Somewhat Like War, Essay Example

Introduction

Dreams are very important. Langston Hughes wrote an infamous poem about dreams. He said: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does is 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 is just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?” Often, a person’s dream becomes their lifelong goals. Without dreams, there is very little to look forward to accomplishing in life. Essentially, every member of the Younger family is chasing a dream. They are doing everything in their power to keep their dreams in attainable reach. Dreams are often altered by the changes that one encounters in life. Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun displays the many dreams that members of a family have and how circumstances can alter these dreams. Every member of the Younger family has a dream. The mother wants to have her family happy and together, the son’s wife wants a larger house, the daughter wants to go to medical school, one wants to get rich and be successful with little preparation. All of them are motivated by various driving forces to obtain their dreams. However, the dreams that each member of the family has is conflicting in interests, which causes conflict within the family. The Younger’s’ struggle to attain their dreams throughout the play not knowing that each is pursuing the American Dream.

The Ghetto Dream

The play takes place in a Chicago ghetto, which is essentially a family unit for black of the time. According to Gordon,” Locating the Younger family in Chicago’s South Side, Hansberry directly engages crises produced by ghetto economies and dehumanizing living conditions, restricted educational access, and explosive encounters along urban color lines. Hansberry understood that residential segregation, and the violence that undergirded it, provided the backbone for racial inequality in the urban North” (2008). Many poor, blacks live in the ghetto at this time. The dream that many blacks shared at this time was to live the ghetto. They each were trying to escape the crime, overpopulation, and sub-human housing conditions. The dream was to make it to the other side of the tracks where most whites lived- the suburbs. Nevertheless, the segregated housing laws kept them in the ghetto. The housing conditions were one of the major reasons why blacks wanted to move.  Although they were living in slumber, their dreams of success were never deferred. The Younger family was no different from any other family of the time and situation. Once they have received the insurance money, each sees their way of getting out of the ghetto. Yet, they are still met with degradation when trying to reach their dream. During this time, the housing industry uses all types of tactics to keep blacks from purchasing homes in certain neighborhoods. The real estate agents made large sums of money to intimidate and bully black families from buying homes in white neighborhoods. For example, when Lidner comes to visit the family when he discovers that they are black, he tries to discourage them from pursuing their dream. He says,

“Well—you see our community is made up of people who’ve worked hard as the dickens for years to build up that little community. They’re not rich and fancy people; just hard-working, honest people who don’t really have much but those little homes and a dream of the kind of community they want to raise their children in. … A man, right or wrong, has the right to want to have the neighborhood he lives in a certain kind of way.” (Hansberry)

According to Vilator & Halper, “In the 1960s, property values declined when African Americans moved into all-white neighborhoods” ( 2012  ).This is very upsetting to Lena because she knows that her husband worked his entire life trying to buy a home for his family. Unfortunately, he dies before he can do so. Lena says,

“I seen…him…night after night…come in …and look at that rug…and then look at me…the red showing in his eyes…the veins moving in his head…I seen him grow thin and old before he was forty…working and working and working like somebody’s old horse…killing himself…and you—you give it all away in a day” (Hansberry).

For Lidner to say that only the whites had worked hard to reach their dreams was an insult to Lena because she believed that her husband had worked himself to death trying to reach his goal-dream.

