Every step of the African-American journey was a small one but it took a great of steps to make any headway. Mama knew this and wanted Walter to realize it and be proud of his past so he could be proud of his future.
Dreams help us define people. We can see how the pre-civil rights mindset affected Walter's mother as she understands the difficulties of her people and when she sees an opportunity to improve her family's situation, she takes it. She fights with Walter because she watched her husband work long days. She knows what Walter cannot and when he begins to whine she tells him, "We was going backward 'stead of forwards -- talking about killing babies and wishing each other was dead . . . When it gets like that in life -- you just got to do something different, push on out and do something bigger" (2238). Beneatha represent the generation that is to come with the civil rights movement. She is intelligent and wants to be a doctor. She takes college courses and believes she make a difference in the world. She meets new and interesting people. Asagai opens her eyes to her heritage and chastises her for straightening her hair. He believes she should take pride in who she is rather than attempt to be more like someone she is not. He, too, represents an age to come -- an age of people that will appreciate people of color for simply being who they are. Asagai recognizes there is pride in his heritage and he does not think the answer lies in the African-American man trying to be a white man in black man's skin. Each person's dream shapes their steps every day.
A Raisin in the Sun captures a slice of Americana that explores the plight of African-Americans. The Youngers might be a fictional family but their story is real. Hansberry positions them in American when African-Americans are still struggling for their identity because
Discrimination and prejudice merge as we watch this family struggle to break free from the chains of the past. Walter is the most affected by his society, as he needs to make a way for his family and he feels as though he is running out of time. His desperation emerges when he wants to buy into the fly-by-night scheme and tries to convince his family to go along with him. He fights with his mother, who has the family at heart. Walter cannot see his future clearly and this frightens him into making rash decisions. Walter makes a bad decision but he does redeem himself by the end of the play. However, the play does come to a pleasant ending. The Youngers do finally get to move into a house but we know their struggles are not over. In fact, they will face even more struggles as they move into the white neighborhood. Their journey is by no means over but it is moving in a different direction.
Works Cited
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Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol. II.
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