The American Dream

THE AMERICAN DREAM

Definition The American Dream can be

described as a belief in the freedom that allows all citizens and residents of the United States of America to achieve their goals in life through hard work. Today, in America it generally refers to the idea that one's prosperity depends upon one's own abilities and hard work, not on a rigid class structure.

The Typical Suburban Family

“Harlem” What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry upLike 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 it just sagsLike a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Defer- v. to put off to a future time

fester- v. to form pus

Questions for “Harlem”

What central question does the poem ask?

What is Hughes’ message about dreams deferred?

How do “dreams deferred” relate to the American Dream?

A Raisin in the Sun Characters

BeneathaMamaRuth Travis Walter

WalterWalter is a dreamer. Hewants to be rich anddevises plans to acquirewealth with his friends.When the play opens, he wants to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture. He spends the rest of the play endlessly preoccupied

with discovering a quick solution to his family’s various problems.

RuthWalter’s wife and Travis’s mother. Ruth takes care of the Youngers’ small apartment. Her marriage to Walter has problems, but she hopes to rekindle their love. She is about thirty, but her weariness makes her seem older. Constantly fighting poverty and domestic troubles, she continues to be an emotionally strong woman.

TravisWalter and Ruth’s sheltered young son. Travis earns some money by carrying grocery bags and likes to play outside with other neighborhood children, but he has no bedroom and sleeps on the living-room sofa.

MamaWalter and Beneatha’s mother. The matriarch of the family, Mama is religious, moral, and maternal. She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world.Lena

BeneathaMama’s daughter and Walter’s sister. Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family. Some of her personal beliefs and views have distanced her from conservative Mama. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated black woman. Bennie

Themes Dreams Family Racial Discrimination

Symbols “Eat your eggs” Mama’s Plant The House

A Raisin in the Sun