Tuesday, March 6, 2012

A Raisin In the Sun: The Prospect of a Better Life

"WALTER: ...Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs." pg. 33

The main story in the play, A Raisin in the Sun centers around a family who desires nothing more than a better life. While some of them have given up on this prospect, others are going out and searching for ways to make it happen. The two characters that stand out most in this outlook are Walter and Beneatha. At the beginning of the play, Walter has a normal job. It pays a small amount of money and doesn't satisfy his ambitious spirit. In one conversation with Ruth, he tells her about his plans to open up a liquor store with his friend Willy Harris. By her response of "Oh Walter Lee...", the audience can tell that it's not the first time some business venture like this has crossed his mind. And, he seems to have real faith in it too. But, it's easy for someone who feels so trapped in a hard life to have faith in anything but what they're doing. Walter's constant urging on his wife to consider his dream is just his own attempt to attain a better life. On the other hand, Beneatha is a black woman who has some rather unrealistic dreams for herself for the time period she is living in. It is evident that everyone in the family, whether they say it aloud or not, doubts her ability to be a successful doctor. Even though she has been quite studious and successful in school, it would be easy for the family to drop the extra expense that they see as going toward such an unprofitable venture. But, through Beneatha's complaints about the house and her thankfulness to her family that provides her tuition, it is easy to recognize her dedication to school and her dreams of becoming a doctor as a possible way to escape into a better life.

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