leaving for their new home but uncertain future.
The character Mrs. Johnson and a few scenes are often cut in reproductions. Mrs. Johnson is the Younger Family’s Neighbor. She is nosy, loud and cannot understand how the family can consider moving
to a white neighborhood. Her lines are employed as comic relief, but Hansberry also uses this scene to mock those who are too scared to stand up for their rights.

Raisin In The Sun Compare and Contrast

Raisin In The Sun Compare and Contrast A Raisin in the Sun is a play about the Youngers family who lived in the South Side of Chicago during the 1950s.
During the first scene the Youngers’ are waiting for the check from the now dead Mr. Youngers’ life insurance policy totaling $10,000. Each character/family
member has a different idea about what should be done with the money. The main characters within the story include Mama, Walter Lee (Mama’s son), Ruth
(Walter’s wife), and Beneatha (Mama’s daughter). Mama wants to buy a house in a nicer neighborhood with the money which was the dream her husband
and her shared.

Walter would like to invest in a liquor store with friends. Ruth is backing Mama’s idea. Beneatha would like to invest in her future by attending medical school.
When the money is finally received Mama puts a down payment on a house in an all-white neighborhood. Someone from the neighborhood, Mr. Lindner, tries
to make an offer to the Youngers to get them to not move into the new home. The family refuses. At the end of the story the family finally leaves their
cramped apartment and moves into their new home which is basically the American dream. The play was written and produced by Lorraine

Hansberry in 1959. There are several movie versions however for the purpose of this assignment I will be using the 2008 movie version written by Paris
Qualles and Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Kenny Leon and starring Sean Combs as Walter. In both the play and movie versions, there are multiple
similarities. The movie did a great job describing the overall message of the stage play. One similarity is the characters pursuit of their individual dreams. In
the story no character was able to achieve their independent dreams. In the end, they realize the dream of a family is the most important ecause it unites
them all. For example, Walter is shown as desperate to get a better life for him and his family. He struggles with having to work for others who make a lot of
money and as he describes he is invisible to them. He is tormented by his lack of success and believes the money can help realize his dreams. Walter has
big dreams but he is also irresponsible. He does not go to work for three days in a row and it is implied that he gets fired. He gave all money Mama had given
him to a man named Willy, who promises to go get their liquor license but disappears with the money.

In both the movie and play, racial discrimination is a key part of the story and what the family faces. Their plight becomes a reality to those watching the
movie or reading this story. An example of this occurs with Mr. Lindner’s character when he attempts to offer the family money in exchange for not moving
into his all white neighborhood. Their refusal showed the strength the family had in standing up to discrimination and not backing away from it. Lastly, the play
and the movie both showed the importance of family. Even with all the differences the family is able to come together as a unit and reject Mr.

Lindner’s offer. There are differences between the play and movie versions. In the film, Lena is seen quitting her job working as a maid. In the play version, it
is not a scene at all, it is only assumed as all we know is that she works as a maid for a white family. Another difference occurs when Walter begins missing
work. In the movie, Lena answers the phone when his company begins calling about his absence. She states Walter is not home. However, in the play
version it is Ruth that answers the phone and Walter is laying in his bedroom and it is found out he has been issing from work for 3 days. A major difference
between the two versions is the appearance of Mrs. Johnson. She is not a character at all in the movie version. And in the play she is a supporting character
to Lena. Another difference is how the movie is able to expand on the setting locations. In the play, there is only one setting, the Younger’s living room, in
Chicago’s Southside. The movie is able to show the family in different rooms of the apartment and Walter at work. The most striking difference of the movie
and play is the ability to capture close-ups of he characters. The close-up of the characters in the movie allows the audience to get a closer view of the
emotions of each character. In conclusion, the movie was a better depiction to me because I am a visual person. It was easy to clearly see what the overall
story was about. Walking away from the movie, I learned what a difficult time it was to live in the 1950s. Discrimination was so real and people were okay with
it back then. Even during all the outside hardships, the family was able to come together and provide strength to each other and achieve their family dreams.

A Raisin in the Sun Characters And Their Conflicts

A Raisin in the Sun Essay Undergoing the obstructions of pursuing a desired dream mentally and emotionally transforms the person within. The play
of Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, justified how the members in the Younger family change while overcoming the challenges of achieving a goal once
believed to be unfathomable. Three of the Youngers have shown determination in seeking their own ambition that not only benefitted themselves, but also
enhanced the family’s welfare. Lena Younger, known as “Mama,” is a devoted follower of God and demonstrated her strong faith throughout the play.

Walter Lee Younger—Mama’s only son—is the “man” of the family, whose stubbornness might have blinded him from seeing possible consequences.
Beneatha Younger is a spirited and educated feminist, who believes that a woman (like herself) does not need a man to support her. The battles fought in
trying to accomplish a dream leaves scars that either develops a person’s well-being, or stabilizes their self. Lena Younger, or “Mama,” is almost like a leader
to the Younger family, for she is the one who looks after everyone. All she ever thought of is improving her family’s life conditions.

Mama’s tender love and care towards the plant she owned exemplifies the desire of living in a better home fit for them and having her own garden. Proving
how strongly religious she is, Mama slaps Beneatha after Beneatha proclaimed that there is no God. When Walter was at his lowest, Beneatha said that there
was nothing left to love about him. Mama, however, claimed that a man should not be loved when he has

but during his weakest time of need. The other members of the Youngers give high respect to Mama, and they think that she knows what’s best for the family.
In one word, Lena is selfless. Lena is a devoted mother, who bases her decisions on what benefits the family. She gives special care to her children and
acted as the mediator every time Beneatha and Walter fought. Mama taught the two siblings the values of life, about how to love each other in their darkest
times and that family and God always comes first. She greatly values her religion that as long the member of the family lived under her roof, they must believe
in the guidance and teachings of the Lord. Mama also believed in the significance of family and how they all must stand together to remain strong.

Her children recognized the lesson she has been trying to give them at the end of the play—that sometimes a person would have to put others before his or
herself. Lena Younger’s internal conflict, person vs. self, is when she could not decide who deserves to spend the insurance money. Since it was hers, the
pressure of judging who gets to be bestowed upon the check was put to Mama’s shoulders. She argues to herself on how her children’s motive will benefit the
whole family. Beneatha wanted to use it to pay for her medical school tuition while Walter desires investing the money on a liquor store.

If Lena makes an unsuitable decision, then both of her children will be both distressed, causing her to be hurt too. Considering the fate of their lifestyle
depended on whoever Mama chooses, this dilemma also affects the family. If Walter receives the money, then the Youngers would have to rely on the profit
the liquor store makes without guarantee that the business will be a success or not. Also, judging from the time period, there are no assurances that
Beneatha will become a doctor. Mama divides the ten thousand dollars—giving part of it to Walter’s business and Beneatha’s tuition and buying a house.

Lena’s resolution showed her strength in forming fair choices, but she revealed weakness towards seeing her children getting hurt. Mama’s external conflict,
person vs. person, is when Karl Linder attempted reason the Youngers from transferring to Clybourne Park. The house she bought was located in a white
people village. The Clybourne Park Improvement Association did not want the Youngers moving in their neighborhood. The racial differences prevented the
association from welcoming the family to the community, endangering them of discrimination.

Mama was still confident about transferring to the new house until Willy Harris stole the rest of the insurance money she entrusted to Walter. As a result, Lena
planned to revoke the deal with the house causing her dream of living having their home to be taken back. However, Walter returned home with an
agreement with Karl Linder; they were to negotiate on the price of returning the house. This made the Younger family come off as greedy and plundering,
utterly violating Mama’s values. Lena cunningly made Walter make his final decision while Travis was in the room, which made the father let the family to
keep the house.

Mama’s actions displayed her strengths on seeing the goodness in people, like she did with Walter. All Lena Younger ever dreamt was to own a house with a
garden to tend. She wanted her family to be able to live an easier life without having to share a bathroom with other families or endure the cramped space the
apartment provides. Mama aspires to fulfill the wish she and her deceased husband made of walking on their own floors and maintaining a flourishing
backyard. The two topics that relate to this character’s dream are family and home.

Mama yearned to further improve the family’s welfare by moving into a new home. The quote from Dream Deferred,

pertains to Lena’s dream. Drying a grape under the sun will make the fruit last longer; like a raisin, Mama’s dream lived on and remained sweet until the end.
Walter Lee Younger wanted many desires in his life and tried to seek every financial chance. He doesn’t treat his wife with respect and says rude things to
her, even his own mother. The cruelty Walter shows was probably an effect of how he loathes his life.

The only time he showed excitement was when the check has been delivered. He longed to invest the money on a liquor store, but no one was on his side.
He complained about how he wasn’t given enough attention and support from his wife and family. When Mama refused to hand him the money, he went
drinking for three days without going to work. Beneatha thinks that Walter was a hopeless fool and there was nothing left to love about him. Walter’s attitude
is determined yet single-minded; he is truly focused on starting a business. He mostly values money and believes that it is the key to life.

Mama finally gave in and let Walter have more than half of the insurance money—sixty-five hundred dollars. He became ecstatic. Walter was friendly towards
his sister, hugs his mother, and even takes his wife on a date. Walter Lee’s internal conflict, person vs. self, is when he didn’t make the right choice on
trusting the money to Willy Harris. He was too blinded by his ignorance and gave had a lot of confidence in someone Walter barely worked with. He acted
hasty on the situation that should have been thought through. Walter simultaneously lost the insurance money and his goal of becoming a business man.

The Younger family’s chances of being slightly financially advantaged were destroyed. Walter tries to gain money by selling the house to Karl Linder. These
circumstances show Walter’s weakness in thinking through plans. Walter’s external conflict, person vs. fate, was when he wanted to alter his life as a
chauffeur or driver and become a business man. Hearing the white people talk about investments and finance, Walter gets inspired in becoming an
entrepreneur himself. Thirst and hunger intensifies inside Walter that will only be satisfied by being trusted with the insurance money.

This driving force led him to making hasty choices, such as handing out the sixty-five hundred dollars to his slick business owner. The fate of the Younger
family was laid upon his hands, but the thing that supposed to change their lives slipped from Walter’s finger tips the moment he held it. Walter attempted to
restore the problem by selling the house in Clybourne at a higher price to Karl Linder, but he changed his mind when Travis—ecstatic about the move—was
present during his negotiation with Linder. The Younger family was able to move in a new home under Walter’s decision.

These events portray the character’s weakness in surrendering to temptation but revealed his strength to change. Walter Lee Younger’s ambition was to be
involved in business, finance, and investment. He envies men like George Murchison, who have power in company and enterprise industries. Walter
fantasizes himself working in an office and going home to his wife and Travis after a long day. He also wants to give Travis the opportunity in becoming
whoever his son wants. The two topics that relate to the character’s dreams are financial and career.

In order to accomplish his dream, Walter must be financially able in starting a business. He wanted to improve his career as a car driver and become a
business man, which enables Walter to provide more for his family. The quote

“Or fester like a sore—and then run?”

describe how Walter’s dream waits for the opportunity and the right time to be executed. Beneatha is the most educated out of all the members in the
Younger family. She is the typical changed college student, whose opinions were the most contrasting compared to her mother. Beneatha believes more in
the evolution of man than the parables of the Bible.

Although she seeks to learn more about her culture in Africa, Beneatha tries getting accepted by straightening her hair instead of letting her afro come loose.
Her cute appearance is what attracted Asagai and George to be interested in her. Asagai respects Beneatha’s intellectual opinions and even nicknamed her
“Aliayo. ” He thinks of her as a scholar like himself. But George was just drawn to her looks and believes that women are only good for house wives. In a
single word, Beneatha is opinionated. She has her own thoughts, which creates a gap between herself and the ordinary women of the time period.

Beneatha Younger is very outgoing and not afraid to taste new experiences that were offered to her during college. During the play, she shares to the family
her exposure to new involvements, such as horseback riding, guitar lessons, and feminist movements. She explores various things and becomes open to new
ideas, excluding religion and superstitions. Beneatha values her culture in Africa and is highly interested in learning more about it than the other members of
the family. She believes in logic and reason, that man was the one who creates—not God. Beneatha’s internal conflict, person vs. elf, is when she argues on
who was in love with. The path of her future depended on who she chose. Would she want to live a fancy lifestyle but give up her passion on medicine with
George? Or would she want to live a life discovering things that are still alien to her with Asagai? If she were to marry George, then he would be able to
provide for the Younger family. Though marrying Asagai won’t guarantee their family fortune, Beneatha would be happier and can soon provide for the family.
When George tried to kiss Beneatha, she shifted the conversation on problems in Africa.

He replies by saying that he wants to marry a

“nice . . . simple . . . sophisticated girl”

His reaction made Mama kick him out of the house. Beneatha thinks that George was a fool and Mama agrees that Beneatha should not spend time with
those kinds of men. Later on, Asagai offers to take Beneatha with him to Africa where she could be a doctor and the girl says yes. Beneatha resolves her
problem by choosing to be with the person she could be herself with. These events show that Beneatha has the strength to know whether to base her
decisions with the heart or mind.

Beneatha’s external conflict, person vs. society, is the struggle between racism and gender minority. The discrimination and segregation gives Beneatha the
disadvantage of pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. Women and the African Americans at the time were looked down upon by men not were not given
the chance to be heard. These odds put down Beneatha’s goals, which was ridiculous as sending a dog to the moon. If Beneatha were to drop out of school,
then all the money spent on her tuition will be for nothing. The family would have a lesser hope in receiving a better welfare.

Asagai proposes to Beneatha and offering her to become a nurse in Africa, which she couldn’t bear to resist. By saying yes, she was able to assure that her
dream of being able to save lives and finding her true identity would come to reality. Determining by the course of the circumstances, Beneatha has showed
her strength in believing huge possibilities. Beneatha Younger yearned to discover her true individuality and turn into a doctor. She wanted to gain
experiences and to be exposed of rational ideas. Beneatha wanted be able to create with her hands and save lives by being a doctor.

She also dreamed uncovering the mysteries of the African culture. Two topics that relate to the character’s dreams are education and culture. Receiving the
right education and finishing medical school will permit Beneatha in becoming a doctor. Going to Africa with Asagai was all about learning more of the cultural
traditions of her country. The line

“Or does it explode?”

in the Dream Deferred describes Beneatha’s ambition since her ideas are like fire that’s alive and can’t be put down. In the beginning of the play, the
Youngers were experiencing problems within the family.

Ruth and Walter’s marriage was collapsing. Beneatha was losing her love towards Walter. Ruth planned on having an abortion. Everyone, besides Mama,
started losing the idea of the true meaning family. The external conflicts, however, is what restored their family back to the order. The racial discrimination in
Clybourne Park forced the Youngers to stand together by giving the family a cause to resist against being tormented by the whites. Beneatha finally learns to
love her brother despite his imperfections, and Walter promises Ruth that he will make it possible for the baby to have a better life.

The family learns to think of other people’s benefit first before thinking about themselves. The members of the Younger family separately evolve to a better
being. Putting aside his dream in becoming a business man, Walter called off the deal and chose upon keeping the new house in order to have a chance of
having a fresh start. That was the day when Walter first entered manhood. Beneatha learned to keep her faith in dreams and see the goodness in everyone.
Mama is finally settled while Ruth develops a stronger love for her husband. Together, they were a better family. [word count: 2, 546]

A Raisin in the Sun – 2

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Beneatha wants to learn more about her heritage. She
wants to get closer to her roots, and know more about it. The line, “How can something natural be
eccentric? ” (Hansberry 80 Act two Scene 1), shows off a defensive tone. This quote is said after
George tells her that her natural hair looks eccentric. Her defensiveness over her hair shows her
determination to be in touch with her heritage. Beneatha cut her hair because she thought it was too
Caucasian looking.

By Beneatha doing this it shows her determination. Beneatha, however, is not the only person with
determination. Ruth, just like Beneatha, has determination. Ruth has the determination to keep her
family in check, and to do what is best for them. Ruth, along with determination, has being strong as a
character trait. She is expecting another baby, and is deciding whether to get an abortion or to keep
the baby. “When the world gets ugly enough—a woman will do anything for her family. The part that’s
already living” (Hansberry 75 Act 1 Scene 2).

Mama says this about Ruth to Walter when she figures ruth is going to get rid of the baby by getting an
abortion. By thinking of and making this decision it shows Ruth’s determination and how strong she is.
Just as Mama said, a woman will do whatever it takes for her family. Later on in the play Ruth decides
to keep the baby and not get the abortion. Walter has determination, as well as stubbornness.
Stubbornness is a form of a strong character trait. Walter has to be pretty strong willed to be as
stubborn as he is with wanting to open a liquor store with some of his buddies.

