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?
One of the main things that I love most about your blog post is something that I didn’t necessarily put together on my own. When you said, “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.”, I finally realized that she was irritable because he had been saying it a lot to her. To me, this truly shows what Walter is constantly thinking about. He doesn’t seem to really care about getting a new house for his family so they can live comfortably, but rather for his own selfish reasons to open up the liquor store. From that, I think that Walter wants this liquor store to work out so badly so that he can be the moneymaker and he can be the one to say, “Hey, look, I’m the reason everything worked out. I joined Walter Harris and Bobo in this business decision and I came out on top. All of this happened because of me.” I also feel that Walter is selfish in the sense of his feelings about George, since he comes from a rich family. Walter could care less if Beneath loves him. As long as he has money, that’s all that seems to matter.
Overall, I really loved your blog post and how your insight and idea were both similar and different from mine.
Taylor, I really like how you brought up “The Dream Deferred” poem by Langston Hughes. I read this poem in my English class last year and thought it brought up great politcal points about racism. Also, you mention how Walter’s “American Dream” includes opening his own liquor store is soley for his own “selfish needs”. I agree with this statement; there is much more to happen than just opening up a liquor store. It won’t solve all their problems; he’s just brainwashed by the “American Dream”. He wants to be the one to “save” everyone from living in the ghetto and from being poor. Money is a huge aspect to Walter.
Your blog post was great and definitely helped me realize some more important parts in the novel. Thank you!
Hi Taylor,
One thing I really liked in your post was how you pointed out the description of the scene. When a text does this, it makes it better for myself, as a reader, to understand how the scene is set up. When you said, “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,” I noticed that the ‘American Dream’ connection you made, which is where people should be given an equal opportunity to achieve prosperity through hard work, was a great connection to Walter’s. Walter’s dream of owning a liquor store would not be easy and is a risk he seems willing to take but African Americans at this time as you said, faced plenty of “racism and deprivation”.
I really enjoyed reading your post and what you had to say. You made clear points and new ideas that were understanding to see through your examples!
Thank you, Taylor!
A lot of the time, living in poverty comes with a lot of financial hardships causing the need for multiple incomes. However, in this time period women were less likely to have jobs therefore forcing men to have to work long hours missing out on valuable family time. They have every reason to believe that lack of money is the source of all of their problems, therefore leading them to believe that having a substantial amount of money will be the root of their potential happiness. What intrigued me the most about your post was when you mentioned “Walter’s dreams of starting his business and striving to live the typical “American Dream”.” People, usually men, often want to live up to this standard of having a job that pays well and being able to provide for their wife and kids while having a nice house and the perfect family. But, this isn’t always the case and like you said earlier in the post, being a lower class African American man during this time, it is even more impossible to live up to those standards simply because of his race and white privilege. Money seems to be the main problem in this family proving that when you don’t have it, it is almost impossible to be able to live the lifestyle or even do normal daily activities. I also agree with you in the end when you said that “money does not buy happiness and that they are in for a rude awakening “because I believe that they are oblivious in a way to the fact that their social class and race will affect them achieving their dreams or even attaining the amount of money that they desire.
Hey Taylor, I enjoyed how you explained the relationship between the story and the recent time periods to give better insight into the purpose of the story. Your focus on the authors family and conditions at the time are well placed and very informative. It shows us how the story is greatly inspired by how she felt and what she had to deal with being the unjust and unfair opportunities of the time period. After this you put a lot of emphasis on the family to prove how many sacrifices they had to make just to survive in this time period and what weights they had holding them back from achieving their goals. This including Walter’s obsession with money and the “american dream”. This was a great post and you did very well at explaining what you wanted to say. Great job!
I noticed a lot of the points you picked out of the text as well. It is interesting that interpretation can still very with such a forward text, and to compare it to what Nemiroff points out in the reception of the play by the average American at the time. The obsession over money as a consistent theme throughout these first two scenes is highlighted, and I think sets us up to anticipate the climax to revolve around something regarding either making or losing a great deal of money. I think in the context of your first question, the dream of money is actually a dream of security. Sure there is desire for extreme wealth, as the American dream has always been oriented around, but to an impoverished person it also seems conceptually more oriented around the desire to feel a sense of stability, in Walters case, the ability to provide for the family. In the context of this story, I believe thats what sets it apart from a truly middle class (rather than impoverished) family trying to climb a social latter to extreme wealth.