A Raisin in the Sun: A Play Representing Various Pursuits of the American Dream

Student
Professor
Course
Date
A Raisin in the Sun: A Play Representing Various Pursuits of the American Dream
A Raisin in the Sun is a masterpiece play written by Lorraine Hansberry; this novel depicts a black family's pursuit to accomplish their American dream that provides liberty, freedom, and happiness to all and sundry. A critical analysis of the theme and characters of the play reveals that in the space, all characters pursue their notion of the American dream, and all get their respective setback. Therefore, the theater manager Leskowitz claims that just like Death of a Salesman and Love in the City, the characters of this play also seek to accomplish their ideals of American dreams and represent the highly idealistic American families of the 1950s. The struggle of all the major characters of the play: Walter Younger, Beneatha Younger, and Lena Younger, is the manifestation of the troublesome journey of a black family toward social and material equality. All characters try to utilize the 10000-dollar insurance money for Mr. Younger's death in their way, and their clash of interests marks their struggle to accomplish their American dream. This play embodies the notion of drying up dreams like a raisin, as expressed in Langston Hughes' poem "A Dream Deferred. " The following paragraphs provide an in-depth textual analysis of the play to substantiate this statement.
Lena Younger, or Mama, is a compassionate motherly figure who wishes to use the insurance money to raise their social standard by buying a home in a white neighborhood Clybourne Park (Hansberry 35). She is an idealized figure who always dreams of having neat and clean environs and keeps asking her daughter and son to keep the household clean and respect and pursue their dreams. She is an embodiment of a thorough Christian mom as described in American ideals, and for the same reason, she vehemently rejects Beneatha's secular views about religion and Christianity. She is the only figure in the play representing American ideals' actual moral values. The following line indicates that she scolds her daughter for being too materialistic: "Now don't you start, child. It's too early in the morning to be talking about money. It isn't Christian. (Hansberry 40). She also rejects Walter's idea of opening a liquor shop with insurance money. Thus, Lena Younger proves herself as the ideal figure whose pursuit of the American dream is based on legal and moral principles and who, unlike Willy Loman, does not stoop to immorality to accomplish her ideals.
Walter Younger is the play's leading character and serves as both protagonist and antagonist. Indeed, he is a true embodiment of the characteristic black of the mid-twentieth century as he always finds it difficult to support his family and always looks for a new avenue of success with little moral and ethical consideration. In this respect, Walter remarkably differs from his mother in pursuing the American dream. Walter's following remarks about the liquor store reveal his true materialistic mind: "You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand, and we figured the initial investment on the place be 'bout thirty thousand" (Hansberry 32). Walter also shows frustration over his failure to get th...