Because of Walter’s stubborn determination, he has been fighting with Ruth about opening a liquor
store with his buddies. He plans on opening it with the insurance money that Mama is getting. Ruth
and Mama both do not think that it is a good idea. Walter knows this and therefore upon knowing this
his stubbornness shows. “Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs”
(Hansberry 33 Act 1 Scene 1). In this part of the play Walter is telling Ruth about his idea to open the
liquor store, but Ruth will not listen to him.

Walter realizes this and starts to get a little defensive and stubborn about it. Therefore starting
somewhat of a fight with Ruth. His defensiveness over his dream shows his determination. Just like
Beneatha, Ruth and Walter, Mama has determination as well. Mama wants to keep the family
together. She does not want the family to keep on fighting. Because of this determination to keep the
family from fighting, and to keep them together, she goes out and buys a house with her insurance
money that is in Clybourne Park. When Walter finds out he is upset about it. Son—you–you
understand what I done, don’t you? I—I just seen my family falling apart today… We couldn’t of gone
on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forwards—talking ’bout killing babies and
wishing each other was dead… When it gets like that in life—you just got to do something bigger… ”
(Hansberry 94 Act 2 Scene 1). In this quote Mama is trying to explain why she did what she did to
Walter. This quote shows Mama’s passion and her determination to keep her family from falling apart.
Everyone has determination.

In A Rasin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry; Mama, Ruth, Walter, and Beneatha all have a unique
determination. Mama and Ruth both have determination to keep their family from falling apart. They
both want what is best for the family. Beneatha was determined to learn more about her heritage.
Walter was determined to open a liquor store. By the end of the play everything was settled and
worked out. Ruth had decided to keep the baby, and they all decided to move into the house in
Clybourne Park. It was a happy ending for the very determined Younger family.

A Raisin in the Sun Review 3

A Raisin in the Sun is one of the best works of Lorraine Vivian Hansberry, in which, through a black family, the Youngers, she talks about vital issues such as
poverty, gender and racial discrimination. Hansberry’s play focuses mainly on the dreams of the main characters, which motivates them. The title ? A Raisin
in the Sun’ has been taken from the poem “Montage of a Dream Deferred” written by Langston Hughes in which he talks about the consequences when
dreams are put off for later. The title is appropriate for Hansberry’s play since it shows how ? eferred dreams’ of the Younger family shrivel up like ? a raisin in
the sun’ leading to disillusionment and leaving very little hope for the future. The Younger family includes Lena Younger, who is the head of the family;
Beneatha, Lena’s daughter; Walter, Lena’s son; Ruth, wife of Walter; Travis, Walter and Ruth’s son. Other than the Younger family, Joseph Asagai shown as
Beneatha’s Nigerian friend also has an important role in the play. Each of the members in Younger family has their own individual dreams.

Throughout the play, their happiness and sadness depends on how successful they are in attaining their respective dreams. Walter Lee is shown as a typical
African-American man who struggles and works hard to support his family and often comes up with different ideas and schemes, which would make him rich
in no time and will improve the life of his family. One such scheme was to invest money, from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy, in a liquor
store with his friends. When he tells Ruth about his plans over breakfast, Ruth completely ignores and tells him “eat your eggs” over and over again.

This annoys Walter and he tells her how every time a man dreams to achieve something in life & a woman shuns him by telling him to eat his eggs. Being
quiet and eating one’s eggs represents an acceptance of the adversity that Walter and the rest of the Youngers face in life. He believes that it is the black
women who keep the black men from achieving their dreams and he argues that Ruth should be more supportive of him. Walter believes that “money is life”
and that it will bring an end to all the misery his family is suffering from.

He measures the success of a man by the amount of money and possessions he has. Walter has worked as a chauffeur most of his life and feels tied up to
his job and his family’s economic hardship, which frustrates him. He dreams to live a life that all the rich people lived and enjoyed, like the people he serviced.
He also dreams of having a more loving relationship with his wife, since they seem to drift away from each other due to stressful circumstances. And he wants
to earn so much money that his son can choose from among the best colleges when he turns seventeen.

Unlike Walter, Mama, that is, Lena Younger, believes that money is only a means to an end and that dreams are more important than material wealth. She
dreams to own a house with a garden and a big yard in which Travis can play. Ever since she and her husband moved into the rented apartment that the
Youngers still live in, her dream has been deferred. This dream kept her motivated to work hard and earn money but no matter how much she and her
husband tried, they could not make enough money to fulfill their dream.

The insurance money that she received due to the death of her husband gave Mama a hope and opportunity to realize her dream. Mama strongly believes in
the importance of family, and she tries to teach this value to her family as she struggles to keep them together and functioning. Throughout the play, Mama
takes care and nurtures her plant, which she is very fond of. The plant represents both Mama’s unconditional love and care, and her dream for her family.
Even though the plant is unable to get enough light or water, the plant is healthy under her care.

This symbolizes her love and unending care for her family, which keeps them united even in difficult times. The plant also symbolizes her deferred dream to
own a house and a garden in which she can practice her gardening skills. Her dedication towards the plant gives her the hope that her dream may come true
some day. Ruth, like Mama, dreams to have a happy family and believes that moving to a bigger and better place will help her achieve her dream. Ruth’s
dream is also deferred due to poverty and domestic troubles.

Through the character of Beneatha, Hansberry tries to tell the audience that women should be more career-oriented rather than putting their dreams aside
and dedicating their entire life as housewives. Beneatha is shown as an independent girl who strongly desires to become a doctor and help cure the sick. She
dates two men with totally different attitudes; George Murchison who is rich and arrogant and gives no importance to his heritage, and Joseph Asagai, a
Nigerian, who wants to teach and lead his people in Africa.

Beneatha identifies much more with Asagai’s interest in rediscovering his African roots than with George’s interest in assimilating into white culture. Beneatha
tries to find her identity by looking back to the past and to Africa. Asagai greatly influences her. When he questions her regarding her straightened hair, it
leaves her thinking. She cuts her hair to get a more natural and African look. By doing so she embraces her heritage and culture, and declares that there
should be no reason for a person to conform to the style of the dictating society.

Beneatha’s new hair is a symbol of her anti-assimilationist beliefs as well as her desire to shape her identity by looking back to her roots in Africa. Asagai is
proud to belong to the African heritage and wishes to bring about modern advancement in Nigeria to improve the life of his people. He influences Beneatha
greatly in a positive way, teaching her about her heritage. He tells her that she is not as independent as she thinks she is since she has to rely on the
insurance money for paying the fees of her medical school. He proposes Beneatha and asks her to get a medical degree and move to Africa with him.

He will teach and lead the people, and she can practice medicine and help take care of people. Asagai and his dream enable Beneatha to discover a new
energy and to reshape a new dream for herself. Throughout the play, each member of the Younger family concentrates only on their respective dreams. But
by the end of the play they put the family dreams and wishes before their own. Now they have one common dream ? that of owning a house, which will be
important for the family’s welfare and will keep them united. They eventually move out of their small over-crowded apartment, fulfilling the family’s long-held
dream.

A Raisin in the Sun 7

A Raisin in the Sun uncovers the hardships within the black community and how to deal racial
oppression of the white community. Through a character named Asagai, the play shows how to
appreciate African Heritage. This play was a major breakthrough in the arts for blacks because for the
first time there is a black family on stage. Through this play Hansberry touches on major issues, such
as racism, discrimination, poverty and even abortion (at a time when abortion wasn’t even legal). A
Raisin in the Sun portrays difficult questions about a person’s identity, such as Beneatha.

Beneatha is a strong black woman who is obviously well educated and on her way to becoming a
doctor. She believes herself to be a very independent woman, when indeed she is dependant. Asagai,
one of the men she is dating, points this out to her. He tells her that she acts as if she is very
independent but she is relying on money from her fathers’ death to help her reach her dream. He
points out to her that where would she be if not for her fathers death and the money that came from it?
Asagai also notes on the fact that she straightens her hair (like a white woman) If she was so true to
her heritage why would she straighten her hair?

Obviously she is assimilating to the white world. George Murchinson is another man she is dating. He
is arrogant and successful. His success in life is due to the fact that he fits right in to the white world.
George does not like the natural look of Beneatha’s hair and asks her to change it back. George
seems to live in the white world and knows little of his African Heritage. A raisin in the Sun depicts
many dreams from the whole family. The characters struggle with the circumstances that control their
lives. Every member of the family has a different dream.

Walter, the son, has a dream to be wealthy and wants to be able to give his family things. He dreams
of opening up a liquor store with two of his friends. Walter seems to be the one with the most conflict in
this family because he is a man but is not truly a man. As you can see when he finds out his wife is
pregnant and Mama asks him to tell her not to get an abortion, in response to this he says nothing and
goes out to drink. When Walter loses the money to his crooked friend he is ready to sell out the family
by conceding to the white man, Mr. Linder.
In the end Walter does the right thing and gains respect of his family. Ruth is Walters’s wife; her dream
is to have a house and to get out of the small cramped apartment they currently live in. Beneatha is
Walters’s sister and her dream is to become a doctor. Mama is Walter and Beneatha’s mother and her
dream is to have her family happy, and united. Mama has a plant in the play and it represents family.
The plant grows and reproduces even with little sun. The plant eventually makes it out of the
apartment and into the house where it can grow and flourish, just as the family will.

The theme of the importance of dreams is evident in this play as well as the theme of racial
discrimination, as evident by Mr. Lindner. He is the white man in the play who is trying to persuade the
family not to move into his white neighborhood and is willing to give them more money for the house
then they have spent. When Walter loses all the money he almost agrees to this but in the end tells
him no and they are moving to Clybourne Park. He shows that he is a man and does right by his
family.

In one of the scenes in the play Travis; Walter and Ruth’s son, was playing outside with friends
chasing a rat around with a baseball bat. This scene was cut from the film. I think the producers
eliminated this scene from the film because it portrays things about a black family that wasn’t true. It
makes them seem kind of savage like. All in all I thought this was an excellent play and as I read more
into it became even more interesting. I believe Lorraine Hansberry is a very talented woman, and I
would read more from her. I give this play four stars because of the diversity that was portrayed.

A Raisin in the Sun – 5

“ The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even
humble individual- for it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good
and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost. ” This quote speaks of changes in heart. I believe
someone who has a change in anyway, whether it’s in heart o anything else, for good has grown and
become dynamic. Dynamic is characterized as a constant change in activity or progress. Perhaps the
most dynamic character in Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is Beneatha because of her change in
identity, career, and love.

The first reason why I believe she is the most dynamic character is because of her change in identity.
During the beginning of the play Beneatha had straight hair, along with everyone else in her family that
was a female. She enjoyed and did not mind her straight hair; until Asagai pointed out that she was
conforming to society. He was speaking of the act of imitating the behavior of some situation or some
process by means of something suitably analogous, or a simulation. He makes the argument that she
should straighten her hair because she should keep her original routes.

He begins to speak of being assimilated or, people of different backgrounds come to see themselves
as part of a larger national family. Another thing that Beneatha to change her identity was listen to
different types of music. She did this in the hopes to prove to her family she did not want to conform.
She wanted to prove that she could stay true to her heritage. The next thing that led me to believe that
Beneatha is the most dynamic character is her change in career. Although Beneatha has chosen a
career path, she is not sure what she would like to do in her spare time.

She speaks to mama about learning how to play the guitar. Mama says, “Why you got to flit so from
one thing to another, baby? ” (Hansberry 47) Beneatha replies, “I just want to learn to play the guitar.
Is there anything wrong with that? ” (Hansberry 47) “Ain’t nobody trying to stop you. I just wonders
sometimes why you has to flit so from one thing to another all the time. You ain’t never done nothing
with all that camera equipment you brought home-“, Mama says (Hansberry 47). She has pursued
several different options, but she is like a kid in a candy store and has an extremely difficult time
staying, or sticking to one thing.

But the thing about her career that changes isn’t what she wants to do, but why she wants to do it. In
the beginning of the play she talks about how she wanted to be a doctor because of a tragic accident
she witnessed as a child. Her friends face split open before her eyes, and she thought, “Well that’s the
end of him. ” But, one day he returned with just a simply scar on his face, and since then she wanted
to be that person to help a child live on. But, in the middle of the play, she loses faith and finds all
dreams pointless, she loses sight of everything that she once stood for.

Asagai brings her back to reality, and helps her realize that she can make a difference and change the
world, one person at a time. At the end of the play it now becomes clear that she wants to help kids in
Africa along side of Asigai. The structure of why is changed because love gets mixed within her
dreams. My last reason why I believe that Beneatha is a dynamic character is because of her in heart.
George Murchison offers the best opportunities for Beneatha and her family. However, Beneatha
comes to a startling discovery after spending an evening with George.

He says to her, “I don’t go out with you to discuss the nature of ‘quiet desperation’ or to hear all about
your thoughts – because the world will go on thinking what it thinks regardless – “(Hansberry 97). After
George’s departure, Beneatha is speaking to Mama. She says, “Mama, George is a fool – honest”
(Hansberry 97). Even though George is a wealthy, good-looking man, his shallowness becomes his
bitter downfall. Beneatha realizes that she can do much better than him, and that she deserves better
than him. George is completely oblivious to her revelation and thinks that his opinion is neither ignorant
nor cruel.

The irony in George’s statement is that Beneatha can make a difference simply by voicing her opinions
and letting her presence made known. Even before George made his brutal comments to Beneatha,
she was rethinking her choice of companion. This is when she begins to look further into the enigma
that is Asagai. Joseph Asagai, an intellectual from Nigeria. Asagai says that Beneatha seeks out those
who understand her hardships, her lack of a definite identity, and her need for an intellectual
relationship. As is true with almost any young woman, what she thinks she needs and what she
actually needs are two strikingly different things.

With two men vying for her heart, Beneatha must make a decision regarding who is best for her. She
then, at the end the play, realizes this is the man the she wants and should be with. In conclusion, As
Beneatha’s interests change, so does who she is. Her ever-changing identity helps to define her as a
diverse individual. This is shown through her change in identity, career, and love. Maybe who we are
as a person isn’t so much about what we do, but rather what we’re capable of when we least expect it.
Never doubt oneself and don’t worry about what others think, because sometimes change can be a
good thing, and sometimes change is needed.

A Raisin In The Sun Summary — Dreams And Aspirations

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about the Youngers, a poor black family living in the south side of Chicago. They all have dreams and
aspirations. In some cases, their dream is so powerful that it is about to explode and in other cases, they let their dream lay dormant, but every member of the
family does have a dream. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Walter, Beneatha and Mama are dreaming about a better life in the future; through the
achievement and failure of their dreams the characters grow.

Walter has always wanted to be rich, not only to be rich but to be successful and to have the respect of a successful man. Walter works for a rich, old white
man. Walter feels that by making money and being rich, he will be able to afford a better house, wear better clothing, and send his children to better schools.
Ultimately, to have a better life than the one he has now. To accomplish this, Walter works his job and invests his mother’s insurance money in a liquor
business hoping to make a lot of money.

He is so determined, that he even steals his sister, Beneatha’s portion of the insurance money and invests it also. In the end, Willy Harris, runs off with the
insurance money and all of the other investments. Mama’s dream is to own a house with a garden, but she allows her dream to be differed for the good of her
family. Mama has a small plant that she keeps in her window. The plant is raggedy but Mama waters it and tends to it and it seems to represent to Mama, her
children’s dreams. Even though she didn’t give them much, they, like the plant grew.

Mama realizes her dream by taking part of her insurance money and putting a down payment on a house in Clyborne Park, an all white neighborhood. When
the family hears this, they get nervous because there have been attacks on colored people in white neighborhoods. A representative from the neighborhood
comes and offers to buy the house back from them but Mama refuses to give up on her dream. Beneatha, Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister, is strong
willed and more educated than the rest of her family. She wants to find her identity and dreams about going to medical school and becoming a doctor.

Beneatha is an atheist who feels that doctors have the divine power to save lives and she wants it. She works hard in school and gets good grades. Beneatha
talks to a transfer student from Africa, Asagai, about Africa and going back to find her roots. In the end, we see Beneatha stays at home and we are left not
knowing whether she attendee medical school or not. In A Raisin in the Sun, Walter, Beneatha and Mama are Dreaming of a better life in the future and
through the achievement or failure of their dreams, the characters grow.
Clash of Dreams in A Raisin in the Sun
In Lorraine Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun,” there is a quest among characters for the American Dream. The play’s setting plays a
crucial role in the differing dreams of Walter, Ruth, Beneatha, and Mama; the social, economic, and political climate of the 1950’s
was an interesting time for African Americans. The, “better life,” that each of the family members is searching for is very different,
but the motivation behind their search is very similar. They all care about each other and want what’s best for the family. None of
their dreams are selfish, although some can be viewed as more valid and pragmatic than others.

