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May as well do a little introduction..

Walter Younger, is an example of a dynamic character. A dynamic character is someone who changes throughout a piece of literature or media. Walter lives with his wife Ruth, his sister Bennie, his son Travis, and his mother in a small, one-room apartment on the Southside of Chicago. The Younger family lived in a time period between 1945 and 1959 when segregation was starting to become more established. Since his father died, the family has been having a hard time money wise and are slowly falling apart. Walters idea of an “American dream” is to have anything and everything. He wants his family to have the best of the best. Walter works as a chauffeur for a rich white man named Mr. Arthur. He works extremely hard every day. Mr. Younger wants to earn as much money as he can because he believes it will bring his family tranquility and happiness. Mr. Younger’s main goal is to have money and he dreams up so many different ways to make money that he sometimes overwhelms himself. He doesn’t want to think about reality and how things really are. He only concentrates on the future. Walter is an example of a dynamic character because his character evolves throughout the novel by changing from a selfless, compassionate, family man to a very selfish person, only looking out for himself.

Walter experiences the most significant change throughout the course of the play. Walter has dreams of using his mother’s insurance check to start his own liquor business to reach financial success. Walter believes that he’ll be able to buy happiness and thinks money will solve all of the families problems. After Lena refuses to invest in Walter’s dream of owning a liquor business, Walter becomes depressed and loses hope. When Lena asks her son why he talks so much about money, Walter tells her, “Because it is life, Mama!” (Hansberry, 74) In an emotional moment, Lena confesses that Ruth plans on having an abortion and begs her son to say something to stop his wife from going through with it. When Walter remains silent, Lena says, “You . . . you are a disgrace to your father’s memory.” (75) As the play progresses, Lena ends up giving most of the money to her son, who ends up losing the money when one of his business partners steals it. Walter’s mood changes from being depressed to excite and happy when he receives the money, to being upset and full of despair when his partner runs away with it. Yet, his attitude is determined by his financial situation throughout the majority of the play.

Coming up to the plays ending, Walter calls up Mr. Lindner and is responsible to sell the house Lena bought in Clybourne Park. Lena watches over Walter ’s shoulders and makes Travis watch his father sign the papers, Walter experiences a change of heart. He refuses to sign the deed and tells Mr. Lindner, “And we have decided to move into our house because my father—my father—he earned it for us brick by brick. We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that’s all we got to say about that. We don’t want your money.” Hansberry (148) Walter’s attitude changes from being solely focused on his financial situation to be focused on his family and his integrity. Originally, Walter goes from being a selfish man into a morally upstanding, noble individual by refusing to sell Lena’s house back to the white community.  The amount of growth Walter goes through is very clear.

Questions!

1. What are the marks of manhood at which he arrives and what do these have to do with the major themes of the play?
2. What causes the changes in his character?

In Act II Scene II Hansberry reveals two values that regard education. Beneatha believes in education as a way in understanding self- fulfillment and George sees education as a way to get a good job in the future. These views about education show the deeper distance between the two characters- idealism vs pragmatism. Beneatha believes that in order to change society it needs to be done through self knowledge and through the celebration of ones heritage. However, George’s family that they key to a successful future is to get wealthy and gain respect through their economic status. Walter’s view of education falls somewhere between Beneatha and Goerge’s. Walter seems to care more about Travis’ education then Benethas mostly because Travis is a male and Beneatha is a female. This shows the restrictions that black women have. One, their black, and two, their women, and those were two very opressed categories. Walter has his son’s interest held more closely to him even though Beneatha has shown that she is just as academically capable as Travis. Walter believes that the insurance money can help him put Travis through school, who is more of a priority then Beneatha.

Walter describes his materialistic fantasy about the future with Travis- he wants to be a part of the culture that excludes him with all the rich people. In his mind being rich is the solution to all his problems. Most of all, Walter wants his son to have a better life then he himself had and wants to provide Travis with the best education he deserves. Going deeper into this however, this is also selfish of Walter. In his mind, the success of his son will let him feel more like a man and that Travis’ success would be a reflection of his own success as the man of the house.

