A raisin in the sun - Essay Example

It is like the concepts of freedom, democracy, socialism and so many other words that are too profound to comprehend it its fullest of terms. As an example, can one truly have freedom Society has put in place rules, laws and regulations. These are restraints placed by society on ones exercise of freedom. These are placed by society for the benefit of society itself so that the people can work and live in harmony. Now, Is there really freedom And yet people keep on claiming that they have freedom.

The American Dream of working and at the end of it all enjoying the fruits of ones labor in terms of prosperity and fame, is the ideal scenario. It fails to take into consideration other factors that may influence the success or failure of the end goal. I would like to call these the internal and external factors. The internal factors refer to the thinking or thought processes of the individual as it reacts to the stimuli outside him. These stimuli may refer to occasions, experiences, persons or anything that affects him emotionally, mentally, socially, etc.

The external factors are occurrences that either help or prevent one from reaching the coveted American Dream. Lena Younger saw the failure of the American dream in the life of her husband who worked himself to death -"working and working like somebody's old horse killing himself." Lena remembers clearly that Big Walter has plans for bride when they rented that apartment. He planned on working hard and after several months they would leave that apartment and purchase the house near their apartment.

But after working hard for several months he still did not have the money to purchase a house. His dreams of purchasing a house vanished. In the end, he dies without experiencing the promise of a better life. Lena too worked most of her life. Her thick calloused hands testify to this. She knew that, like her husband, her pay would only be sufficient for their subsistence. Her dreams of owning a garden has been exchanged for the reality of a mere potted plant. She has resigned herself to the truth that hardwork alone will not bring her success.

This changed when at the death of her husband she receives the $10,000 check from the Insurance Company. This brought her hope for a better life. Her dream would finally come true. She placed a down payment on a home with a garden. Another external factor that threatened the realization of the dream came about when the white community sent an emissary, Mr. Lindner to buy their house from them. And yet another external factor made its presence known with the loss of the rest of the Insurance money which destroys their confidence in being able to meet the monthly payments for the new house.

Beneatha Younger dreams of becoming a doctor despite the pleadings of her brother that they cannot afford her schooling. When the positive external factor came in the form of the insurance money she knew that her dream would soon be realized. So, when the negative external factor occurred at the loss of the money, she could not contain herself and lashes out at her brother calling him "Monsieur le petit bourgeois noir- himself! There he is -Symbol of a Rising