After analyzing A Raisin in the Sun, it becomes evident that even though Walter means well for his family, his notion of the
American Dream is initially too shallow to come to fruition. It isn’t until the last act of the play that Walter realizes what his priorities
should have been. The rest of the family supports him throughout the play even though they have conflicting dreams. Ruth,
Beneatha, and Mama all support Walter even though it hinders the possibility of their own dreams coming true, which makes this
play about family so meaningful.

At the start of the play, Walter can be seen as being materialistic. At one time, Walter might have viewed the American Dream as
the story of a man who starts out with nothing rising up in the world through hard work and perseverance. This turns into Walter
idolizing money and wanting to become wealthy as quickly as possible. Walter is envious of Charlie Atkins and his dry cleaning
business. He is disappointed that he missed an opportunity to go into business with Charlie and now the dry cleaning business is
grossing over $100,000 a year.

Ruth comments on Charlie’s questionable character, but Walter is solely focused on the money that his business is bringing in.
When Mama asks Walter why he cares so much about money, he responds by saying that money is life. Mama responds by
saying, “Oh-so now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom use to be life-now it’s money. I guess the world really do
change,” (Hansberry, 74). Walter says that is has always been about money, they just hadn’t realized it. Mama clearly disagrees
with Walter about what should be important.

She doesn’t think that a liquor store is a morally right way to make money. Walter disregards her opinion because to him, becoming
wealthy is the only thing that matters. Mama senses, along with the other members of the family, that Walter is going down a
dangerous path that could lead to major problems for the family. This danger becomes especially clear when he is talking to
George about George’s father in the second act. When talking about his plans, Walter says, “Listen, man, I got some plans that
could turn this city upside down.

I mean think like he does. Big. Invest big, gamble big, hell, lose big if you have to, you know what I mean,” (84). It’s these plans that
lead to Walter making a huge gamble on a liquor store–and he definitely loses big as does the rest of his family. Throughout the
play, Walter’s family still supports him. When talking to Mama, Ruth supports Walter’s liquor store venture. She says, “Walter Lee
say colored people ain’t never going to start getting ahead till they start gambling on some different kinds of things in the world-
investments and things…

He needs this chance Lena,” (42). Walter doesn’t realize how much Ruth supports him. He complains that a man needs his wife to
back him up and be there for him. Part of the reason why he is still supported is because in the end, his dream isn’t selfish. He
wants money, but he wants money so he can put pearls around his wife’s neck and so that his son doesn’t have to sleep in the
living room. When his liquor store venture fails, he has potentially ruined the dreams of the rest of the members of his family.

These members have had dreams of their own which could be seen as much more pragmatic and morally just. Ruth is pregnant,
but she is thinking about getting an abortion due to the family’s current living situation. Mama says to Walter, “When the world gets
ugly enough-a woman will do anything for her family,” (75). Walter is shocked to hear this, but yet he is still focused on his dream.
Beneatha asks Ruth where the baby could possibly live, even jokingly asking if the baby will live on the roof. When Ruth finds out
that the family is able to move, she is ecstatic.

She praises God that she not only has a house, but a home. Ruth’s dream of having a house to raise a family is clearly a nobler
goal than Walter’s liquor store venture, but Ruth is the one who is supportive of Walter’s dreams. She is always there for Walter,
through good times and bad times. She listens to him, even if he doesn’t say anything new. Mama lets Walter know this, but he
doesn’t listen. Mama says, “Ruth’s a good patient girl in her way-but you getting to be ? too much. Boy, don’t make the mistake of
driving that girl away from you” (72).

Similar to Ruth, Beneatha has hopes and dreams that can be viewed as more pragmatic. Walter criticizes her dreams of becoming
a doctor, saying that she should either become a nurse, or she should just get married and be quiet. This is ironic because Walter
talks about his goals, which are much less noble, more than Beneatha. Beneatha wants to be able to cure people, but part of the
reason why Beneatha wants to be a doctor is so that she can maintain her independence as a strong African American woman. It is
because of this reason that she could never see herself with George.

Ruth doesn’t understand what could be wrong with him; she doesn’t understand how he is shallow or, if she does, she doesn’t
understand why that should be a problem for Beneatha. At the end of the day, Walter takes the money that Beneatha could have
used for medical school and gambles it away, thereby deferring her dream. Mama dreams of having a proud, dignified family that is
not ashamed of their past. She is ashamed of the way her family is falling apart due to Walter’s actions.
She says, “Son-you-you understand what I done, don’t you? I–I just seen my family falling apart today… ust falling to pieces in front
of my eyes… We couldn’t of gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forwards- talking ‘bout killing babies
and wishing each other was dead… When it gets like that in life-you just got to do something different, push on out and do
something bigger,” (94). The main disappointment for Beneatha and Ruth is that Walter plans to take the money from Mr. Lindner.
They feel like Walter’s morally incorrect priorities have officially been solidified. They are pleased to find that this is not the case.

Initially, even though it is degrading, Walter isn’t concerned with accepting the money because his main goal is to recover what he
lost. He is challenged when he is required to carry out the business transaction in front of his son. He has a sudden realization that
his family members have been trying to convey to him throughout the entire play. He reevaluates his understanding of the
American Dream to a dream that has a basis in equality, not money. Even though it would have been beneficial for Walter to realize
this earlier in the play, he still is able to make the right decision and the family moves, Mama taking her plant with her.

Raisin in the Sun: American Dream

In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, actions to pursue the American Dream consistently move the play forward. Lorrain Hansberry produced this play in
order to illustrate the importance of dreams in the everyday lives of ordinary people. The play begins at a time shortly after World War II, and the audience
begins to become familiar with one of the many families who are struggling with money. Due to the state of the economy at that time, the play centrally
focuses on American Dreams of a better life.

However, because each characters dream is different, efforts to fulfill them cause great conflict. Throughout the play, the author expresses that dreams
depend solely on life experiences. The dream which Mama wishes to fulfill is to buy a house in order to provide for her family. She speaks to Ruth about
wanting to invest some of the insurance money as a down payment “on a little old two story” (44). Although a lot of time has passed since Mama first dreamt
of owning a home, she still wishes to fulfill that dream ensure that she can provide better opportunities for her family.

Walter’s dream of owning a liquor store is much more materialistic than the dreams of the other characters. One day, Ruth says to Mama that Walter has “his
heart set on that store,” which indicates his primary goal for money in order to support his family (41). The only problem with Walter’s logic is that he insists
the only he can ultimately provide for his family is by owning the liquor store. As a more independent character, Beneatha’s dream of becoming a doctor
would benefit her more than anyone else in her family.

When Beneatha is talking to Asagai one day, she says that she has never gotten over the fact that a single being “could… make another all right again” (133).
She then goes on to say that she wants to be able to do that. In the play, the impacts of the actions that were taken to fulfill the American Dream are
essentially evolutionary. Mama invests money from her late husband’s insurance check for a down payment on a house. When she returns to the apartment
one day, she tells Travis that “she went out and bought him a house” (91).

Mama has finally fulfilled her dream and successfully provides better opportunities for her family. In an effort to satisfy his dream, Walter gives not only his
money, but also Beneatha’s money, to Willy Harris and loses it all. Walter eventually exclaims to Mama that “… it’s all gone;” and finally admits to his mistake
(129). This marks the beginning of Walter coming into his manhood. Beneatha puts her dream of becoming a doctor into action by attending college. Once
when she is speaking to Ruth and Mama, she tells them to listen to her when she says that she’s “going to be a doctor… he’s not worrying” about getting
married (50). Beneatha’s education gives her independence and she asserts it with pride. Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes how efforts to
fulfill the American Dream have life changing impacts. Through the use of character representation, Lorraine Hansberry exposes the audience to a world of
dreams of epic proportion. The author uses the concept of the American Dream to illustrate how life experiences often influence particular actions in fulfilling
dreams.

Dreams: a Raisin in the Sun and Younger Family

“It is unfulfilled dreams that keep you alive. ” When a dream it unfulfilled someone can make room for a new dream that they can set themselves out to
achieve. Unfulfilled dreams may not always lead straight to the end result of happiness, but those unfulfilled dreams are what keep people alive. In A Raisin in
the Sun, A play about the Younger family, a black struggling to create a better life for them, some characters dreams are not met the way they intended them
to. Although the characters unfulfilled dreams do not lead to the best thing right away, it is the unfulfilled dreams that keep them alive.

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger family’s actions teach readers that unfulfilled dreams can cause breaks in relationships. Walter
causes a break in his relationship with Mama, his mother, when his dream of opening a successful liquor store does not come true. Walter is a main character
in A Raisin in the Sun, who lives with his wife, Ruth, sister, Beneatha, and son, Travis, in a small apartment in Chicago. Walter has always had a dream of
opening a successful liquor store but that one dream causes pain for many members of his family.

For instance, when Walter finds out that his mother spent the insurance money she earned from her husband’s death on a new house and gave some of the
money to Beneatha, Walters younger sister, he feels as if his dreams of opening a successful liquor store were over. From that point on Walter leaves the
apartment to get drunk with his buddies and look for happiness somewhere else. Walter feels as if his Mother does not trust him and he gets very upset with
her. Every time Mama tries to talk to Walter about anything he is not responsive.

In Act 1, Scene 2, Mama is trying to talk to Walter about how he is always leaving the house, and Walter just says, “You just don’t understand mama, you just
don’t understand,” (Hansberry 74) because he does not take anything his mother says into consideration. Even when Walter finds out that Ruth is planning on
getting an abortion and Mama yells at Walter , “ I’m waiting to hear you say something,” (Hansberry 75) because she wants Walter to tell Ruth not to get one,
he just sits there in shock.

Readers can tell by the way the stage directions describe Mama’s tone that Mama is upset with Walter, and Walter is still infuriated with Mama. All because
Walter could not fulfill his dream it caused his relationship with his mother to shatter. Eventually, Mama decides to give Walter enough money to open the
liquor store in efforts to restore their relationship, and it worked right away. After Mama gave Walter some money Walter feels as if his mother really trusts
him. Thus, it really goes to show that Walter’s unfulfilled dream was the only reason his relationship with his mother hit a rough spot.

A Raisin in the Sun and Dream

Jamal Smith1/7/11 A. H. H. S Period 2 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. In A Raisin in the Sun,
one character who has a dream is Walter. Walter’s dream is to provide for his family and to become the man of the house. Walter’s plans on accomplishing
his dream by investing his father’s money into the liquor store to become part owner.

Walter’s dream relates to the quote because the dream that he had he wanted to make sure his family was stable. Therefore, Walter is using his dream to
create his future by trying to invest on the liquor store to provide for his family. He wants used his dream because he feels he wants to be like his father and
wants to get his family out of the problems that they have been facing. In A Raisin in the Sun, another character who has a dream is Benethea. Benethea’s
dream is to not become assimilations.

She try’s to be unlike other females. Benethea plans on accomplishing her dream by going to medical school and connecting back to her roots. Benethea’s
dream relates to the quote because she wants to not live up to the stereotypical black female. Therefore Benethea is using her dream to create her future by
trying not to defy the eyes of her peers as an African American Women. She wants to help people and wants to be a change in the world. In A Raisin in the
Sun, one character who has a dream is Mama.

Mama’s dream is to have her family united as a whole. Mama plans on accomplishing her dream by buying a new house in an all white neighborhood to keep
the family as one. Mama’s dream relates to the quote because she wants her family to be as one in the future so they would be happy. Therefore, Mama is
using her dream to create her future by moving into the new house so they would be as a Whole. Mama wants the family to live as one and not fall in the
society without a guiding hand.

The French author Victor Hugo once said, “There is nothing like a dream to create the future. ” In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, this quote is
true because Walter dream to e the man of the house. Benethea dream to not become assimilations. Mama dream was to have her family united as a whole.
In life, it is important to work hard because your dreams will determine what you would achieve for in the future. Another thing is that your dream is something
you want to reach.

A Raisin in the Sun: Struggling for the Dream in a Raisin in the Sun
Struggling for the Dream in A Raisin in the Sun Set in a cramped apartment in poverty-striken Southside Chicago, Lorraine Hansberry, through realistic slang,
accounts the struggles of five black family members battling against racism to attain middle-class acceptance during 1959. After Walter Younger’s business
“partner” skipped town with a portion of the family’s $10,000 inheritance money, the desolate son returns home to break the news to his family that their
hopes for the future have been stolen and their dreams for a better life were dashed.

Redeeming himself in the eyes of his family, Walter refuses to sell-out his race to the prejudiced white Clybourne Park spokesman Karl Lindner, who offers to
pay off the Youngers to stop them from moving in the neighborhood. Hansberry highlights the different values of a black and white culture by attempting to
alienate the Youngers from the affluent white community. The attributes of pride and prejudice are assigned to Walter and Karl, respectively to define their
stereotypical society’s assumptions. The play opens with Mama Younger awaiting the coming of a $10,000 insurance check from the death of her husband.

Mama sees in this legacy the chance to escape the ghetto life of the Chicago Southside and decides to use part of the money as a down payment for a house
in an all-white neighborhood. Her brilliant daughter Beneatha views the inheritance as a chance to live out her dream and go to medical school. Her son
Walter becomes obsessed with business, ever since he learns of the $10,000 insurance check. Desperate to become higher in society and believing the
money will solve all of his economic and social problems, Walter has a plea that is difficult to ignore.

Thirty-five year old Walter sees this as his last chance to carry out his dream business deal and invest with some friends in a liquor store. By doing this, it
might quadruple his money, and he thinks that will make him a worthier man. Walter promises that if he can just have the money, he can give back to the
family all the blessings that their hard lives have denied them. Against her better judgment, Mama gives in to the desire of her son. She has to admit that life’s
chances have never been good for him and that he deserves the chance that money might give him. As soon as he invested the money, his so-called “friend”
skips town with it.

Destitute and guilt-ridden, Walter faces his family and reports the destruction of their future aspirations . Despite the monetary set-back, the Youngers
continue with their plans to move into the all-white Clybourne Park. Middle-aged Karl Lindner acts as the spokesman for the white community into which they
plan to move. White Karl tries to persuade the family against moving into the neighborhood. In fact, he has been authorized by the community to offer the
Youngers a monetary incentive not to move in. Since the whites perceive blacks as amoral, Karl thought he could get Walter to sell-out his race.

During this era, it was an understood norm that poor blacks do not move into more affluent white neighborhoods. Those who even attempted to do so,
brought the racial prejudice on themselves. At first, the promise of money tempted shameful Walter after the crumbling of his business partnership. Yet,
despite how much money means to Walter, he chooses not give up his pride in order to obtain it. Proud Walter tries his hardest to keep from his son, Travis,
the fact that they lost all of their money. When Travis asks for fifty cents for school, Walter doubles it just not the let him know they are in dire straits.

Walter actually considered selling out his race from the white community and accepting Lindner’s offer. At the end, Walter shows his true pride and, in front of
Travis, he turns down Lindner’s monetary offering and tells him that the Youngers have decided to move into Clybourne Park. “What I am telling you is that
we called you over here to tell you that we are very proud and that this is-this is my son, who makes the sixth generation of our family in this country, and that
we have all thought about your offer and we have decided to move into our house because of my father-my father-he earned it.

We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes-but we will try to be good neighbors. That’s all we got to say. We don’t want your money
(627). ” Just as Walter illustrated his pride above, the play relates how each character in the Younger family deals with the idea of being black and poor. The
theme of pride shows itself at various times, such as, when Walter turns down Karl Lindner’s proposal, or when his sister Beneatha expresses knowledge of
and pride in African heritage. Mama, despite the loss of the insurance money, expresses the pride in the moral fiber of her children.

With no limit for her contempt for Walter, Beneatha lashes out at him with a barrage of despicable names. When she takes a breath in the midst of her tirade,
Mama interrupts her and says, “I thought I taught you to love him. ” Beneatha answers, “Love him? There is nothing left to love. ” Mama responds: “There’s
always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and the
family ’cause we lost the money. I mean for him; what he been through and what it done to him.

Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most; when they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through
learning-because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ’cause the world done whipped him so. When you starts
measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he
got to wherever he is (626). ” Right at this point in his life, Walter needed Mama’s love.

Her compassion and feelings are shown to contradict the assumptions the whites believe about them. Walter shows his integrity by not selling out his race for
anything. “Negro families are happier when they live their own communities (607),” Lindner claims, viewing blacks as poor, gutter-scum, trash, and nothing
but trouble-makers. White families had the fear that if they allowed the Youngers to assimilate into their community, slowly more and more of them of would
start to move in. They wanted their neighborhood to stay pure and clean, exempt from the trouble a different culture could bring in.

