The American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun Essay Example

One thing that attracts people to travel to the United States is to follow their American dream.  In A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter and his family spend their whole lives working to reach their dreams to better their family's livelihood. Similarly, throughout the memoir  Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the readers hear about the struggles of African Americans living in America. The “American Dream” article written by Ian Brown also demonstrates how every American has a goal they are working to reach. The American Dream is not actually achievable but it is merely a motivational thought in everyday lives. People are endlessly creating new dreams to work towards. 

The “American Dream” article displays just a very miniscule amount of people who have lived or moved to America for a better life. Readers learn about others' battles they would not previously have known yet relating to them because the readers too have a dream. Complex or small-scaled, everybody has a dream and America is the place to work for it, not everyone may actually achieve their dream but the stereotype of dreams coming to life in America drives people to also make their dreams come true. For example, in A Raisin in the Sun, Walter and his associate dream of owning a liquor store together. Walter works endlessly for the money to buy the store and ultimately, it does not work out for him and his dream is destroyed. The stereotype of Walter being able to achieve his dream is what made him be able to work so hard for it.  On the other hand, Ta-Nehisi Coates is one American who actually attained his dream of becoming an author but again, he is just one out of thousands of others. 

The American dream is not having millions or fame but purley some things most people take for granted, their freedom, their health, their soberness and much more similar to these. Immigrants travel from their homelands hoping for equal opportunities for their family but once they arrive, they are shocked. In America- even today, there is still racism, gender inequality and, religion discrimination. To illustrate, in A Raisin in the Sun, Mama and her family are discriminated against when she finally gets enough money to buy a house. Her family tried to get her to find another house but Mama persists through the hate and makes the house a loving home for her family.  In the same way, in the article “American Dreams”, the first story discusses how the person’s ancestors were in chains then considered three fifths a person. Now, everybody in America legally may have the same rights but realistically there is still a stigma and violence against African Americans. Similarly, Between the World and Me shows Coates being faced with the violence people put on him and his friends and family but, using his experiences he created his memoir bringing awareness to the struggles of being African American in America. All of these stories end up using the hate received as a way to push through and create a better life for themselves and their family. 

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”― George Orwell (Goodreads). Throughout Between the World and Me, Coates struggles to find the truth about his culture and works so hard to find the real truth. Once he does, he makes sure to tell his son the truth so that their history is not forgotten. Additionally, in A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha is interested in George because of his knowledge on African history and culture. The little teaching about and accessibility of African American history in schools blocks growth and change in the way African Americans are treated in America. Consequently, this causes repetition of history on African Americans and racism. Likewise, Ameena Mathews states in the article “American Dreams” her American dream is, “To live in a city where people care for one another, speak good morning and mean it. 2016 racism is real. Killing people of colour is a sin.God please help change the mindset from hatred to understanding” (CITE HERE).  Dreams like Ameena’s cause more change and truth pushing for more equality and motivating others that it is possible. 

The fact is that the American dream may be a motivational stereotype for many but without it, there would be no dreams coming true. Without her dream of owning her own house Mama, in A Raisin in the Sun, would never have worked so hard to actually own her house and garden. Furthermore, Ta-Nehisi Coates would have never longed to find his history and truth leading him to never write his memoir. Even with the hardships that come along with having dreams like judgment or racism, it takes a willful person to keep finding the motivation to get to their dream.