Day 6 Blog

Day 6 Blog
The American Dream
Today’s assigned reading was the play “A Raisin in the Sun.” “A Raisin in the Sun” is a classic play from the 1950’s dealing with the American dream. In this play we deal with an African American family from the southside of Chicago living in poverty. The family, including Mama, Bennie, Ruth, Travis, and Walter, live in an apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom shared by a number of other tenants. The living room contains “weariness,” and contains “couch covers which have themselves finally come to be more important than the upholstery.” This family is struggling, and it is evident because the tension in the house is very high. Walter and his wife Ruth argue often about how she “ain’t got no fifty cents”, money, and how their son sleeps on the couch. Each member of the family excitedly waits for an insurance check that comes that Saturday, even the youngest, Travis who asks him mother, Ruth, “Check coming tomorrow, huh?” Everyone explains to each other what they will do with the $10,000, even though it belongs to Mama. Mama wants a new house; Walter wants to open a liquor store, and Bennie wants to go to medical school. The only reason that the family is getting the check is because their father passed away.
That Saturday, the check comes. Everyone is ecstatic. Mama disappears for a while and returns with news. Mama, well, “she went out and she bought you a house.” She bought a house in the white neighborhood of Clybourne Park. She used only some of the $10,000, and she gave the rest to Walter to split between his sister and him so that they can fulfill their dreams with the money. We find out later on that Walter went and made a bad investment with the money and lost it all. However, in the meantime, everyone is so happy to hear that they will be moving out of the house where they have to clean for roaches all the time, and they all will have much more room. Moving day eventually comes, and a man by the name of Mr. Lindner shows up. He is from their new neighborhood, and he want to advise the Youngers not to move to that neighborhood because they are not welcome (but he says this in a civil manner). He offers them more than they paid for it to move out of the house, but proudly Walter denies this. Right after that, Bobo, one of Walter’s investment partners shows up and says that the other man that they invested with stole their money. Walter is very upset by this because he lost all his money. He goes away for a while, and returns later to tell his family that he asked Mr. Lindner to come back so they can make the deal with him and get money. His family is so mad about this. He has lost his pride. When Mr. Lindner returns, he pulls out the paper, but Walter steps up and says that “Well…we come from people who had a lot of pride... we are very proud people…we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick.” The play ends with the family walking out of their old life and into their new life in their new home.
My interpretation of the end of the play was that even though the family might not have the ideal American dream, they have their American dream. They have each other, and they have the love necessary to help them get through everything. They leave that apartment not knowing what the future holds, but they do know one thing. No matter what happens, they still have their pride. By standing up to Mr. Lindner, it said a lot. It shows how powerful this family really is. They move into this new house with hope. Hope for a better future. If I were to see a sequel to this play, I think that being in their time period in their new house, that it would be a very rough first few years. I believe this because of all the inequality between the races at the time this play was written. Eventually, with time though, I think that the Younger’s situation will get better. In the first years, they would be discriminated against in their house, and their house might even be vandalized. It will be hard for them to find work in the area they live in, so they might have to travel quite a distance in order to work. However, I see all of them having to work in order to keep up the house, even little Travis. How do you think the Younger’s life will be in the next couple of years? Do you think Bennie will go to medical school or go to Africa? Do you think that living in this neighborhood will affect them emotionally?
This play represents the American dream. My definition of the American dream and society’s definition of the American dream are both very different. Society’s American dream is living in a nice house, having lots of money, being well educated, driving nice cars, having the perfect family, going on nice vacations, and so on. All these things have one thing in common. MONEY! Money is ever so present in the American dream. Sure, it would be nice to have a lot of money, but it is not necessary in order to be happy in life. For example, the picture included in the homework assignment of Britney Spears wearing a t-shirt that says, “I am the American dream” sums up what I just said perfectly. She was famous, rich, and everyone loved her. She eventually brought on her own downfall probably due to money. Money can be a powerful thing, but it can also be so harmful. I define the American dream as living a healthy life, being well educated, having a loving family, and being supportive to yourself and others.
After watching the YouTube clip from “The Pursuit of Happyness,” the line “You want something. Go get it. Period,” is not really applicable to the Youngers. Will Smith and the Youngers are both living in two different time periods. Fortunately for Will, it is a lot easier to do things today without getting discriminated. The Youngers had to worry about being discriminated against, as it was evident when they wanted to move into the white neighborhood.” There are many things holding the Youngers back besides their race. They are very poor, and they do not have the money to do all the things that people living the American dream can do. Also, because they are poor, they might not have been able to afford college, which also limits them with job opportunities.
Today, with the economy the way it is now, it puts a lot of people in the Younger’s situation. Money is really tight for some families, and people are limited in many ways. This economy has been a drag and put a lot of people in a slump physically and mentally. They no longer have the will power to be active and take a part to change their future. They too believe that the American dream is far from reach.
Some say that optimism and determination are all that is needed to achieve the American dream, and I say that this is completely false. Sure, this is beneficial to have, but in order to be successful in life, you can’t just sit around wishing for something to happen. You have to be active and do something to make a change. You are in charge of your own destiny.