Karl Lindner, a representative of the prejudice neighborhood, warns the family against moving, since the whites will not welcome blacks. What happens to a
dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun Or fester like a sore- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over- Like a
syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags Like a heavy load. Or does it explode? -Langston Hughes The Youngers eventually, proudly live their dream, yet they must
continue to fight the racial prejudice. Works Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. “A Raisin in the Sun. ” Plays of Our Time.

The American Dream in “A Raisin In The Sun” Essay

A Raisin in the Sun is a drama that focuses on the “American Dream” and one’s construct of a “better life” . Each character in the drama has their ain position
on what that dream is and what they perceive a better life to be. Hansberry focuses on the importance of accomplishing one’s dreams irrespective of the
assorted rough battles in life. Mama has dreams of supplying her household with a better life she and her hubby of all time had. Mama said. “Lord if this small
works don’t acquire more Sun than it’s been acquiring it ain’t ne’er traveling to see spring once more. ” The works symbolizes Mamas dedication to her
dreams. Every forenoon she tends to her works and explains that even though it doesn’t acquire the sum of sunshine that is needed the works is still alive.
This besides symbolizes that even though her dreams have been deferred throughout her life she still keeps them alive and strives to accomplish them.
Mama decided to set a down payment on a house in a white vicinity knowing that this would maintain the household together.

This besides shows her belief in accomplishing the ideal American Dream. Mama is the caput of the family and ever makes certain her kids retrieve where
they came from and to take pride in what they believe in. She wants them to esteem themselves and to win while keeping moral boundaries. Ruth has similar
dreams as Mama does. she wants to construct her ain happy household and move towards a bigger and better house. Ruth said to mama. “So you went and
did it! PRAISE GOD! Please honey allow me be glad. you be glad excessively. All right Walter a place. . a place. ”

Ruth’s reaction to how happy she was when she found out Mama bought a house shows how much she does attention for her household and wants that
American dream every bit good. Ruth believes that ownership can convey felicity and that is the thought of her “better life” . Beneatha’s dream is to go a
physician and stand up against ignorance in racism. Beneatha’s dreams were deferred because she grew up in a society where people expected adult
females to construct places instead than hold existent callings. Besides money was another issue that had been keeping her dorsum from going a physician
and prosecuting her dream. Walter said to Beneatha. ” Ain’t many misss decide to be a physician. ” Beneatha replied sardonically by stating. ” Forgive me for
desiring to be anything at all. ” This shows how Walter is near minded and agrees on the positions of adult females and their function in society. Beneatha
and Walter disagreed on what the “American Dream” was because they both had such different thoughts on what they portrayed a better life to be.

Beneatha thinks that Walters dream of purchasing a spirits shop is a waste of money. she doesn’t feel Walter has the aspiration or ability to do a success of
such a concern and is grateful that her female parent will non hold to the program. Beneatha’s character explicates a determined adult female ; she is
different from other adult females in her coevals because her dreams and aspirations are contrary to what is expected in the cultural traditions. Walter is an
illustration of a negative and positive character throughout the drama due to his actions on seeking to accomplish his ideal American dream. Walter is
endeavoring for economic independency and wants to have his business/ spirits shop. He wants to be the exclusive supplier for his household and family.
Walter said to mama. ” A occupation mamma. a occupation? I open and close auto doors all twenty-four hours long. I drive a adult male around in his
limousine and I say. “yes. sir. no. sir ; really good. sir ; shall I take the thrust. sir” Mama that ain’t no sort of occupation. that ain’t nil at all. ”

This symbolizes how Walter is embarrassed of this occupation and how severely he wants to put in the spirits company to go economically independent. His
definition of a adult male is by mensurating his success and ability to supply for his household. Walter goes through with seeking to do his concern happen by
utilizing some of the insurance money Mama had ; he ends up losing his money to a con-artist and this is when he realizes the importance of his family’s
dreams and where he came from. Mama said. “He eventually come into his manhood today. didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain. ” This symbolizes
how Walter went from being looked down upon by his household to going his family’s hero. when he realized that he had to step up and be a adult male. He
now knows what his precedences are and that’s for him to stand by his household and face the hereafter. In malice of all the jobs the household had during
the drama at the terminal we see the Younger’s traveling out of their old house into a new one. Mama is transporting her works with her ; this symbolizes how
they still have their old “roots” even though they’re taking a courageous measure by traveling into a white vicinity and carry throughing the American dream
that they’ve all been hankering for.

The American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun

The idea of the American Dream still has truth in today’s time, even if it is wealth, love, or fame. The thing that never changes about the American Dream is
that everyone deserves something in life and everyone, somehow, should strive to get it. Everyone in America wants to have some kind of financial success
in his or her lives. The American dream is said to be that each man have the right to pursue happiness and strive for the beat. In the play “A Raisin in the
Sun”, the author shows an African-American family struggling to get out of the poverty line, which is stopping them from making financial stability, or the
American Dream.

Its main focus is on Walter’s effort to make it, or be somebody. She also shows how race, prejudice, and economic problems effect a black mans role in his
family, how he provides, and his identity. It is also said that that the Youngers family dreams were unreal and they couldn’t attain there dreams due to their
status in life. The two most common American dreams that the Youngers family want to achieve is to be accepted by the white society and to be financially
stable. For example, when theYounger family received the insurance check in the mail Mama went out and brought a house in the white neighborhood.

Shortly after she brought the house in the white neighborhood, which is known, as Clybourne Park they quickly sent a representative by the name of Karl
Linder. Linder was apart of the New Neighbors Orientation Committee that welcomed newcomer in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, since the Youngers were
black Linder stated ” It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro
families are happier when they live in their own communities”. (Hansberry 407).
This basically states that Mr. Linder was trying to convince them not to live in their neighborhood because they didn’t fit into the description of that community.
This is an example of them not being accepted by the white society. Being financially stable allows you to have a better lifestyle, gain respect from others and
to obtain power. By being financially stable you can live better because you can you don’t never have to worry about how your going to eat, will all the bills be
paid and maybe you could own your own business one day.

This relates to the story “A Raisin in the Sun” because Walter wants to take the money that his mother received from the death of her father to open a nearby
liquor store. He wants to open this liquor to better his families’ life, but he gave the money to one of his friends so they can start getting the liquor store started
but the friend took the money and fled with it. With having money it also brings you respect, it may seem funny because you would never know that money
would allow a person to gain respect. Also by being financially able people will not look down on you as if you’re another one of them poor African American
peoples.

Another aspect of being financially stable is to obtain power. Having money will allow you money and power it is sometimes good and its sometimes bad.
Mentioned further up in the readings I mentioned that having money allows you to gain power it allows you to gain power because money talks. Not only do
money talks when having power you can voice your opinion and something could be done sooner than someone without the money. Powers also puts you in
high positions and allows you to obtain fame.

In today’s society the American people view the American dream as “a dream of a land in hich life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with
opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us
ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and
each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the
fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. (What is the America Dream )

It is said that some Americans view the American Dream as a pursuit of material prosperity, that people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes,
the fruits of prosperity for their families, but have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working
poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more
emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life. What is the American Dream ).

There has also been much criticism of the American dream. The main criticism is that the American dream is now misleading. These critics say that, for
various reasons, it simply is not possible for everyone to become prosperous through determination and hard work. The consequences of this belief can
include the poor feeling that it is their fault that they are not successful. It can also result in less effort towards helping the poor since their poverty is “proof” of
their laziness.

The concept of the American dream also ignores other factors of success such as the family and wealth one is born into and inheritable traits such as
intelligence. On the other hand the Youngers American dream is to get a bigger house and move into a more suburban area. The Youngers also wanted to be
accepted by the white society and to become financially stable. They also had their own individual dreams, Beneatha who is Walters sister wants to go to
school to become a doctor, but in those times people of color weren’t considered being in high positions.

Walter on the other hand wanted to own his own business, which was a liquor store, but Mama didn’t want to spend her money on that. Walter also told his
son Travis ” that he is going to make a transaction a business transaction that going to change our lives that’s how come one day when you bout seventeen
years old I’ll come home and I’ll be pretty tired, you know what I mean, after a long day of conferences and secretaries getting things wrong the way they do
’cause an executive’s life is hell, man.

And I will pull the car up on the driveway ust a plain black Chrysler, I think, with white wall and no black tires (Hansberry 402). This was all Walters American
dream, but Travis stated to him that they’re family is not a business family and that they are all hard working folks. Mama’s dream was to get her family out of
that little house where Travis had to sleep on the couch with well enough room in it for everyone to sleep comfortable. She also wants her family to see the
light because in their old house they only had one window where little light came in.

Ruth dreams were for her and Walter to have a better relationship with each and to stop all the arguing and fighting they did. She also wanted to move into a
bigger house to see the light. Travis on the other hand want to become a bus driver when he gets older but his father tell him that being a bus driver you will
never make money and you will never achieve that American dream. In order to achieve the American dream you must define success, which means what
you choose to do for a living and it should reflect on you values, strengths, and interest. You also have to decide what is important to you.

Is it becoming a millionaire, working at a job you really enjoy, having a family, or all of the above Avoid measuring success by comparing your job title or pay
scale to other people. The next step will be learning which means education includes more than just high school, college, grad school, or learning a trade. It
involves observing people, acquiring new skills, pursuing new interests and hobbies, and generally keeping your mind fresh and alert. Challenge yourself.
Learn a few useful phrases in another language or research new marketing strategies. Travel when you can and meet new people.

Be open to learning. When opportunity knocks, you want to be ready. The next step will be working harder, this step consist of improving your time
management skills plan your projects, prioritize your “to do” list. Produce quality results without spending excessive hours hunched over a computer, on a job
site or in an office. Don’t be afraid to decline taking on an additional project when you know you won’t have enough time to complete it properly. Take control
of your time. The last step would be to invest wisely, not spending you money on little things that’s not necessary.

It is also said that wise business people understand the importance of investing, especially in a retirement fund, which makes equally good sense for
everyone. In contrast of taking those steps the Younger family didn’t invest their money properly, learn what they were doing, working harder and didn’t define
success before they decided to spend their money. Mama, knowing that Walter was immature she gave him the money to put some away for his sisters
schooling and she told him that he could have the rest but consequently he tried to open up a liquor store with his friends and one of his friends took the
money fled with it and hey never saw him again.

In conclusion of this paper if the will to make money is there, anyone in America can pursue happiness and make their dreams come alive. The dream of
making money, having a better life, and helping those less fortunate is alive in modern day society. No matter the definition of the American Dream it is
possible to obtain it and succeed in life. Today’s technology makes it possible for younger and younger people to make their dreams come true.

A Raisin in the Sun: Afro-American Dream

TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY A Raisin in the Sun: The Pursuit of Afro- American Dream A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English, Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, Tribhuvan University, in the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of
Arts in English By Tanka Prasad Paudel Roll No. : 294/ 063 T. U. Registration No: 6-2-2-1201-2001 March 2011 Paudel i Tribhuvan University Ratna Rajya
Laxmi Campus Department of English Exhibition Road, Kathmandu

LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION This is to certify that Mr. Tanka Prasad Paudel has completed his dissertation entitled A Raisin in the Sun: The Pursuit of
Afro- American Dream under my supervision and guidance. I, therefore, recommend this dissertation for the final approval and acceptance to the dissertation
evaluation committee. Date:…………………. Dr. Anand Sharma ………………………………… Department of English Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus
Kathmandu, Nepal Paudel ii

Tribhuvan University Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus Department of English Exhibition Road, Kathmandu ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE This dissertation work
entitled A Raisin in the Sun: The Pursuit of AfroAmerican Dream prepared and submitted by Tanka Prasad Paudel has been accepted as the partial fulfillment
of the requirement of the Degree of Master of Arts in English by the dissertation evaluation committee comprising of: Members of Research Committee
…………………………… …………………………… …………………………… …………………………… …………………………… ………………… Supervisor
Dr. Anand Sharma ………………………… External Examiner ……….. ……….. Head Department of English Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus Kathmandu Date:
……………………………… Paudel iii DECLARATION I hereby declared that this dissertation entitled A Raisin in the Sun: The Pursuit of Afro- American
Dream is my own work except otherwise acknowledged. I have not submitted it or any of its part to any other academic institutions for any degree.
………………………………. (Tanka Prasad Paudel) March 2011 Paudel iv

Acknowledgements This dissertation work is the product of mental and physical investment from different personalities, organizations and institutions to
whom I have to offer my sincere acknowledgements. I am indebted to my parents – father Tika Ram and Mother Chandrakala – whose encouragement,
support and affection made me possible to complete my Master’s of Arts in English successfully. Similarly, I would like thank my brothers and sisters who
always support me with love and affection and encourage me for my academic and professional advancement.

I would like to acknowledge to my sisters Ambika Paudel and Pabitra Paudel and my friend Ram Prasad Marasini and Pabitra Bhattarai for their support
during my study and dissertation preparation. My cordial thanks and heartfelt gratitude goes to my respected teacher and supervisor Associate Professor Dr.
Anand Sharma, whose encouragements, suggestions and comments made this dissertation possible to shape in this form. I am awfully grateful towards
Associate Professor Rudra Prasad Paudel, Head, Department of English, Prof.

Hrishikesh Upadhyay, for their inspiring suggestions in the preparation of my thesis. I am also thankful to all my teachers of Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, who
have directly or indirectly helped me in the due course of writing this thesis as well as to my office Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal
(FECOFUN) for providing me physical resource facilities and leave as required during this dissertation. All the executive members and my colleagues at
FECOFUN are highly appreciated. Tanka Prasad Paudel Mid-Baneshwor, Kathmandu Paudel v

Table of Contents Chapter I: Hansberry as an Afro-American Playwright Hansberry as an Afro-American Playwright Dream in Hansberry’s Plays Chapter II:
Introduction to existentialism Introduction to Existentialism Historical Context of Existentialism Key Features of Existentialism The Single Individual Nihilism
Existence Precedes Essence Facticity and Transcendence Alienation Freedom and Value Anxiety, Nothingness, the Absurd Chapter III: A Raisin in the Sun:
The Pursuit of Afro – American Dream The Pursuit of Afro – American Dream Mama’s Quest for Happiness and Freedom Walter’s Struggle for Freedom and
Choice Beneatha’s Quest for Freedom and Choice Ruth’s Quest of Happiness The American and African Dreams: Comparison and Contrast 1-12 1 10 13-31
11 14 26 26 26 27 27 28 29 29 32-50 32 33 37 40 41 43 Paudel vi Chapter IV: Conclusion Struggle for Existence Works Cited 51- 58 51 59-61 Paudel vii
Chapter I: Introduction Hansberry as an Afro- American Playwright Human beings are not born extraordinary. Nor are they born with courage, or patience, or
will power. These are traits that very ordinary people develop over time.

People who see a wrong and decide to right it regardless of how long or how hard they have to work; people who refuse to let go of an idea or a dream even
when others call them foolish; people who spend endless days and nights developing a God-given talent; and people who risk their lives, even die, basic
human dignity: these are extraordinary people. They are not born that way, they become that way. Each of them was confronted with a difficult and terrible
situation. Each of them found a way to overcome and triumph. There were ordinary people who refused to be dehumanized by slavery and discrimination
and, instead, fought for freedom and equality with all their might. Some fought in wars to keep America free, some founded and built America‘s cities, some
were great scientists, and some were great leaders.

Few were expected to accomplish all that they did, but they all found a way to overcome prejudice based on the color of their skin. Among these many
writers, one of the great African-American dramatists is Lorraine Hansberry. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (1930-1965) is an African-American playwright and
painter. The A Raisin in the Sun (1959), was the first drama by an Afro-American black woman dramatist to be produced at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on
Broadway. It also won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award as the best play of the year. Hansberry’s portrayed individuals, not only black, who defend
their own and other’s dignity. Hansberry was a prominent activist for equal right for African-Americans. She was ommitted to struggle against racism and
discrimination in America. As a result, Hansberry met a numbers of significant African-American all through her childhood. Then, she shaped her
consciousness along the lines her contemporaries who were struggling with, and emerged as a voice that could be discerned on her writing as well: racial and
sexual, political, and the need of the articulation of their dreams. Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago as the daughter of a prominent realestate broker,
Carl Hansberry, and the niece of William Leo Hansberry (1894-1965), a Howard University professor of African history in D. C. Hansberry’s parents were
intellectuals and activists.