Discussion Questions:

1. What effects of Walter’s prioritizing of Travis’ education verses Beneath’s education have on Walter’s and Beneath’s relationship?
2. Is Beneatha correct about how to change society?

My name is Dustin Wheeler, I’m from a small town called Waverly. I’m the oldest of four children in my family. This is my first semester at Cortland. I’m a sport management major.

Before I even begin to explain what act one consists of, I must begin with the long but necessary introduction that gives us a starting idea of what this book will be about. First, in knowing some background knowledge about the author, Lorraine Hansberry, I was instantly aware of her background and history of her and her family being activists. She starts out with a poem called “A Dream Deferred”, written by Langston Hughes during the time of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s and 30’s. This poem is a perfect introduction to help the readers understand the racism and deprivation that African Americans faced during these intense time periods, and I could not imagine a better poem to weave us into the book. I believe that this poem, and the rest of Act I has a repetitive pattern of poverty and inequality for the lower class African Americans that were forced into these lifestyles due to judgement and harassment. We can see it through the little things like the quality of their living, or their need to constantly budget and ration as a family.

Act I begins with the describing of the setting, which is pictured as a run down unkempt house in the ghetto, with furniture that is most likely older than they are. Hansberry makes a point to go into extreme detail about their home to give us readers a better image of how this place must look. After the beginning description, she shows Ruth doing housewife chores, which then we assume that she is unemployed and is devoted to her job as a wife and a mother. This leaves Walter to be the main income, and since he was seen as a unequal black male, he does not make nearly enough as a chauffeur for the whole family to live comfortably. To start the story off, Walter comes in and the first thing he asks Ruth for is a check. Judging by her irritable response when she says “I hopes to God you ain’t going to get up here first thing this morning and start talking to me ’bout no money—’cause I ’bout don’t want to hear it.” it proves that this must be Walters main concern and he most likely has been mentioning it to her a lot. Then, later after when Travis is leaving for school, she tells him to just get money for carfare and milk, “and not a single penny for no caps!”. Hansberry obviously added Ruth saying this to show that they can not afford to treat themselves as the white middle and higher class can. 

From prior knowledge and education, we know that the ghetto was not the ideal place to live in during this time. Throughout the act, they talk about the check their supposed to be receiving constantly and why they need it; simply because they want to move to a cleaner, nicer, and safer area where they can have better opportunities. Also, with Ruth being pregnant, they are in dire need of a bigger living space that they can all be comfortable in. But, they are being denied this right because of the fact that they come from a lower status black family. Also, on the other hand Walter keeps mentioning his dream to open a liquor store with the money, when Ruth and most of the rest of the family know that they should be using or saving it for actual necessities. Walter’s dreams of starting his business and striving to live the typical “American Dream” has ultimately been one of the main factors of his absence as a husband and a father. Since “Mamas” dream was always to own her own house, it proves that Walter is just trying to open this liquor store for his own selfish needs. 

After we are introduced to Beneatha’s new boyfriend, George Murchison, the issue of money becomes the main topic. Since George is a wealthy man, the family believes that the only reason she wants to be with him is simply because he’s rich. Walter though thinks that her being with him is wonderful, obviously since he wants to be spoiled by his hopefully future son in law as well. Beneath is obviously offended, and goes into a rampage and uses the lords name in vain, leading to Ruth fainting and the end of scene. I believe this ending was a perfect way to prove my point because it ties together the whole act. They all have dreams, and all their dreams just involve money because they are poor. But, the saying says that money does not buy happiness, and I believe that this family is in for a rude awakening when they realize that because of their social status, these dreams will not be as easy to achieve as they may think. I definitely enjoyed reading act I, and I look forward to see how money will continue to play a role in the rest of the play. 

Questions for comments:

Why is the American Dream pictured as having money and social status rather than the hard work put in to achieve it?

Why does poverty and low social class make it more difficult to not see money as the root of all happiness?

