Raisin in the Sun: The American Dream

             The American Dream, although different for each one of us, is what we all aspire to achieve. In the film A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family, who are black, all have a dream to better themselves and to have what all other American families want ¾ a shot at the American Dream. The American Dream to the Younger family is to own a home, but beyond that, to Walter Younger, it is to be accepted by the hegemony and not to be marginalized into a lower social category.

             In an article from The Wall Street Journal entitled "The American Dream", President Clinton refers to the American Dream as the belief that "if you work hard and play by the rules, then something good will happen to you" (Stein 1). In the film, Walter Lee Younger does not do either one of these things. Walter doesn"t show up for work regularly and he certainly has no intentions of playing by the rules to get a business licenses. .

             Walter Lee is a man stuck in a dead end job that he sees as demeaning and he becomes desperate to free himself from the bonds of poverty, oppression and racial discrimination. Walter Lee feels that with money he can change the hegemony"s view of him as a poor, stupid, black servant. The hegemony"s social construction of reality about blacks as being lesser and the hegemony"s ethnocentric perception of being superior, is corroborated in an article titled "The Colour Bar of Beauty" from The Peak. Cristina Rodrigues, a member of the black cultural and social activist group Olodum, says " In Brazil, nobody wants to be black because the mass media equates black with poor and stupid" (Aujla 2).

             Walter has a loving relationship with his family members, but he also has a relationship that frustrates him. Walter"s family frustrations are brought on by society"s lack of socioeconomic advantages for "other" and Walter"s inability to acculturate and achieve a better life for his family.

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