Her father was a successful real estate businessman and an active member of the Republican Party in the south side of Chicago. Her mother, Nannie
Hansberry, was trained for teaching. Carl won an anti-segregation case before the Illinois Supreme Court, upon which the events in A Raisin in the Sun was
loosely based. When Lorraine was eight, her parents bought a house in a white neighborhood, where they were attacked one night by a racist mob. Their
experience of discrimination led them to a civil rights case. Hansberry’s interest in Africa began at an early age. Hansberry’s parents sent her to public
schools rather than private ones as a protest against the segregation laws.

She studied art at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In Wisconsin she joined the Young Progressives of America and later the Labor Youth League.
After attending a school performance of a play by the Irish playwright Sean O’Casey, she decided to become a writer. In 1950, she dropped out of college and
moved to New York. She took classes in writing at the New School for Social Research and worked as an associate editor of Paul Robeson’s Freedom.
During this period she met among others the famous writer Langston Hughes. Her play captures the spirit of the civil Paudel 2 right movement. It depicts the
frustration of black family whose dream of economic progress has been thwarted.

She articulated her belief that art is social and that black writers address all issues of humankind. In 1953 Hansberry married Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish
literature student and songwriter, whom she had met on a picket line protesting discrimination at New York University. She worked as a waitress and cashier,
writing on her spare time. Nemiroff gained success with his hit song, ‘Cindy, Oh Cindy’, and Hansberry could devote herself entirely to writing. The working
title of A Raisin in the Sun was originally ‘The Crystal Stair’ after a line in a poem by Langston Hughes. Lorraine Hansberry took the title of A Raisin in the Sun
from a line in Langston Hughes‘s famous 1951 poem ? Harlem: A Dream Deferred. What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun,
/ Or does it explode? ” (Ferguson, et al. 1165). ‘Harlem’ captures the tension between the need for black expression and the impossibility of that expression
because of American society‘s oppression of its black population. In the poem, Hughes asks whether a ‘dream deferred’ -a dream put on hold-withers up ‘like
a raisin in the sun’. His lines confront the racist and dehumanizing attitude prevalent in American society before the civil rights movement of the 1960s that
black desires and ambitions were, at best, unimportant and should be ignored, and at worst, should be forcibly resisted. His closing rhetorical question ? Or
does [a dream] explode s incendiary, a bold statement that the suppression of black dreams might result in an eruption. It implicitly places the blame for this
possible eruption on the oppressive society that forces the dream to be deferred. Hansberry‘s reference to Hughes‘s poem in her play‘s title highlights the
importance of dreams in A Raisin in the Sun and the struggle that her characters face to realize their Paudel 3 individual dreams, a struggle inextricably tied
to the more fundamental black dream of equality in America. When the play opened at New Haven Theater at Chicago in 1959, it was wellreceived with many
good reviews. A Raisin in the Sun a play about a black family, with an all black leading cast, written by a black playwright.

On the opening night of the play Lorraine wrote to her mother about the play: Mama, it is a play that tells the truth about people- Negroes and the life and I
think it will help a lot of people understand as they are – and just mixed –up but above all, that we have among our miserable and downtrodden ranks –
people who are very essence of human dignity. That is what, after all the laughter and tears, the play is supposed to say. I hope it will make you very proud…
(McKissack and McKissack 77-8) According to different critics, the underlying theme of Hansberry‘s A Raisin in the Sun is in the question posed by Langston
Hughes‘ poem ? Montage of a Dream Deferred, when he asks, what happens to a dream deferred? And then goes on to list the various things that might
happen to a person if his dreams are put on hold, emphasizing that whatever happens to a postponed dream is never good.

A Raisin in the Sun is about a black Younger family struggling to escape from the hardship of Chicago ghetto. When Lena Younger, the mother receives an
inheritance of $ 10,000, the family has to decide how to spend it. Lena wants to buy a house in a safe neighborhood, but her son, Walter wants to invest it on
liquor store. Her daughter, Beneatha claims that the money should be used for medical studies. Unfortunately, they lose the money but the play ends with
Paudel 4 the hopeful note when the family decides to move to their new house, despite their white neighbors‘ refusal, standing together against racial and
economical discriminations. Hansberry‘s play A Raisin in the Sun draws abundant criticisms from a number of perspectives.

It has drawn as many criticisms as any other great work of literature. Questions have often been raised by the people on why this work soared in receiving the
attention of the receivers, critics and amateur readers as well. On the one hand, it was the debut not only of Hansberry but also of female at large into
Broadway. On the other hand, it is evidently clear that the context of the black rights movement of the 1960s played crucial role for the warm reception of the
play. In his critical revelation Amiri Baraka, American playwright, poet and political activist, writes that A Raisin in the Sun reflects the real lives of black in the
U. S. and it remains their quintessential drama.

In this connection, Baraka writes: For Raisin typifies American society in a way that reflects more accurately the real lives of the black U. S. majority than any
work that ever received commercial exposure before it , and few if any since. It has the life that only useful re- appreciation of it cannot be limited, therefore, to
the passages restored or the new values discovered , important through these are: it is the play itself, as a dramatic (and sociopolitical) whole that demands
our configuration of its grandeur. (9-10) According to Robert Nemiroff, Hansberry‘s former husband and former executor, A Raisin in the Sun is about class
difference, racial difference and about the relation between husband and wife. In this connection, Nemiroff says: Paudel 5

Production in 1959, the play presaged the revolution in black and women‘s consciousness- and the revolutionary ferment in Africa – that exploded in the
years following the playwright‘s death in 1965 to ineradicably after the social fabric and consciousness of the nation and the world. As so many have
commented it lately, it did so in a manner and to an extent that few could have foreseen, and the years have been made plain just how pertinent some of
exercised passages were…(xv-xvi) Hansberry has always tried to capture the real experience of black people. She uses the working class African American
experiences in her play. She has also written another play The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window which is as major as A Raisin in the Sun. Both the plays
present the story of struggling of African American in America. Critic, Jewell Handy Gresham, sees the coherence between these two plays.

He observes: For the second play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Hansberry left the working – class African American experience of A Raisin in the
Sun to wrote about people those she knew in New York‘s Greenwich Village, a setting she described in her opening note as ? the preferred habitat of many
who fancy revolt or, at least, detachment from the social order that surround us. (xii) Hansberry got huge appreciation on her great success to give the
awareness to the all African American people. Another critic of Hansberry, Frank Rich appreciates on her writing: Taking her title from Langston Hughes‘s
poem ? Harlem? , Miss Hansberry forced both blacks and whites to reexamine the deferred dreams of black Paudel 6 American. She asked blacks to
reconsider how those dreams might be defined; she demanded that whites not impede the fulfillment of those dreams for more second.

And she posed all her concern in work that portrayed a black family with a greater realism and complexity than had ever been previously seen on an
American stag… (7) Hansberry’s success was shadowed by accusations that her family was slumlords on Chicago’s South Side. To escape the bad publicity,
her family moved to Los Angeles. Hansberry had also marital problems and she and Nemiroff divorced in 1964. Hansberry’s The Drinking Gourd,
commissioned in 1959 for the National Broadcasting Company, was not produced. The story, dealing with the American slave system, was considered too
controversial for the television. Hansberry wrote it to commemorate the centennial of the Civil War.

Hansberry’s next produced play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (1964), was set in the New York City neighborhood of Greenwich Village, where she
had long made her home. It is an idealistic play, considering that it anticipates that political agitation in the United States in the mid-1960s and early 1970s.
This time the protagonist was a Jewish intellectual; the play had only one black character. Sidney Brustein works on the campaign of a local politician, but
becomes disillusioned and finds promises of social reform empty. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window was popular in the stage performance. At the very
moment one major honor to Hansberry from a fellow artist during this period came from an Englishman, novelist John Braine.

Braine came to New York during the run of Brustein and, familiar with A Raisin in the Sun, decided to see the new Hansberry play. His responses to it and
published as a personal communication in the Village Voice Paudel 7 is the titled, An Appreciation: Sidney Brustein- a ? Great play‘ – No Other Word Is
Possible (xiii). The following is a representative passage: It is drama of such clarity that one may return to it again and again, and , I expect, emerge as deeply
moved – and each time the more illumined … there are no characters that can be dismissed or defined on the basis of personal relationships lone. Each is
larger than expectation has permitted either them or us…. All are real.

Miss Hansberry, I am convinced, doesn‘t know how to create a character… who isn‘t gloriously diverse, illuminatingly contradictory, heart-breakingly alive….
The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window is a great play. The ? great? is, I know, grotesquely misused, but on other adjective is possible. ( xiii) The play had only
modest success on Broadway. By the time it opened, Hansberry spent much time in hospitals, often needing a wheelchair to get to and from rehearsals. Her
premature death, at the age of thirty-four, cut short her promising career. Lorraine Hansberry died of cancer on January 12, 1965. Hansberry’s To Be Young,
Gifted, and Black, adapted from her writings, and was produced Off-Broadway in 1969.

It also appeared in book form next year. Les Balancs, a drama set in Africa, and adapted by her ex-husband Robert Nemiroff, was first presented by Konrad
Matthaei at the Longacre Theatre, New York City, November 15, 1970. Particularly during the Black Arts movement of the 1960s, many African-American
artists objected to the realist form of Hansberry’s play, which they saw as artistically conservative. They also saw success on Broadway as a political
compromise. Some thought Hansberry sacrificed her integrity Paudel 8 to make her message palatable to a white audience. Similarly, many critics have
argued over the play’s meaning and whether or not the play is assimilations.

Hansberry had started to plan Les Blancs in 1960, and in 1961 it started to find its shape, although she wrote a number of drafts for it. After her death Robert
Nemiroff continued the work as her literary executor and completed a preliminary draft in 1966. The protagonist, Tshembe Matoseh, a black African, has
returned to his homeland, and is caught in its struggle for freedom. Tshembe must choose between violent and peaceful efforts. He tells Charlie Morris, an
American journalist: I do not ? hate? all white men – but I desperately wish that I did. It would make everything infinitely easier! ” But Tshembe’s own good will
is not enough when the fighting starts.

The play also forces a reassessment of the term “terrorist,” a meaningless label which masks the desperation and sometimes the inevitability of violence.
(Nemiroff, 27) In 1973, Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg adapted Hansberry’s first play into a musical, entitled Raisin. The music was composed by Judd
Woldin. Raisin won the Tony Award as the best musical and ran on Broadway for nearly three years. Raisin was revived in 1981, when Claudia McNeil, who
had played Lena in the original 1959 production, recreated the role in the musical adaptation. Sidney Poitier has told in his autobiography The Measure of a
Man (2000) that he had much trouble with the author in the 1959 production.

Poitier criticized Hansberry’s idea that the play should evolve from the mother’s point of view, and wanted that his character were stronger. Paudel 9 A Raisin
in the Sun remains a work that is as powerfully relevant today as when it was written. It continues to be among the most performed works in the American
theatrical repertory. Nemiroff observes: As Eugene O‘Neill stands as the Father of the modern American drama, Hansberry stands as the Mother of modern
African American drama. Strange, however, to call her ? mother? of a vast body of cultural experience. She, whose photograph shows so young a woman,
vibrant with life, who – like the figures on Keats‘s Grecian urn – remains with us, eternally young. xiii-xiv) James Baldwin has written that ? Americans suffer
from an ignorance that is not only colossal, but sacred (Hansberry, xvii). But Baldwin is referring also to the human capacity, where a work of art is involved
for what the writer has written what in their hearts they wish to believe. Such problems did not stop America from embracing A Raisin in the Sun. But it did
interfere drastically, for a generation, with the way the play was interpreted and assessed. It made all the more regrettable the abridgment. In a remarkable
rumination on Hansberry‘s death, Ossie Davis put it this way: ? the play deserved all this – the playwright deserved all this, and more. Beyond question!

But I have a feeling that for all she got, Lorraine Hansberry never got all she deserved in regard to A Raisin in the Sun – that she got success, but that in her
success she was cheated , both as a writer and as a Negro” (xviii- xix). Dream in Hansberry’s Plays The certainty that the ideals of “life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness”(Cullen 38) can become reality for anyone willing to work for them is what we call the American Paudel 10 dream. For many, the dream
does come true. As same as most of Hansberry‘s works express African people‘s dream and quest for freedom, equality, and prosperity i. e. , dreams. Her A
Raisin in the Sun is about a black family‘s attempt to find sense in their constrained existence. Lena, Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha Younger all lived under the
same roof, but their dreams were all different.

Being the head of the household, Lena dreamed the dreams of her children and would do whatever it took to make those dreams come true. Walter, the hero
of the play, Lena’s oldest son, is a chauffeur. He set his dream on the liquor store that he planned to invest with the money of his mother. He makes the
dream to make transactions which could change their life. Beneatha, Walter‘s sister, on the other hand, wants to study medicine and become a doctor be
utilizing that money. And Ruth, Walter’s wife, wanted to be wealthy. Hence all the characters of the play have the dream, the dream of freedom, equality, and
prosperity. Ultimately, the dream is of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Many scholars note that Lorraine Hansberry was the first African-American playwright to explore, in her final work, Les Blancs, the African dreams for
freedom from European colonialists. Hansberry studied African history and read about uprisings in Kenya and other African nations before beginning Les
Blancs to create a work that is obviously a well-informed examination of events in Africa. In this context, it is possible to view the play both as criticized of
colonialism in Africa and, on another level, as a commentary on race relations in early 1960s America. Hansberry held strong beliefs about the means by
which African – Americans should attain their civil rights, and these beliefs surface in the situations and characters depicted in Les Blancs. The play’s setting,
the fabricated African nation of Zatembe, Paudel 11 rovided Hansberry a safe distance from which she could critique American civil rights leaders’ strategies
and philosophies and allowed her a way to express her belief that the ultimate destiny and aspirations of the African people and twenty million American
Negroes are inextricably and magnificently bound up together forever. In recreating an African colonial scene in Les Blancs, Hansberry advances the need for
dialogue between the oppressed and the oppressor, yet she insists on action and commitment, supports the procurement of sovereignty at any cost, and
visualizes the genesis of a new black world. The play does not resolve any problem but raises thoughtprovoking questions about history, Africa, America,
anger, and confrontation; it shows that people are largely a fusion of evil and good, valor and fear, conviction and confusion, indifference and involvement.

Hansberry argues for humanism even as she directs her themes through a predominantly African historical and socio-artistic experience and illuminates the
struggle of all Africans and African- Americans to obtain a measure of freedom. Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun presents the quest of American
dream as realized by its characters. All the characters of the play have the quest for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness as the main theme of American
dream. Mama’s quest of happiness and freedom of her family is the patent indicator of the Afro-American Dream. Besides that she has the dream of owning a
home for the family. Walter has the dream of economic prosperity. He wants equal opportunity of economic prosperity with the white people. Hence, his
dream is also the Afro- American dream of equality.

His struggle of sharing in liquor business with a white fellow, Willy Harris is his desire to assimilate with the white American society. Besides, he wants the
ends of racism and Paudel 12 discriminations. Beneath has a dream of maintaining a high social position in the society by being a doctor. Her dreams are
also the dreams of equality as she wants to get educated like the white people in spite of being black girl. Paudel 13 Chapter II: Existentialism Introduction to
Existentialism Existentialism is one of the modern philosophies to interpret human existence. It interprets human being as an isolated individual existence into
an alien universe. It opposes the doctrine that human being is a manifestation of absolute truth.

Especially after the Second World War, many thinkers started to support this doctrine and they did not believe in traditional concepts like rationality, morality,
unity, value, and even Christianity. The certainties and scientific reasoning that ruled the nineteenth century smashed into anxiety, absurdity disintegration,
chaos, and uncertainty. The thinkers and writers of the time found the world totally absurd and alien. This feeling of utter alienation was the product of the
recognition of ? Death of God? and the holocaust of the World War II. The outcome of these two great wars sense- of alienation, the spiritual emptiness,
sense of insecurity and absurdity- were captured by the writers. Not only ? God is Dead? as Nietzsche proclaimed, but also all the intermediary values
connecting God and man declined.

Man lost even the certainties and values of his own existence, which he had originally received from his belief in God. He is, thus a castrated and deserted
animal in the overwhelming and the absurd universe. An individual is free to choose and create truths himself/herself. One can create truths or her/his own
personal interest and use freedom of choice. Therefore, an existentialist stresses on concrete individual existence, freedom and choice. Existentialism
emphasizes on freedom. But unlike Renaissance thinkers who took freedom positively, the existentialists take freedom as a curse as Sartre says: ? We are
condemned to be free? (qtd. in Tarnas 56). This existentialist concept of freedom and Paudel 14 alue raise from the view of the individual , Sartre in his book
Existentialism and Human Emotion says ? since we are all ultimately alone , isolated island of subjectivity in an objective world , we have absolute freedom
over internal nature and source of our value can only be internal? (23). Due to this freedom, there is none to dictate us what to do and what not to do. As a
school of thought existentialism is devoted to the interpretation of human existence. It lays stress on concrete individual existence, freedom and choice. John
Ryan explains: ? There is no single existentialist philosophy, and no single definition of the word can be given.

