Index"A raisin in the sun": the fear of failing the dreamTo become the person you dreamed ofWorks citedWhat is it to have hope? We use the term “hope” in our daily language, it doesn't matter whether it is right or wrong, even if the probability of it happening is little or none, but it is better to hope that it doesn't happen. Everyone hopes for something from life, parents always hope the best for their children in life. In A Raisin in the Sun everyone has hopes or dreams to fulfill when Mom's insurance check arrives, Walter's dreams seemed a little too much for the family. Through Walter, Lorraine Hansberry shows how money symbolizes hope, status, and virility. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay "A Raisin in the Sun": The Fear of Failing the Dream A Raisin in the Sun opens with the youngest family waiting to receive a ten thousand dollar check from their late father's life insurance policy . Each family member thinks about what they want to do with the money. Mom, being the glue of the family, wants to buy her dream house and realize the dream she wanted to have the chance to share with her husband, Beneatha Mom's daughter would like to use the money for her tuition for medical school , Ruth, Walter's wife, agrees with her mother but she and Walter hope to offer more opportunities and space to their only son Travis. Even though everyone's dreams seem more achievable, Walter's dreams stand out more than others, he hopes to invest in a liquor store for the family, he feels that the store would solve all their financial problems, he hopes to become rich and be in able to provide for his family by giving them the things he never had. As the show gets better, you'll see Walter grow into this different person who tries to make his family believe in him and that he can be the great man that they're dreaming of. When you read the play, the money gives a sense of hope for everyone to achieve their dreams but more importantly, Walter, starts to have this big picture of his future where opening the liquor store with his partners would make him the man that he wants. achieve in life "You see, this little liquor store we have in mind costs seventy-five thousand...that's ten thousand each" which shows how he takes money into consideration and his plans to finally open the liquor store he dreams of opening (Hansberry 479) . When his mother finally gives him some of the insurance money, he puts into practice his hope of becoming an entrepreneur, his dreams are too close to miss the opportunity and he goes to invest sixty-five hundred dollars, half of which were for the Beneatha tuition. , thinks that everything will fall into place by investing and that he will finally be able to give Travis the world “you still wouldn't understand, son… business transaction that will change our lives… just say it, son… and I hand you the world.” Walter wants to become his own boss in the hope that the rest of his father's insurance money will provide him with the feeling of security he needs in life. Being a black man in that era does not it was nothing but oppression, mama said Big Walter used to say: “It seems God didn't see fit to give the black man anything but dreams.” African American men want status in life, they want to be able to live the American dream just like a white American would. Walter has this ego of being a great man and to acquire a lifestyle he never experienced as a child and for much of his adult life After telling Ruth what he wouldgoing to do with the money, she tells him "Eat your eggs, they will be cold" Walter leaves and says: "The man says: I have to change my life, I'm choking to death, Baby!" this symbolizes that he just wants support for his hopes of investing in the liquor store, he wants support from his wife but Ruth doesn't see it, she is unaware of this. “I'm thirty-five years old; I've been married for eleven years and have a boyfriend who sleeps in the living room... all I can give him are stories about how rich white people live..." he's gotten this far in life and realized he hasn't achieved any of the His dreams, he feels like his status in life is low and he won't get any if the liquor store investment doesn't happen. He begins to compare his status to that of the white men around him by saying, “Mom, a times when I'm downtown and I pass by those quiet looking restaurants where those white guys are sitting and talking about things...sitting there making deals worth millions of dollars." dollars...sometimes I see the guys don't look like much bigger than me” it is very clear that Walter feels like he has failed in life and all the odds are against him without money, he is disappointed in himself and what he does in life Walter is jealous of businessmen who can afford the highest principle of life, sees his life shrinking like a raisin would in the sun, thinking it is torture because men his age live the American dream only because of the color of their skin. You later see how Walter is becoming more and more hungry for his dream and status to come true, but he still doesn't feel like the man he should be in life. When do African American men become virile? Or realize manhood? Walter grew up in his mother's house, where she continually made family decisions. Meanwhile, Walter was a resentful thirty-five year old just trying to make it in the white male society around him. Becoming the person he dreamed of As stated in the recent paragraph, he feels like he has failed tremendously in life by not achieving any of his dreams that he wanted, he drinks his life away and blames others for his shortcomings in life. When Mr. Linder Clybourne's Park Improvement Association representative stops by to convince Mom to reconsider moving into their neighborhood for a good price to purchase the house Mom recently purchased, Walter wants to accept the offer looking him in the eye and saying, “Okay.” , Mr. Linder... just write the check and the house is yours” Beneatha responds by saying “That's not a man. That's nothing but a toothless mouse” because he accepts the check and doesn't back down, he doesn't classify himself as a man, he just wants to become a great man. He thinks that this way he will become one, but he is just sulking at the white man for money, when Linder comes the second time to see if they will accept the offer Walter takes his first big step into adulthood when he looks Linder in the eyes and proudly says "...We decided to move into our house because my father - my father - earned it..." he changed his mind because he knew that his son Travis looked up to him, and that would disappoint him. For the first time Walter's needs didn't matter, he thought about the well-being of others and not himself, by facing Linder he had shown Mother and Ruth that he too had become a grown man. Walter's dream of being a man was not found in materialism: the things he wanted in life, such as pearls, because Ruth were not the path to his goal. He achieved the status of head of the family proving himself to be the great man he dreamed of becoming. Please note: this is just an example. Get a personalized document now come on..