The play A Raisin in the Sun provides its readers with a glimpse of life in black America during the mid-twentieth century. This play shows the continuity of economic disparities between blacks and whites in America through the financial ups and downs of a black family in Chicago. Black Americans faced economic subjugation in various forms throughout American history; their relative economic inferiority to white Americans manifested itself through slavery, sharecropping, and racial redlining. Blacks primarily worked menial jobs in the early and mid-twentieth century. Walter Younger, a prominent character in A Raisin in the Sun, fantasized about investing in and co-opening a successful liquor store to provide wealth for his family. Walter and his wife, Ruth, worked low-wage jobs to support their families. Reeve Vanneman and Lynn Weber Cannon, the authors of the journal The American Perception of Class, stated that “social mobility” was a culturally ingrained idea (Vanneman and Cannon 260, jstor.org).
The American Dream represented how anyone could achieve wealth if they had a business plan and if they persevered consistently. Walter’s fantasy about achieving wealth by co-opening a liquor store illustrated these three facets of the American Dream: transitioning from poverty to wealth, and starting a successful business venture to overcome economic hardships. However, his unsuccessful attempt at starting his own business illuminates how the American Dream is not always attainable. The transition from poverty to wealth, especially if one was from a marginalized community, was one of the key characteristics of the American Dream.
The play A Raisin in the Sun was set in the 1950s in Chicago. According to C. Michael Henry in his book Race, Poverty, and Domestic Policy, fewer job prospects characterized working-class neighborhoods that lack diversity (Henry 191-193, eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxygsu-psao.galileo.usg.edu). This book described how race was directly related to the neighborhood and economic situation that a family experienced. Although there were no laws in Northern states that demanded the segregation of white Americans from people of color, This relationship existed in A Raisin in the Sun because Walter’s family lived in a predominantly black and poor neighborhood; Walter and Ruth also performed low-wage, menial jobs. Walter’s anger with the economic situation that his family lived through motivated him to achieve the American Dream, which referred to the transition from poverty to wealth.
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Hansberry’s characterization of Walter’s desires was filled with symbols of wealth and power in American society. In this context, power in American society refers to economic prowess as opposed to political leadership. Walter implied that “an executive’s life” is characterized by economic and societal privilege in a monologue about his ambitions in A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry 108). The riches and power that were associated with his life goals were in stark contrast to his reality. He was a poor black man that recently quit his job as a chauffeur for a rich man. Walter’s desires for wealth and power reflected how the transition from poverty to wealth was a key component of the American dream. His anger about his family’s indigence perpetuated his goal of exemplifying these values of the American Dream.
In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Walter’s linkage of investing in a successful enterprise and economic success represented the relationship between capitalism and the American Dream. He wanted to help start and co-operate a successful liquor store so that he can make his family wealthier. Walter expressed the importance of his investment into his liquor store by stating that “nothing happen…’less you pay” whilst talking to Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry 33). He argued that the nature of earning money was transactional, and that a substantial amount of risk was implied in any investment or business venture.
The steps that people often took to achieve the American Dream implied the acting upon a risky ambition.Walter’s emphasis on how his investment and co-operation of a liquor store could have helped his family in A Raisin in the Sun served as an example of how there was a relationship between opening a successful enterprise and the achievement of the American Dream. Furthermore, this relationship illustrated how capitalism was one of the key components in facilitating this ideal. Despite Walter’s efforts to achieve his dreams of profiting from his investment, his dream ultimately failed. His unsuccessfulness at transitioning away from poverty and operating an economic enterprise illuminated how the American Dream is not always attainable.
Although his poverty and his race posed significant obstacles to his amassment of wealth and a higher position in society, it was the actions of a business partner that prevented him from achieving his goal. Walter implied that entrepreneurship was an exploitative relationship by stating that it was “between the takers” after his business partner stole Walter’s money (Hansberry 141). He argued that one’s successes were often due to one’s ability to be cutthroat, and that others suffer as a result of one’s cunningness. Moreover, one’s luck also determines one’s ability to achieve the American Dream from a position of marginalization and poverty. Therefore, Walter’s inability of achieving his own dreams illuminated how few achieve the American Dream. The actions of others, societal prejudices, as well as luck influences one’s ability of achieving the American Dream.
Collectively, Walter’s dream of obtaining riches by co-opening a successful liquor store illustrated these two facets of the American Dream: the transition from poverty to wealth and the founding of a successful business. His aspiration to achieve economic prosperity from a position of marginalization further embodied the spirit of the American Dream, as it represented the process of building oneself up. White Americans tended to experience more economic and societal privileges than black Americans during the 20th century. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Walter and his family faced marginalization as an African-American family constantly. Therefore, Walter’s aspirations reflected illustrated how capitalism and arising from a position of low social class are the key principles that ultimately guide the American Dream today.
Works Cited
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- Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Contributed by Robert Nemiroff and Langston Hughes, 1st Vintage Books ed., Vintage Books, December 1994. Print.
- Henry, C. Michael. Race, Poverty, and Domestic Policy. Contributed by James Tobin, Yale University Press, 2004, pp. 1-780.
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