However, it may be central and that they stress man‘s concrete existence, his contingent nature, his personal freedom and consequent responsibility for what
he does and makes him to be? (639). Existentialists do not take them with the traditional attempt to get the ultimate nature of the world but they really concern
to the problem of men. They focus on what it is like to be an individual. Existentialism focuses on the nature of truths, by saying that focus on what it is true to
one may be false to another because individuals finally must make their own choices without any help from external standards as laws, ethical rules and
traditional philosophy. In this sense, individuals are free to choose and also they are completely responsible for their choice. One critic Macintyre argues: ?

Even I do not choose I have chosen not to choose? (140). Therefore, existentialism concludes that human choice is subjective and an individual is free to
choose for his authentic existence. Historical Context of Existentialism Existentialism as a philosophical concept has been in vague only in recent years, but
its origin goes far back to some classical and middle ages. Before the modern Paudel 15 existentialist, we could find some norms of existentialism in the
works of St. Augustine, Pascal, Socrates, and other in extent. They were followed by Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Husserl, Heidegger, Jaspers,
Berdyaev, Camus, Simon De Beauvoir, Sartre and Marlean Plarty.

Although existentialism was germinated from classical period, it got full fledged shape in the post- war era. Protagoras expresses the idea of subjective truth:
? Man is the measure of all things? (Gaarder, 62). Socrates focuses on the need of the self instead of the whole cosmos. For his self was prior to everything.
The medieval age was known as the era of religion and there was strong belief in God. However, existential elements can be found in the philosophy of Saint
Augustine. He talked about the self awareness and believed that truth should be searched from within. Augustine asked man not to go outside himself in the
quest of truth. He affirmed the existence of truth human ego in the soul. He gave importance to the individual self.

Existentialism philosophy began with Danish Christian thinker Soren Kierkegaard in the first half of nineteenth country. By criticizing, Hegel’s philosophical in
system; he gave the importance of subjective, emotional and living aspect of human existence. In this regard, Soren observes, he thought that both of
idealism of romanticist and Hegel‘s Historicism obscure the individual‘s responsibility for his own life? (Gaarder, 377). Thus, existentialism opposes idealism
and objectivism. The existentialists are mainly influenced by the subjectivism and individuality. By challenging traditional ideas about absolute being, they
stress on human existence. The possibility of uman existence is the anticipation, the expectation and the projection of the future. Existence is always
stretched out towards the future. Paudel 16 Existentialism has become one of the prominent theories at present and is applied in many literary texts. Although
existentialists have many similar ideas, their view-points are conflicting and sometimes contradictory and it can be divided into two groups: theistic
existentialists and atheistic existentialists. The first group of existentialists like Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers, Martin Butter, and Gabriel Marcel believe on
religion and view that anxiety of modern man can be relieved when one dedicates oneself to the will of God.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus belong to the second group of Existentialists who denies to accept the existence of
God. For them, nobody is there to support human being. So, one is free to choose. Soren Kierkegaard The nineteenth century Danish philosopher and
religious thinker Kierkegaard is the first writer to call himself existentialist. He was infuriated by Hegel‘s philosophy which stressed on rationalism which
according to Kierkegaard: ? both the idealism of Romantics and Hegel‘s historicism ? obscured the individual‘s responsibility for his own life? (Gaarder, 377).
Therefore, Kierkegaard‘s through that Hegel and Romantics were ? tarred with the same brush? (Gaarder, 377). Kierkegaard‘s thought of personal choices
and responsibility count a lot.

Objective truth has nothing to do with the human life. He advocates that individual existence is prior to be everything. Gaarder comments: ? Kierkegaard had
sharp eye for significance of the individual. We are more than the children of our time. And moreover, every single one of us is unique individual who only
lives once? (Gaarder, 377). Kierkegaard‘s determination about individuality as he remarks: Paudel 17 According to Kierkegaard rather than searching for the
Truth with capital ? T‘ it is more important to find the kind of truths that are meaningful to the individual‘s life. It is important to the ? truth for me‘. He thus sets
the individual, or each and every man, up against the ? system‘. Gaarder, 379) Kierkegaard emphasizes on individual choice at a moment. Most of the
existentialists follow him in this respect. He thinks that man makes free decisions and choices to project himself. Taking example of Kierkegaard, Ellmann and
Fiedelson remark: By choosing even by choosing wrongly it that is done with earnestness and struggle, we became new selves that could not have existed
until the choice was made. [Choice in relation to God] Beyond ethical choice religious is the use of freedom to surrender it back to divine giver. (Ellmann and
Fiedelson, 805) Thus, one cannot remain without making decisions. By making decisions, he goes on establishing his existence.

There are two options for the individual to choose: either he has to choose God and get redemption from the angst, an ethic-religious choice or he has to
respect God and go to prediction, and atheistic choice. The centrality of individual passion in contrast to the passion of the ? Crowd‘ as Kierkegaard called, or
Dostoevsky‘s ? an ant in an ant heap? us one of the basic concepts of existential philosophers (Ellmann and Fiedelson, 803). Kierkegaard believes that one
is free to make choices. And one exists upto the point of making choice. The concept of ? subjective truth‘ is dominant in his writings. Any systems, rules and
regulations cannot determine an individual and his freedom. Instead of Paudel 18 single truth, there are many truths which are personal. What is right and
what is wrong depend upon one‘s own decisions and thoughts.

Atheistic Existentialism Atheistic existentialism totally denies the existence of God but rather it focuses on existence of human beings and freedom of choice.
In this helpless universe nobody is ready to help them. Atheistic thinkers regard human beings as optimistically free, forlorn and support-less creature. It is
necessary to make separate on some prominent existential philosophers and their concepts. Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche, the nineteenth century
German philosopher, one of the forerunners and chief source of inspiration for existentialism, has influenced the development of the idea of human existence.
He made a critique on Christianity. For him, western philosophical tradition and Christianity snatches away authentic ndividuality and happiness of people.
Nietzsche observes, Both Christianity and traditional philosophy had turned away from the real world and pointed towards heaven or the world of ideas?
(Gaarder, 455). It shows that he is in favor of individual freedom. Nietzsche has made very sharp critique of Christianity and God. For him Christianity is a ?
slave morality? and the religion having no truth because God is already dead and Christianity has become a shelter for weak and disabled people that he
hated. His proclamation on God and Christianity pushes atheistic existentialism on God that is already dead or there is no more God at all to determine the
existence.

He tries to clarify his view on religion and on God from his this argument: Paudel 19 The Christian conception of God-God as god of sick, God as a spider,
God as a spirit is one of the most corrupt conceptions of the divine as ever attained on earth. It may even represent the low water mark in the descending
development of divine types. God degenerated into contradiction of life. Instead of being its transfiguration and eternal, God as the declaration of war against
life, against nature and against will to live. (Ellmann and Fiedelson 818) For him, to think of God is to go against life, against the ? will to power‘. As there is
absence of God in the world, the supermen are the Gods.

The supermen are the higher men because of their genuine thought to life and heroic spirit. Thus, the man of action is force for human existence for
Nietzsche. Nietzsche focuses on the subjective activities of individual. He does not believe the idea of absolute truth. As god is dead, there is nobody to
govern and individual rather he is the master of himself. This view of Nietzsche has become clear in the given abstract of ? Subjective Will and Objective
power? : Objective man is not a-model, either, he walks neither before not behind anyone … he is an instrument, a piece of slave … As a mirror, he is a work
of art to be handled carefully and honored.
But, he is not an aim, not a way out nor a way up, not a complimentary human being through whom the rest of the existence is not a conclusion … he is
nothing solid, nothing powerful, nothing self-reliant seeking to become master. (Ellmann and Fiedelson 817) Paudel 20 Nietzsche support individuality and
subjectivity of truth. An objective man is nothing more than a slave who is very much submissive. Man should be active and subjective for the sake of his
individuality. Man is master of himself. Thus, he should exercise his individual power. In his views moral values are not objective and universal. Nietzsche
takes every individual as a free thinker. One individual has his own right to think in his own perspective and to make decisions in his own favor. He clearly
expresses: I say especially that they shall free, very free thinkers, these philosophers of the time?

It is certain, however, that they will not be merely thinkers but something more, something superior, greater and thoroughly different, something that does not
want to be misjudged or mistaken for something else. (Ellmann and Fiedelson 815) In this way, he provokes the idea of existence of human being and
individual freedom. For human individual is greater and more powerful than society. Martin Heidegger Another German existentialist is Heidegger who was
influenced by both Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. Though he himself did not agree to count as an existentialist thinker, he was able to influence most powerful
existentialist philosopher Sartre. His idea constitutes the basic characteristics of existentialism. According to him, Western metaphysics mistakenly presents
an individual as a representative of mass.

He shows sharp distinction between ? beings‘ and ? Being‘ i. e. group and individuality. In his essay, Recollection of Being? , he states that ? in fact
metaphysics never answers the question concerning the truth of being … because it thinks of being only representing being as Paudel 21 beings? (Ellmann
and Fiedelson 879). By this he focuses on the problem of being. For him, being is not realized in normal situation. It can only be realized in the state of
boredom or anxiety. As most of the existentialists are very much indebted by the works of the German phenomenologist Edmund Husserl, Heidegger was
also influenced by Husserl‘s concept of self and subjective truth.

Heidegger has found the basic attributes of existentialism in Husserl‘s work in which he addresses the multiple truths and goes against the objective truth or
universal truth. Most of the existentialists take Husserl as an influential figure even if he is a phenomenologist. Among them Heidegger shows positive
response for his subjectivism. Though there is a sharp contrast between phenomenology which tries to objectify the unobjectifiable and existentialism,
Heidegger‘s relationship with Husserl is unavoidable. For Heidegger we cannot realize being in normal situation rather we can realize it in the period of
suffering. Therefore, he says in his essay ? What is Metaphysics No matter how fragmented our everyday existence may appear to be … It irrupts when one
is bored, profound boredom drifting here and there in the abysses of our existence like a muffling fog, removes all things and men and oneself along with into
a remarkable is difference this boredom reveals being as a whole. (4) Hence we can find his close relation to existentialism which he directly rejects to reveal.
In very difficult moment of life one can recording to him. According to Heidegger, the universe is alien to us and we shall face explicitly the problem of being
as we create our own existence making choices. He was interested in Paudel 22 the study of particular way of existing. He believes that one has to determine
his own existence by creating his own existence by creating his own possibilities and making choices and commitment which shows that man is what he tries
to be or to make himself.

Thus, Heideggerian existentialism emphasizes on existence, boredom, choice and freedom but in freedom also there is suffering, or angst that compels
human being to select and take change of his being. He also stresses that there is no absolute force to govern a man. That is why; an individual himself
creates his own essence. So, the main focus of Hedger is to investigate for individual, especially for man‘s being. Jean Paul Sartre Sartre, one of the eminent
French existentialists and the leading figure of Existentialism, became popular after the Second World War for his existential theory. For him, existentialism is
humanism? as included by Gaarder in Sophie’s World. Sartre put himself in the group of anti-religious existentialists. His philosophy mainly focuses on
personal freedom and personal responsibility.

He thinks that there is no fixed human nature or essence and so the individual has to choose his being. Along with Albert Camus and Samuel Beckett, he
developed the existentialist philosophy to its farthest point. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger are the chief philosophers who have left much impact upon
this thinker. Every human being has his own right to do thing or select his best. In this respect, he made an existential choice when he rejected to take Nobel
Prize for literature in 1964. Like other existentialists Sartre also believes on subjective truths or multiple truths. So he expresses, It is therefore useless to
search for the meaning of life in general? (Being and Nothingness, 457).

He means to say that there is no fixed or absolute Paudel 23 truth in this universe. As an atheistic existentialist, Sartre‘s view on God is that the concept of
God is devoid and not absolute power. He further expresses: It states that if God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes
essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept, and that this being is man, or as Heidegger says human reality. What is meant here by
saying that existence precedes essence? It means that first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene and, only afterwards, defines himself. (Ellmann
and Fiedelson 828) As God does not exist there is no essence by nature.

Sartre means to say that existence comes before essence. Essence is not universal truth; it is determined by our existence whatever we decide, it is going to
be. Since our involvement in the world creates essence and there is no predetermined essence to govern our existence rather our existence creates essence
and determines our essence. As most of the existentialists claim, Sartre also stresses upon the subjectivity of the individual. His view towards it is positive
although he frequently talks about freedom. For him, freedom is a kind of curse as commented as ? Man is condemned to be free … This freedom condemns
us to make choices throughout our lives? (Gaarder, 467).

It shows that freedom is not blessing but a curse because a person has not created himself and he is nevertheless free and this freedom condemns people to
make choices throughout their lives. An individual is free to choose the course of life. He is responsible for his action in life. He never disclaims the
responsibility. Sartre further says: Paudel 24 To choose between this or that is at the same time to affirm the valve of that which is chosen: for we are unable
ever to chose the worse. What we choose is always better; and nothing can be better for unless it is better for all … Our responsibility is thus much greater
than we had supposed. (Ellmann and Fiedelson, 835) Thus, because of our freedom we can choose either this or that. It is our responsibility to do one or
other action.

What we have done depends on our choice. We are responsible for choice and action. Like most of the existentialists, Sartre emphasizes on the subjectivity
of the individual. He blames those persons who do not use freedom because freedom is used the freedom itself and it is the way of life. Sartre‘s concept of
human existence is determined as a dominant state. According to him, there is no such innate nature of man like essence. He argues: Existence precedes
essence … Man simply is not that he is simply what he conceives himself after already existing as he will to be after that leap towards existence. Man is
nothing else but that which he makes of himself. Ellmann and Fiedelson 828) Thus, an individual can create essence which comes after existence of a
person. The will of a person helps him to be something of being not the essence. The main focus of Sartre is this idea of human existence. Instead of having
an essence by birth an individual is free to choose options either this or that. He divides living as authentic and inauthentic between these points. He chooses
authentic living and says that one must choose and make commitment to exist. Sartre‘s primary focus lies on existence. For him freedom and existence go
together. So, our Paudel 25 freedom obliges us to make something of ourselves to live ? authentically‘ or ? ruly‘. Thus, as many existentialist thinkers, Sartre
emphasizes upon freedom of choice and personal responsibility and action because there is no absolute force like God to govern us to create our own
essence. By doing so, we can meet the meaning or essence of life. Albert Camus Albert Camus, a well-known thinker of absurdity of human life, is one of the
remarkable atheistic existentialists of the twentieth century. He has multidimensional personality for his writing. Camus takes human being as an isolated
existent in an alien universe and the condition of a man is absurd; whatever he searches for life with any purpose is meaningless and fruitless.
The world does not possess any inherent truth, value and meaning. In this regard, M. H. Abrams remarks: Albert Camus views a human beings as an isolated
existence who is cast into as alien universe, as possessing no inherent truth, value, meaning and to represent human life-in its fruitless search for purpose
and meaning, as it moves from nothingness when it came towards the nothingness where it must end as an existence which is both anguished and absurd.
(1) Albert Camus has compares modern man to Corinthian king Sisyphus who disobeyed God for his passion of life and suffered external torture heroically.
He further says, this Universe, henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile.

Camus has reached to the conclusion to declare the condition of man when he realized that the speculative system of past provided on authentic guidance for
life. In his views, the awareness which comes within as absurd man of his futile lifestyle, he is naturally filled with anxiety and hopelessness but he does not
surrender himself to the authority. Paudel 26 Rather he uses his absurd consciousness as a reliable guidance to revolt against it. According to Camus, every
individual works in accordance with his thought to choice. No individual surrenders himself in the mouth of death. Human destinies are made by human
themselves. In Creation of Knowledge it is quoted that ? ike Sisyphus … human make their own choices and to that extent are in control of their own
destinies? (67). Hence Camus stands in favor of subjective choice which is already accepted by other existentialists as well. Like Sisyphus every human
being chooses whatever he wants to do. The same action leads him on the pathway of absurdity even though he is happy when he gets a chance to choose
something. For Camus the idea of choice is optimistic and humanistic. He advocates for freedom of choice. Key Features of Existentialism The Single
Individual Kierkegaard developed this problem in the context of his radical approach to Christian faith; Nietzsche did so in light of his thesis of the death of
God.