Walter’s Dream

Walter’s dream is to become a business owner. His dream of becoming a business owner causes him to have a negative attitude towards members of his family that he believes is hindering his dream.  When mother Lena receives the insurance check from her husband’s death. Naturally, when Lean receives the insurance money, Walter feels the money should be used to start his business. However, Lena’s goal is to found a home for her family. A place where they can all live comfortably. Lena’s character symbolically represents the American Dream-the pursuit of happiness and a fulfilled life. Leana’s dream of owning a home is her driving force. Although she does not want to be rich, she knows that moving to another location will be beneficial to the entire family. Walter dreams of being rich like the white people he drives for. Often, his dreams of doing so do involve making a better life for his family, but he is mostly driven by male pride and dignity. He feels that the economic hardship that his family is enduring is causing his dream to be deferred. Yet, he equates his inability to find and adequate job and earns a decent income to racism. However, Walter has done very little to prepare for his future. His dream is to become wealthy and famous overnight, and he believes he can achieve this by making a gamble. His wife is supportive of him and his dream. She tells Lean, “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.”(Hansberry).   Saber adds, “The “American Dream” of homeownership, the goal of so many for so long, illustrates the conflicts that arise in a democracy as different groups strive to realize their aspirations. This struggle to understand what it is to be an American makes history more personal, more complicated, and meaningful”(  Valitor & Halper, 2014). Momma is willing to try to help her son accomplish his dream. He adds, “But Lena manages to bridge the gap with her children and the generational differences through her familial love. She accepts changes and acts accordingly while preserving a strong sense of pride. Knowing her son’s dream of opening a liquor store, Lena decides to put down a deposit payment for a new house in an all-white neighborhood to save her family from disintegration and to realize her own dream of providing a decent house for them.”

Beneatha Dream

Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor someday. She believes that the members of the black race are just suffering in ignorance. Beneatha is being prevented from reaching her dream by two forces. First, she does not have the necessary finances to attend college. Secondly, she is a woman of color. Because of the time frame that Beneatha lives in, she is expected to play a certain role. Women are expected to get married, have children and take care of their homes and family.  For example, Walter says, “Who the hell told you you have 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…” (Hansberry). She denounces all of those. She is very independent, attractive, going to college, and looks at life from a very feministic perspective. She believes that women are just as, if not as, important as men. When she begins to date George, the barriers that she is faced with are embodied by his presence. He views of women and her dreams for herself are quite the opposite.  George says to Beneatha:

“You’re a nice looking girl…all over. That’s all you need honey, for the atmosphere. Guys aren’t going to go for the atmosphere— they’re going to go for what they see. Be glad for that. Drop the Garbo routine. It doesn’t go with you. As for myself, I want a nice—simple— sophisticated girl…not a poet—O.K.?”(Hansberry).

She refuses to be what someone wants or believes she should be because of her gender or race. Beneatha’s dream of becoming a doctor will not be deferred by any barriers.  Beneatha goes through a transformation in the play. She realized that although she is trying to be very independent, she is really very dependent. She is depending upon her dead father’s insurance money or her brother’s success to make her dreams come true.

Conclusion 

Although each member of the family has a different dream, each can be equated to what most call the American Dream. However, Hansberry conveys that to each person the American Dream is something different. For Walter, the American Dream was becoming a business owner. From Beneatha’s perspective, the American Dream was being an independent woman free to live life as she chose. Most importantly, she felt that she must break those barriers that were placed upon various races and the female gender. Both Lena and Ruth had a similar idea of the American Dream. For them, it meant family. They each wanted a home for their family-a comfortable place that they could love, nurture, and provide safety to their family in. This concept is no different for persons in the United States today. Each person is pursuing happiness from their perspective. However, essentially, for most people the American Dream is the ability to live freely and provide for a family. Although Walter and Beneatha having different views of life and a person’s role, they each equate success and accomplishment with the American Dream.

References

Gordon, M. (2008). Somewhat like War: The Aesthetics of Segregation, Black Liberation, and A Raisin in the Sun. African American Review, 42(1), 121-133

Hansberry, L. (1994). A raisin in the sun. New York: Vintage Books.

Saber, Yomna. 2010. Lorraine Hansberry: Defining the Line between Integration and Assimilation. Women’s Studies 39, 5: 45-469. Academic. Search Premier, EBSCOhost.

Viator, M.G., & Halper, S. (2014). Is the American Dream of Homeownership an Equal Opportunity Goal? Social Studies, 105(2), 75-79.