A Raisin In The Sun, Emerald City: Third And Pike: Dreams Essay, Research Paper

By Gregory Peker and Michael StollerDreams can be seen in many ways. A dream could be something you had in the night that seems so real, or a dream could be your fantasy, where everything is going your way. The last type of dream is something that has more of a deep sense and plays an important role in your life. In life, people have many dreams. Dreams are important because they create goals for people, and they motivate people to accomplish them. Without a dream, a person will be unfocused in life and will most likely not be successful. In the play A Raisin in the Sun and the short story ?Emerald City: Third and Pike,? the main characters both have dreams that they strive for.

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter Lee Younger has a dream. His dream is to be a successful businessman and for his family to be very happy. He wanted his wife to have a Cadillac and for his son to go to any college he desired. His dream is admirable and what most people would like. The difficult part is how to accomplish it; he had many external conflicts between himself and his family. In particular was the person who would?ve been his largest factor for his success, his mother. Lena Younger (Walter Lee?s mother) received ten-thousand dollars from a life insurance policy on Walter Lee?s father. Lena Younger then gave Walter Lee sixty-five hundred dollars and spent the rest on a down payment on a house. Walter Lee then gambled away the sixty-five hundred dollars on a liquor store and lost it all. The person which he and a business partner entrusted with the money ran away and took all the money with him.

Another character who has a dream is Oya from ?Emerald City: Third and Pike.? Her dream is to become an astronaut, but was always being criticized by her previous employer. One night, she nearly murdered her employer, which caused her to go to prison and her to be what she is now, a person living on the streets. In ?Emerald City: Third and Pike,? Oya tells her story to that person because she thinks she might be able to help someone reinforce their dreams and hopefully not to stop trying to succeed. She was also trying to tell that person more about herself now and when she went to prison (characterization) so he doesn?t feel as if it can?t happen to him

Both Walter?s and Oya?s dreams have something to do with getting a better job. They want to get betters jobs, but there are obstacles blocking their way. Walter Lee has no money and Oya now lives on the streets telling her life story to strangers. This is a common theme in life because everyone wants to do something more than what their currently doing. This forced Walter Lee and Oya to try to improve themselves because of their dislike for their jobs. They also want to make more money doing this to live a happier life. Another similarity between the two characters is that they both started out as servant. Walter Lee was a chauffer and Oya was a maid. This was a major affect to them because they didn?t want to be servants for the rest of their lives. They wanted to do something more productive and for themselves to be the boss.

There are also many differences between Oya and Walter. One difference is that Oya believes she can accomplish her goal but Walter believes his dream was crushes when he lost the sixty-five hundred dollars. Oya still tried to pursue her dreams even after her imprisonment, but Walter Lee knew that it wouldn?t succeed because he would never have sufficient money to make an impression. A second dissimilarity is that Walter never physically hurt anyone to achieve his dream, but Oya almost killed someone for hers. I think Oya almost killing the woman was a bit ironic because she talks about not being a dream crusher, but if she would?ve killed her employer, she would?ve killed her dream.

For Walter Lee to let go of his idea of a liquor store, then becoming a huge businessman was very difficult. He always tried to pressure his family to accepting this idea, but they didn?t. Oya wouldn?t let go of her dream so much that she nearly murdered someone for it. In the end Walter and Oya had to go to the extremes for their dreams. I think trying to achieve your dreams is very important, but I don?t think it?s worth killing or hurting someone over. Your dreams and your environment should be balanced so that one thing won?t make a major impact on the other.