Subsequent existential thought reflects this difference: while some writers (Sartre and Beauvoir) were stubbornly atheist in outlook, others (Heidegger,
Jaspers, Marcel, and Buber) variously explored the implications of the concept ? authentic existence? for religious consciousness. Though neither
Nietzsche’s nor Kierkegaard’s thought can be reduced to a single strand, both took an interest in what Kierkegaard termed ? the single individual. Both were
convinced that this singularity, what is most my own, me, could be meaningfully reflected upon while yet, precisely because of its singularity, remaining
invisible to traditional philosophy, with its emphasis either on what follows unerring objective laws of nature or else conforms to the universal standards of
moral reason. A Paudel 27 ocus on existence thus led, in both, to unique textual strategies quite alien to the philosophy of their time and ours. Nihilism For
Kierkegaard existence emerges as a philosophical problem in the struggle to think the paradoxical presence of God; for Nietzsche it is found in the
reverberations of the phrase ? God is dead, in the challenge of nihilism. Nietzsche sought to draw the consequences of the death of God, the collapse of any
theistic support for morality. Nietzsche’s overriding concern is to find a way to take the measure of human life in the modern world. Nietzsche’s idea that
behind moral prescriptions lies nothing but ? will to power? undermined that authority. Existence Precedes Essence Sartre’s slogan ? existence precedes
essence, ay serve to introduce what is most distinctive of existentialism, namely, the idea that no general, non-formal account of what it means to be human
can be given, since that meaning is decided in and through existing itself. Existence is ? self-making-in-a-situation? (Fackenheim, 37). In contrast to other
entities, whose essential properties are fixed by the kind of entities they are, what is essential to a human being—what makes her who she is—is not fixed by
her type but by what she makes of herself, who she becomes. The fundamental contribution of existential thought lies in the idea that one’s identity is
constituted neither by nature nor by culture, since to ? exist? is precisely to constitute such an identity.

It is in light of this idea that key existential notions such as facticity, transcendence, alienation, and authenticity must be understood. Paudel 28 Facticity and
Transcendence Facticity includes all those properties that third-person investigation can establish about natural properties such as weight, height, and skin
color, social facts such as race, class, and nationality and psychological properties such as web of belief, desires, and character traits; historical facts. It is
manifest in moods as a kind of burden, the weight of having to be. This is what existential philosophers call ‘transcendence. ‘ Transcendence refers to that
attitude toward characteristic of practical engagement in the world, the agent’s perspective.

An agent is oriented by the task at hand as something to be brought about through its own will or agency. Such orientation does not take itself as a theme but
loses itself in what is to be done. Thereby, things present themselves not as indifferent givens, facts, but as meaningful: salient, expedient, obstructive, and so
on. To speak of ‘transcendence’ here is to indicate that the agent ‘goes beyond’ what simply is toward what can be: the factual always emerges in light of the
possible. Alienation The anti-Cartesian view of the self as in situation yields the familiar existential theme of the ‘alienated’ self, the estrangement of the self
both from the world and from itself.

In the first place, though it is through projects that world takes on meaning, the world itself is not brought into being through projects; it retains it otherness and
thus can come forth as utterly alien. In the second place, the world includes other people, and as a consequence that merely the revealer of the world but
something revealed in the projects of those others. Thus, function of the projects, but is also a matter of ‘being-for-others. ‘ Sartre brings out Paudel 29 this
form of alienation in his famous analysis of ‘the Look. ‘ Finally, the self-understanding, or project, thanks to which the world is there for a meaningful way,
already belongs to that world, derives from it, from the tradition or society. Though it is the engagement in the world alienates from authentic possibility.

Authenticity The norm of authenticity refers to a kind of ‘transparency’ with regard to situation, a recognition that a being who can be responsible for identity.
The light of this norm, which, can be said to recover from alienation and absorption that characterizes everyday engagement in the world. Authenticity thus
indicates a certain kind of integrity. Authenticity defines a condition on self-making. Thus to be authentic can also be thought as a way of being autonomous.
The inauthentic person, in contrast, merely occupies such a role, and may do so ‘irresolutely’ without commitment. Thus, existentialism’s focus on authenticity
leads to a distinctive stance toward ethics and value-theory generally.

The possibility of authenticity is a mark of my freedom, and it is through freedom that existentialism approaches questions of value, leading to many of its
most recognizable doctrines. Freedom and Value Existentialism did not develop much in the way of a normative ethics. However, a certain approach to the
theory of value and to moral psychology, deriving from the idea of existence as self-making in situation, are distinctive marks of the existentialist tradition. In
value theory, existentialists tend to emphasize the conventionality or groundlessness of values, their ‘ideality,’ the fact that they arise entirely through the
projects of human beings against the background of an otherwise meaningless and Paudel 30 indifferent world.

Existential moral psychology emphasizes human freedom and focuses on the sources of mendacity, self-deception, and hypocrisy in moral consciousness.
The familiar existential themes of anxiety, nothingness, and the absurd must be understood in this context. At the same time, there is deep concern to foster
an authentic stance toward the human, groundless, values without which no project is possible, a concern that gets expressed in the notions of ‘engagement’
and ‘commitment. ‘ Anxiety, Nothingness, the Absurd In anxiety, as in fear grasps as threatened or as vulnerable, but unlike fear, anxiety has no direct object,
there is nothing in the world that is threatening.

This is because anxiety pulls altogether out of the circuit of projects. As Heidegger puts it, anxiety testifies to a kind of ‘existential solipsism. ‘ The experience
of anxiety also yields the existential theme of the absurd. Another remarkable theme of existentialism is boredom or anxiety. This sense of anguish comes
from the consciousness of individual‘s existence. When an individual realizes his existence, he finds himself in despair and he is suffering from dissatisfaction
and anxiety. This dark and forbidding picture of dread leads to the anxiety but it is necessary to be in dread. Therefore, it is an optimistic philosophy even it is
full of boredom and sense of dread.

Absurdity also plays a vital role in existentialist philosophy. To exist as a human being is totally absurd. This world is meaningless and purposeless. In other
words, the meaning of existence is itself meaningless and purposeless for absurdist thinkers like Camus. In nutshell, on the existential view to understand
what a human being is, it is not enough to know all the truths that natural science could tell us. The non-reductive dualist Paudel 31 is no better off in this
regard than is the physicalist. Nor will it suffice to adopt the point of view of practice and add categories drawn from moral theory: neither scientific nor moral
inquiry can fully capture what it is that makes.

Without denying the validity of scientific categories, governed by the norms of truth, or moral categories, governed by norms of the good and the right,
existentialism may be defined as the philosophical theory which holds that a further set of categories, governed by the norm of authenticity, is necessary to
grasp human existence. To approach existentialism in this categorical way may seem to conceal what is often taken to be its heart, namely, its character as a
gesture of protest against academic philosophy, its anti-system sensibility. But while it is true that the major existential philosophers wrote with a passion and
urgency rather uncommon in our own time, and while the idea that philosophy cannot be practiced in the disinterested manner of an objective science is
indeed entral to existentialism, it is equally true that all the themes popularly associated with existentialism: dread, boredom, alienation, the absurd, freedom,
commitment, nothingness, and so on, find their philosophical significance in the context of the search for a new categorical framework, together with its
governing norm. After analyzing some leading existentialists, it can conclude that all of them have some common options to analyze human existence. These
common elements that are discussed by the existentialist philosophers are existence, alienation, and individuality, freedom of choice, humanism, anxiety,
identity, protest and humanism, etc. are to count as the major feature. Humanism is one of the basic themes of existentialism that revolves around human
being and their welfare with their own actions.

It advocates for the state of an individual and denies the concept of God. Next theme of existentialism is protest. In Paudel 32 this, an individual is not
governed by any rules, laws, custom and tradition of the society. An individual can create his own rule and system to govern him; he himself is the master of
his individual freedom. In Lorraine Hansberry‘s drama The Raisin in the Sun, it can find above mentioned existentialist theme in less or more extent. It is one
of the great play of the African playwright but it has some theme about dream, choice, freedom, anxiety, nothingness etc. e. g. on the very day of the
performance, Robert Nemiroff expresses through the paraphrasing freely from the play: ? itness you ever-burning lights above: we fools are up and at it
again; fools who believe that death is waste and love is sweet and people want to be better than they are… (169). Thus in manner of expressing of these
sentences brought face-to-face with the ‘death’ as the possibility in which no longer anyone human being able to be anything. This experience is of the death
of human being or ‘nothingness’. In the next chapter, I will analyze and give the logical reason to prove the existential notion in the Hansberry‘s play The
Raisin in the Sun. Paudel 33 Chapter III: A Raisin in the Sun: The Pursuit of Afro – American Dream The Pursuit of Afro – American Dream Lorraine
Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun primarily deals with the struggle for existence as make by its characters.

It presents the story of a black Younger family living in the Ghetto of Southern of Chicago. They are living in a cramped apartment consisting of only three
rooms. It has only one toilet which the family has to share with neighbors. It has a too small yard for the children to play. Furthermore, in the whole apartment
there is only one small window that lets too minimal amount of light where a plant can hardly grow. Like the plant, everyone in the apartment is hardly
surviving. The carpet and furniture of the living room are extremely worn out. The atmosphere of the room is dark and dreary. Weariness has won the
apartment. The congested place they are living in clearly indicates to the restricted life they are living.

The Younger family, hence, is looking for a better place to live and a life of freedom with choice, equality, dignity and prosperity. They are trying to buy a
better future through the insurance money of $10,000 that they are going to receive upon the death of their patriarch. Each member of the Younger family has
a struggle for heaven (prosperity and opportunity), said in other words the dreams of better life and future like that of their white counterparts. In this regards,
the play A Raisin in the Sun can be said to be about the dreams or quest heaven as apprehended by its characters. Amiri Baraka, a prominent American
playwright and critic, reads the play as having such themes.

He observes: A Raisin in the Sun is about dreams, ironically enough. And, how these psychological projections of human life can come into conflict like any
other product of that life. For Lena, a new house, the stability and Paudel 34 happiness of children are her principal dream. And as such this is the completion
of a dream she and her late husband-who has literally, like the slaves, been worked to death- conceived together. (13) The postcolonial reading of the play
observes A Raisin in the Sun as presenting Younger family’s struggle for their refusal of white American culture and decolonizing efforts to free themselves
from colonial hangover. Nathan A.

Scott reviews it as black people’s effort to escape the Ghetto areas: Hansberry’s account of the struggle of a Negro family (the Younger) to escape the
daunting dreariness of the black Ghetto on Chicago’s South side was not, of course, without its detractors (many of them blacks), and Harold Cure’s verdict
represented one line argument frequently voiced, that, against the background of the stony indifference with which the politicians of the New York theater had
for so long faced the Negro playwright, her “play provided the perfect” model they were seeking…. (Scott 331) Thus, the all characters of the play have their
own personal dream for future and hope of freedom and choice, happiness etc. Mama’s Quest for Happiness and Freedom Mama is an old widow of about
sixty. She is the head of the Younger family after the death of her husband. She characterizes the typical Afro- American woman who is struggling throughout
her life in the white-dominated society for the happiness and stability of her family. Despite many obstacles, she is determinate to bring happiness in her
family. She is responsible enough as the head of the family. She wants to raise her Paudel 35 hildren from the miserable life they are presently living in her
children’s happiness in everything for her. She is ready to sacrifice all her personal desires for the sake of happiness and freedom of her children. For this,
she plans to spend her husband’s some of the insurance money of $ 10,000 to buy a house where her children can live with freedom and dignity. It is her
dream, like many other characters of the play, to buy a house of her own.

A Raisin in the Sun: the Younger Family

Meghan Feenstra August 16, 2010 English Honor 9 A Raisin in the Sun Picture yourself as a member of the Younger family. You live in a small house, two
bedrooms and a bathroom you share with other families. It’s hard to imagine 4 adults and l adolescent living in these conditions, but its how the Younger
family lived. When the story begins the younger family is anticipating a huge insurance check from the passing of their grandpa.

Living in a racist community, such as the south side of Chicago, affected the Younger family in how they made decisions, thought of people of their own race,
and how they treated people of a different race. Living in a time of racism took its toll on the Younger family in how they made their choices. Because no one
believed that colored people could do anything in America, the Younger family felt that they needed to prove that they could. In the eyes of Walter, the man of
the house, once you received money you spent it.

Some may say that this is because they have lived in poverty; therefore, they just always want to spend money right away. However, I think that they lived
this way because they want to prove to the other races that they can make something of themselves. The Younger family makes their choices hoping that the
racist views on them will change to something more positive. Because of the racism towards colored people, they often feel like African-Americans are too
intimidated to do something more with their lives. “Why? You want to know why? Cause we all tied up in a race of people that don’t know how to do nothing
but moan, pray and have babies”. Walter sees his race this way because of society. By society I am referring to the racist people of their world. He doesn’t
think this way because they told him to; only because, people sometimes can’t think for themselves. Others put thoughts into his head. This can be a good or
bad situation. Sometimes it’s inspiring; while, at other times, it can make you feel worse about yourself. For example, Beneatha believes she can do nything;
she can be a doctor, go to Africa, or be a doctor in Africa. This drive comes from not having anyone believe you can do it. On the other hand, after Walter
hearing many racist white people not having faith that African-Americans can become something, he started looking down on his own race. The Younger
family is also racist towards white people. “[Beneatha] what they think we going to do – eat ‘em? [Ruth]No, honey, marry ‘em”. This family doesn’t think highly
of white people because they don’t want an African-American family in their neighborhood.
The people of Clybourne Park are worried about integration, so much that they are willing to payoff the Youngers to not move into their newly bought house.
The fact that they would go that far just to keep the neighborhoods segregated doesn’t give white people a good image in the eyes of the Youngers.
“[Beneatha] What they think we going to do – eat ‘em? [Ruth] No, honey, marry ‘em”. Though this quote may be true it is still racist. By saying this Ruth is
assuming that the only reason they care so much to have the Youngers not living in there neighborhood is because they don’t want the races to marry.

Another time that they are racist towards white people is when Linder tries to talk them out of them moving in to Clybourne Park. Though Linder is very rude,
even when he first arrives they are rude just because he is a well dressed white man. The Younger family is very affected by racism. They made very poor
decisions because they were treated poorly. Buy the end of the story there trouble only brought them closer together. Racism affected the younger family in
the way they made choices, treated their race, and other races.

A Raisin in the Sun Book Review

Brianna Nichols Per. 1 11-10-12 A Raisin in the Sun A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a truly exquisite piece of literature
that has influenced readers, young and old, for generations. It gives us a very realistic view of racial tension, as well as the
socioeconomic struggles, African Americans faced during the late 1940s-50s. In this play we meet the Youngers, a lower-class,
diverse-minded, African American family simply trying to survive in 1950s South Chicago.

Together they face economic hardship, racial discrimination, and the constant struggle to keep a fragile family together as each
member searches for their version of the “American Dream”. Hansberry did an excellent job in creating the Younger family to
represent lower class African American families in the 1950s. The Youngers live in a rundown, two-bedroom apartment. The family
consists of Mama, Walter, Ruth, Travis, and Beneatha.

The economic aspect of the play is centered around the insurance check Mama will be getting for her late husband, the author
uses this to create a foundation for the Youngers story; the money elicits conflict between the characters as each has their own
idea on what to do with money that does not even belong to them. A major motif in this play is racism, the author allows for a bit of
foreshadowing in the beginning of the play with the bombing of another African American family in Clybourne Park, a mainly white
community and the area where Mama eventually buys the new family house.

Hansberry uses Walter to tie these two themes together. After losing all of the money Mama gave him to invest in his business and
to save for Beneatha’s college fund, he then goes to get more money by selling back Mama’s new house: he can either overcome
the racism and be the man his mother always knew he could be, or he can take the money for another chance to pursue his
dreams but at the same time he would essentially be selling his soul to the devil. Walter must choose to either satiate his thirst for
wealth or maintain the pride of his race.

Finally, Hansberry acknowledges the importance of family unity during these times. Ruth and Mama are the two main characters
attempting to hold everything together. Hansberry made these characters strong and full of hope, despite their situation in life.
Created any other way and we would probably see the family fall apart as the story began to unfold. Money and racism are also
huge tests on the strength of this family as they struggle through the hardships of poverty and realize the shortcomings of some of
the family members.

All in all, A Raisin in the Sun is a very well written book. It is written in such a way that really puts you in the cramped, living
conditions with the Youngers and helps readers to understand what it meant to be a poor African American family in the 1950s.
Hansberry did a great job in creating solid characters which help to develop the story smoothly and realistically. It was a play I
thoroughly enjoyed reading and would readily suggest to anyone looking for a good read.