A Raisin in the Sun

Blog Post 1

         Before the introduction even begins, the reader is shown a poem that is written by Langston Hughes. This is a very famous poem written by him, and it’s called “A Dream Deferred”. It is shown because it is an inspiration to the book, “A Raisin in the Sun”, and various connections can be made between the two. After reading the first Act, even just the first scene, the reader can infer and understand that every character in the book has a dream. For instance, Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor. In this time that’s unusual because of her gender and her race. Walter dreams of living a better life, and he believes that opening up a liquor store with Bobo and Willy Harris will bring him the riches he needs in order to live better. Everyone in the family believes this is sketchy and not worth it. Mama and Big Walter want / wanted to buy a house for their family. Everyone has dreams and wants to accomplish them. However, a dream can become deferred because of many things; love, work, or just life in general.

        Langston Hughes’ poem is a brief examination of what happens to these deferred dreams. In the case of , “A Raisin in the Sun”, Mama’s dream is the biggest dream as well as the one that has been deferred the longest. For years she has been putting this dream aside, just trying to keep her family together and put food on the table for them. Mama puts everyone else’s dreams before her own, which is why her’s has been postponed. Hughes poem states, “..or crust and sugar over – like a syrupy sweet?”. Mama’s dream has been deferred over and over because she has been managing the circumstances she has been faced with. She is “the rock” of the family and prioritizes the family over herself.

          Walter’s dream has also been deferred, but in a sense that is more realistic. His dream is to live a better life, leave the South Side of Chicago and become a wealthy family. That can be classified as “The American Dream” , and most people/Americans want that. Walter’s dream is always deferred by an economic problem, money issue and / or his lack of social status. He is a chauffeur for a rich white man and his job makes him feel like a failure. He is in his thirties and can barely supply for his family. He has the right intentions in life, but the wrong mindset. Walter is a nasty, short tempered, drunkard who wants to be his own man and run the household. He believes the ten thousand dollar check and the liquor store investment can turn his life around and he finally become the man he wants to be; his own boss who can supply for his wife and kids. Walter’s dream can be related to Hughes’ poem, because his dream “fester(s) like a sore-”. His dream and the reality behind it become more and more harder to reach as his life goes on. In a not-so-maniacal way, he is getting old and really is not going be able to provide the basic fundamentals for his family.

Beneatha is the complete opposite of most of her family. She is a well rounded, smart individual and knows what she wants to do in life. She goes to college and has a higher education than everyone else in her family. However, this sometimes creates feuds in the family. Her dreams and beliefs collide and disagree with that of Mama’s, which sometimes creates problems. Hughes’ last line of his poem can relate to Beneatha and her dream. When I read the poem, the stanza lists negative things that can happen to dreams. But when I read the last line, “Or does it explode?”, I took this as a dream exploding and becoming a reality, and connected Beneatha’s dream to it.

 

1. How do the character’s personalities / characteristics relate and influence  their own individual dream?
2. How does the setting and time period affect the character’s dreams and how they try to accomplish them?

Hello, my name is Charlie Buckley, I am a sophomore, and a PRE-Major. I am originally from Springfield New Jersey, where I picked up my favorite sport wrestling. Wrestling has become such a large part of my life that it drew me all the way north from New Jersey to the coldest town on the planet. I enjoy reading, writing, math and science, and look forward to class with all of you.

My name is Angela. I’m a transfer student from a nearby community college, and i’m majoring in Biology. I’m from Ithaca, but spent a couple years living in the city. My goal is either to continue on to grad school and begin a career doing field work/lab research, or to go into environmental policy and/or science communication. I love to read and write, and am very much looking forward to this class!

Hey everyone, my name is Viktoria and I’m a transfer student from Brooklyn. I’m currently a junior transferring from a two year community college with a biology major. After Cortland I hope to continue onto dental school and then open my own pediatric dental practice. During my free time I enjoy playing volleyball and reading books. I’m looking forward to a great semester with everyone 🙂

Hi, my name is Amanda. I am 19 years old, turning 20 on September 11th. I am from the Bronx New York. I love dancing, which I’ve been doing my whole life. I also played softball and basketball in high school. I am a junior and my major is physics and engineering. With my major I will only be doing 3 years here at cortland, so I am technically a senior. I am excited to see what this year has in store!!

Hi guys, my name is Mike Ferenczi. I’m a freshman from Staten Island, NY and my major is Adolescent Education in English. I want to teach middle school or high school. I play basketball and volleyball, and like to read and write. Looking forward to meet and see everyone in class!