A Raisin in the Sun
In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, an African American family living during the 1950’s in a small apartment deal with many struggles and differences that cause each member of the family to have different dreams. The family is given an insurance check from the father’s death that opens many doors for the family. Although this check opens many doors, the family’s thoughts of what they should do, do not line up, and it is uncertain which door the family, as a whole should take. Since the check is not big enough to support all of the family’s dream and aspirations, the family as a whole has to decide what to do with the money, which causes more drama with the family. Walter Lee’s dream was to take the money and open a liquor store with his friends. He believed that it would solve the family’s financial issues and he would achieve the American dream. Throughout the play, the theme of the American dream is prevalent and shown in many parts of the play, and is what drives Walter Lee to make the decisions that he does. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1930 to Carl and Nancy Hansberry and the youngest of four children. After writing the play, A Raisin in the Sun she became the first black woman to have a play on Broadway, the first black and youngest American to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and was a trailblazer for all other blacks who wanted to get their work published. A Raisin in the Sun was her first staged play in 1959, and remains her best known work and it’s popular appeal has been acknowledged still to this day. Hansberry’s life was shortly ended after a battle with cancer at the age of thirty-four. In A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee Younger’s dream is to open his own liquor store with his friends in order to solve the family’s financial problems. What Walter Lee was trying to reach was the American dream. The American dream is reaching success and equality, which is thought to be achievable by
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