A Raisin in the Sun: Analysis

Junior Research Paper Ahmed Al-Adwani Ms. Wilson English and Composition 11 10 February 2011 An ethnic analysis of the character, Walter, results in the
belief that the African Americans are proud people because of their history of being discriminated. Walter Younger is a character from the story “A Raisin in
the Sun”, by Lorraine Hansberry. Along with his family, Walter is facing poverty, as he trys to get rich quick with the insurance money. However, every member
in the family has different plans for the money, but mama is the one who decides what to do with the money.

Mama opts to use part of the money as a down payment for a house in a white community. The rest of the money was planned for other uses but Walter
loses the money and as a result, they can’t keep the house. The African Americans are proud people due to their history of being discriminated; as the saying
goes “What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger”(West). In this story, Walter wants money from Lindner so the Younger’s family would avoid going to a house in
the white neighbourhood. However, Walter ends up saying that “we come from people who had a lot of pride”(Hansberry 127).

Walter uses this as an excuse for the African American’s actions. Due to this fact, African Americans are proud people because of their history of being
contradistinguished. African American’s “psychology is repudiative rather than accommodative of racism” (Norton Anthology). African Americans do not
except racism and as a result, they have excessive pride in themselves. Even as children, they continue to have pride in themselves and it is due to the fact
that parents teach their children to be proud. A recent study showed that African American parents teach their children to have racial pride in
themselves(McBride).

They are not to be ashamed of their race even though they are being ridiculed. The study involved 332 African American mothers and their children ranging
from 9-11 years old. These families were ordered to report their childrens’ behaviors to a control group. Results exhibit African American youth reacting
positively towards his/her race. They are very honored to be African American(McBride). This study complements the research about their pride and
supplements Walter Younger’s claim. When you analyze Walter’s ethnicity, you realize that African Americans are spirited as an effect of past prejudice.

Walter informed Lindner that African Americans are very proud people and he used this fact a justification of how African Americans are like. The Norton
Anthology stated that the psychology of African Americans is that of disapproval of racism rather than welcoming racism. Furthermore, a study revealed that
African American parents instruct their children to have pride in themselves. Now people understand why African Americans act negatively towards racism; it
is because they have excessive pride in themselves.

Lorraine Hansberry included Walter’s speech about pride to add a realistic feel of the story along with a historical fact to make the reader feel sympathetic
about Walter’s situation. Works Cited: Thomas Ashby Wills, et al. “Parental Involvement Promotes Rural African American Youths Self-Pride and Sexual Self-
Concepts. ” Journal of Marriage and Family 67. 3 (2005): 627-642. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 9 Feb. 2011. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. 1958. New
York: Signet, 1966. “Postcolonial Studies and Race and Ethnicity Studies. ” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Eds. Vincent B. Leitch, et al. New
York: Norton, 2001. 25-26

A Raisin in the Sun: the Influences and Interference of Mama

The Influences and Interference of Mama In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, influence and interference plays a role in everyday
life. The Younger family occupies a small living space in a boarding house, they are always together. Mama is an influence yet interference to the family. The
characters that feel this way is Walter, Beaneatha, and Ruth. Without Mama the Younger family would get nowhere in life. Although Mama did not tell Walter
to buy the liquor store, she was an influence by giving him money to spend on what he wants.

Mama stated, “Monday morning I want you to take this money and take three thousand dollars and put it in a savings account for Beneatha’s schooling. The
rest you put in a checking account ? with your name on it. And from now on any penny that come out of it is for you to look after” (106). Mama only wanted
her children to be happy. She is a wonderful mother for giving them money. She is a wonderful and caring person but she can also be an interference. Mama
maintains reality in the household. She helps her family with decisions they have to make. For example, Beneatha told Mama that Asagai asked her to marry
him and move to Africa.

Here is their conversation, “Beneatha: Mama Asagai asked me Uemura 2 to marry him and go to Africa” (149) “Mama: He did? You ain’t old enough to marry
nobody” (149). Beneatha should stand up for herself and decide what to do on her own. Mama needs to stop interfering in her children’s life. Influencing or
interfering, Mama is a helpful and loving person. Mama had the hardest time trying to influence Ruth to talk to her husband, Walter. Ruth has been having a
hard time with communication in her marriage. ” Walter: That is just what is wrong with the colored women in the world? Don’t understand about building their
men up and making ? m feel like their somebody. Like they can do something” (34) “Ruth: There are colored men who do things” (34). Ruth and Walter
always end up fighting. Ruth should only do what she wants to do, she should not have to listen to Mama. Mama should just keep her mouth shut. Sometimes
she makes more problems when she is trying to solve them. Mama is not perfect, but she tries her best to help her children. Whether she is influencing or
interfering with their lives, she will always be there to help them. Her family will never stop loving who she is and what she has accomplished. They are very
proud to have her as their mother.

A Raisin in the Sun: Poem of Insecurities

Jerry Fermin November 5, 2012 English 33 Mrs. Weissmann The dreams of the characters in the
Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry illustrated the theme of Langston Hughes poem. Lena, Walter,
Ruth, and Beneatha all lived under the same roof, but their aspirations were all different. Being the
head of the house, Lena just wanted her children to live the lives they imagined for themselves.
Walter’s dream was to invest his mother’s money in a liquor store and to create a better life for his son
Travis. Beneatha in the other hand wants to use her mother’s money to become a doctor when she got
out of college and Ruth wants to be wealthy.

A Raisin in the Sun was a book about “dreams deferred” and in this book Loraine Hansberry fluently
described the dreams of the Younger Family and how their dreams became a destructive weapon on
their family. Lena Younger, Walter and Beneatha’s mother was a widow who devoted her life to her
children after her husband died. When she retired she was waiting for her husband’s insurance money
to arrive. With the ten thousand dollars in her hand, Lena decided to buy a 3500 dollar house at
Clybourne Park and she was also going to put some money in the bank for Beneatha so she could go
to medical school.

Those were her dreams, they were so simple and ordinary and also beautiful. She expected everyone
to be delighted and surprised of the things she had done with the check and indeed they were, except
for Walter. While Lena got her pie in the sky, Walter was upset his mother had spent the insurance
money on the house and thought it wasn’t fair that Beneatha got some of it for her medical school
while he got nothing for his liquor store business. Walter always discussed his dream thoroughly to his
family nd talked about how it would make their lives different, but Lena, who always wanted her son to
be happy, trustingly gave the rest of the insurance money to Walter. Holding the money in his hands,
Walter thanked his mother and appreciated the trust she had in him. Walter then gave the money to
his buddies so that they could get him the liquor license without realizing that they betrayed him. This
is how a dream can become destructive for others. As his dream crumbled into pieces, he began to
regret that he didn’t listen to his mother, wife, and sister.

He not only destroyed Beneatha and his dream but Ruth’s as well. Ruth was pregnant during his
moment in despair and forgave and encouraged him to start everything over. Ruth, whose dream was
to be wealthy and to have a fine family, calmly accepted the fact that her dream was only a dream. To
her, it was a consolation that her husband had come back to reality after his unsuccessful dream. It is
not essential to keep a dream alive, reason why is because if you don’t accomplish your reverie you’ll
spend your whole life complaining about it.

Ruth was not about to do that, she sucked it up and forgave Walter. Beneatha was upset to hear that
Walter didn’t put anything in the bank for her medical school. Sad and depressed that the reality turned
out differently from her dream, Beneatha gave up hope of becoming a doctor. Fortunately, her friend
Asagai kept her dream alive and convinced her that there was still hope and ream in the world and that
she should forget about the money because if her father did not die then she would have never gotten
the chance.

So Beneatha went with Asagai to his homeland, Nigeria, to practice her medical career. Conclusively,
the family forgot their despair and moved to the new house for a new life. Although they knew it was
tough to start everything over, but for them, it was as if their lives had just begun. Lorraine Hansberry
had successfully illustrated the four main characters in the story as human beings with desires,
dreams, aspirations, conflict, foibles, and strength. And it was “A Raisin in the Sun” that expressed
those dreams and desires and how they ended up as “dreams deferred. “

A Raisin in the Sun: Does Money Really Bring Happiness?

Does money really bring happiness? This questions has been asked over and over throughout history yet there is no real answer for it. The only way to know
is to learn from experiences. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun the characters are caught up in caring too much about money, and it effects them all
in many different decisions that they make such as Ruth wanting to get an abortion, Mama buying them a house, and Walter investing in the liquor store. Ruth
wanting to get an abortion shows that money has a big influence the character’s actions in the story.

She is a woman of about thirty who has given up on life, but she is a kind woman who cares a lot about her family. She is described as “a pretty girl, but now
it is apparent that life ahs been little that she expected, and disappointment has already begun to hang in her face (Raisin in the Sun, p. 610). ” Ruth knows
that the family does not have enough money , and that they are cramped into a little house. When she learns that she is pregnant, she decides she is going to
have an abortion because she feels they just don’t have any money to support another child.

Her husband, Walter, does not believe she actually thinks of doing this, and tells his mother that Ruth would never do that. Ruth then comes into the room
and tells him he is wrong and that she has already put down a down payment on the abortion (p. 639). Another way that money is an influence to the
characters in the story is when Mama receives the insurance check and buys a house for the family. At the beginning of the story all anyone can talk about is
if Mama has received her check in the mail.

Everyone just keeps asking each other about it. Whether it is Walter asking or even his son, Travis, it is the only thing everyone in the house can think about.
The check that Mama is getting is an insurance check from the death of her husband. When the check finally does come all anyone can talk about is what
she is going to do with the money. The money is not that important to Mama and she even says, “I spec if it wasn’t for you all… I would just put that money
away or give it to the church or something, (p. 36)” but because she is a kind woman who worries about her family she decides to take some of the money
and go buy a house. Everyone is very excited to hear this news except Walter who is very upset by it. He feels that is makes his mother the leader of the
household and not him. He tells her that she butchered a dream of his (p. 651). The last way that money influences a character in the story is when Walter
invests in the liquor store with his friend, Willy Harris.

Walter is a very depressed man who feels that money would change everything for the better. He feels that he has never gotten his chance to succeed in life
and do great things because he has always been poor. Walter is unhappy with his job and thinks that he doesn’t get the respect he deserves. After Mama
receives the money in the mail, and she goes out and buys the house Walter becomes more upset then ever. To try and make him feel better his mother
decides to give him the rest of the money to hold for the family.

Mama gives Walter sixty-five thousand dollars and tells him the next day he is to go to the bank and put three thousand away for his sister, Beneatha’s,
college fund and the rest he is to put in a checking account under his name where he will make all of the decisions on it (p. 658). Walter is very happy to have
been trusted with all of the money, it is all he has ever wanted. He decides to take it all and invest it in the liquor store with two of his friends, without even
putting any away for his sister.

His friend, Bobo, comes to the house a couple days later and tells him that the man they trusted with the money, Willy, has left with it and is nowhere to be
found. Walter has lost all of their money, they are right back where they started. Money can be a very bad thing when it is taken too seriously. Money greatly
influences most of the decisions for the characters in A Raisin in the Sun, whether it is negatively like Ruth getting an abortion or Walter losing all the family’s
money by trusting someone or it is positively when Mama buys the house for the family. Money does not bring happiness it just depends on how you look at
it.

Family and Money in A Raisin in the Sun

Would you choose money over your family If you won a great sum of money, but it would only make things worse for your family, would you still want it
Lorraine Hansberry challenges the idea of family versus money in her play “A Raisin in the Sun. ” Walter, a main character, constantly strives for great sums
of money but for the cost of unhappiness for his family. In “A Raisin in the Sun ,” Lorraine Hansberry shows the reader that family always triumphs over
money. In the beginning of “A Raisin in the Sun Mama is about to receive a $10,000 check due to her husband dying.

Walter views the money as his own, even though Mama attempts to use it as beneficial money for the whole family. Mama would like to buy a new house for
the family, put Beneatha through medical school, and she even offered to give Walter the leftover. But Walter wants to invest all of the money into a liquor
store. He constantly worries and questions Mama about the money. On page 73, Walter says, “Do you know what this money means to me Do you know
what this money could do for us Mama – Mama, I want so many things.
This dialogue demonstrates that Walter is struggling with what he should value in life and focusing on material things. He wants new cars and a fancy house
to impress everyone that he has money. Another quote in “A Raisin in the Sun is walter saying “It is life Mama” (page 74). When walter say this he is referring
to money. This clearly show the reader that in the beginning of the book walter values money more than family. In the beginning of the book, Walter does not
understand that money is nothing – merely a materialistic item.

Family is something that you should treasure and always hold onto before it’s gone. In the middle of the book, Walter starts to change slightly but he still
strongly believes that money will solve all of his problems, so he puts it before his family. Instead of talking to his family about the money, he talks to Willy
Harris and is convinced that Willy Harris is trying to help him, but really he is trying to scam him. Walter believes he is “talking with people who understand
me. People who care about things on my mind (page 87).

Walter also says “Where were you Mama, Mama you didn’t go and do something with that insurance money, something crazy ” (page 90). This shows us that
Walter gets very paranoid when he can’t find the insurance money and starts questioning his mom and only can think about money. Walter spends the money
on investing in a liquor store, even though he wasn’t supposed to do that. We found out that Walter secretly took Beneatha’s school money and invested it in
the liquor store which turns out to be a scam. This is a perfect example of Walter choosing money over his family. Mama is furious.

This shows us that Walter doesn’t have any respect for his family yet. He takes their money for his personal benefit. By the end of the play, Walter realizes
that family should always be more important than money. When offered a large sum of money by Mr. Linder, he immediately rejects it and says, “and we have
decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us, brick by brick. We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no
causes and we will try to be good neighbors. That’s all we go to say about that. We don’t want your money (p. 148).

This demonstrates that Walter has grown and changed as a family member and now puts his family before everything. After this scene the entire family is
very proud to be a Younger and very proud of walter. He doesn’t really care about money anymore, he cares about his family. Overall, it is clear to the
readers that Lorraine Hansberry successfully showed that family always triumphs over money. Through Walter’s journey, we see that he recognizes that
family is much more beneficial than money. Family supported Walter even when he stole money from them. He learned that family can help you where money
can’t.

A Raisin in the Sun – Money

A Raisin in the Sun – Money Where money is but an illusion and all it brings are nothing but dreams, one family struggles to discover that wealth can be
found in other forms. In the play “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry uses the indirect characterization of the Younger family through their acquaintances
to reveal that money and materialism alone are worthless.

Living in a society where the fulfillment of dreams is based upon material wealth, the Younger family strives to overcome their hardships as they search for
happiness. As money has never been a way of life for the family, the insurance check’s arrival brings each person to see the chance that their own dreams
can become reality. Whether in taking a risk through buying a “little liquor store” as Walter wishes to do or in -“[wanting] to cure” as Beneatha dreams, the
desires of the family depend upon the fate of Mama’s check.

In the mind of Walter Lee Younger, the check is the pinnacle of all, dominating his thoughts, as he does not wait a second before “asking about money
“without” a Christian greeting. ” He cannot see beyond the fact that he “[wants] so many things” and that only their recently acquired money can bring them
about. The idea of money and being able to hold it “in [his] hands” blinds him from the evils of society, as he cannot see that the Willy Harris’s of the world will
steal a person’s “life” without a word to anyone.

When money becomes nothing but an illusion, Walter is forced to rethink his values and his family’s future, realizing that there is more to living that
possessing material riches. When Walter loses his “sister’s school money,” the consequences are widespread and Beneatha sees that dream diminish before
her eyes. She sees her slipping through Walter’s fingers and finds her lifelong goals changing. From the days of her childhood, she has longed “to be a
doctor” and “fix up the sick. While her family and friends do not understand Beneatha’s dream, she continues longing for the education she needs to create a
successful life she desires rather than one where she is waiting “to get married. ” Ruth believes Beneatha is “odd” because she would not consider marrying
into the Murchison’s, a family of people believed to be “more snobbish that rich white people”; however, Beneatha knows that she can make a better life for
herself than that of such people.

When she looks at George Murchison, she sees money’s effect on his outlook on life and knows that she wants more substance in her future even though he
could give her innumerable material possessions. Her ideals of life are not based upon what a husband can provide for her, but what she can offer for her
family and mankind. Being a doctor is all she has to hope for and with her chance of going to school gone, she forces herself to believe that her vision of the
future was always “a child’s way of seeing things” and not a substantial dream.

Still, when Asagai asks her to “come home” to Nigeria, Beneatha’s response to the proposal reveals that her dream is not extinguished, but merely altered
from attending school to going on a quest to “cure” and to search for her identity. While their dreams are within reach, through the course of one mistake, two
characters were forced to reevaluate their plans for the future and realize that the riches in life are not found in one’s societal position, but by their ability to
see that money is worthless when it comes by itself.