Raisin In The Sun Essay, Research Paper

The different ethnic groups from the three films depicted a broad spectrum of hopes and dreams of either from new immigrant families or already long-established American families. The African-Americans in Raisin in the Sun struggled with the fact that they were black and were discriminated against and had little hopes for a better life in house, education, money, jobs. The asian-americans in Joy Luck Club found solace through their daughters life experiences. In Avalon, the original brothers saw an initial happiness of freedom but then a disappointment after the second generation and a break down in family traditions. Many of the families experienced Americanization. For Walter s family in the Raisin in the Sun, they were American from the moment they were each born. Yet they were treated differently from ordinary or white Americans based on the color of their skin. The characters from the Joy Luck Club had differing Americanization experiences. The first generation of mothers including Lindo, Ying-Ying, Suyuan, and An-Mei found Americanization in different forms. To start with, they all formed the Joy Lucky Club after joining a Chinese Christian church in Chinatown in San Francisco. Christian churches were not prevalent or even a presence in China during Pre WWII times. The English language also became their primary way of communicating and everything they had was in American furnishings. Their children June, Waverly, Lena, and Rose were also Americanized to erase the customs of China. Waverly became a prominent child chess champion and even appeared on the covers of Time magazine and married a white husband. All the daughters were very Americanized in terms of clothing styles and also obviously spoke English and little Chinese. In Avalon the brothers were incredibly excited to become Americanized. Everything they had heard was true or better. Soon they were trying to fit in more. Jewel s changed his last name of Kaczynski to Kirk to make the business work easier. Sam saw this as a loss of heritage but eventually let his son do what he wanted. Soon the TV came in to play. It was a major role player since that is one of the major symbols of Americanization. The grand-children of the initial immigrants were soon glued only to the televisions. As they became more Americanized, however, they found that their extended family was slowly deteriorating. That was an eventual byproduct of Americanization. All these families experienced different types of Americanizations. Each of the families from Joy Luck Club, Avalon, and Raisin in the Sun had its hopes and dreams. The mothers from the Joy Luck Club had an exceptional hope from moving to the United States through their daughters. Lindo wanted to have a good mother daughter relationship unlike her own personal experience. Lindo s mother married her away to a rich Huang family son. Lindo was detested by her husband and found a way to get out of the household. She was stricken by the fact, however, that her family just gave her up. Lindo wanted her daughter to just love her mother. This dream was completed at the beauty parlor where Lindo found that Waverly truly did care for her mother. An-Mei s mother in China had become a concubine or the 4th wife only because she was misunderstood. Her love was never good enough for the master. An-Mei wanted her daughter Rose to raise her self esteem and to make her love worthy of her white husband Ted. This came to be true as Rose realized that she was worth a lot more than she was making herself to be. Ying-Ying was an abused wife of a handsome Chinese man. She was repeatedly cheated on and treated poorly by her husband. She ended up drowning his only child to get back at him. Later on in life, Ying-Ying brought up her daughter in America. She wanted her daughter to have a fulfilled life with her husband. Not like the relationship that she and Harold currently where Harold did not understand her and she was not happy. So Lena divorced Harold and fulfilled her mother s dreams. Suyuan was June s mother. She died before she knew that her two younger daughter that she had supposedly abandoned in China were still alive. Suyuan always carried hope for her daughter June. Yet June misunderstood because she always thought that her mother wanted her to be something she could never be. But after June s mother s death, June found that her mother carried her hope in June to find her sisters. June finished her mothers dreams by bringing her mother s hope to her long lost sisters.

Walter Lee, Beneatha, Grandma, and Ruth all had dreams that they wanted to realize through the grandpas inheritance money. Walter Lee wanted to become an independent man opening his own joint liquor store. He did not wish to wait on the white men as he did as a cheauffeur. This was not the life he wanted to leave and not the type of life he wanted to provide for his son Travis. Now Beneatha was a young educated black women. She wanted to get an education at medical school to make something of her self. She disagreed with her brother Walter in what should be done with the money. Ruth wanted a new house in a white neighborhood to raise Travis in. She was sick and tired of being without hope in the run down apartment that they lived in. Grandma s dreams were on a different level. She just wanted her family to be happy and life for them to be fruitful. Walter Lee s dreams were shattered when he took Grandma s money to invest in the liquor store. But his money was taken by a dishonest business partner. He saw life in a different light and only wanted to take from life and not give. But as he soon came to realize it was more important to be just happy. Beneatha s hope were also dashed when she lost her medical school education money. But she found new hope in Asagai who offered her a new life in Africa. Ruth wanted just a decent house for Travis to be raised in. Since Walter lost the money however, he was close to taking the neighbors deal of buying out the house so that a black family could not move in. Walter however had a change in heart and understood what it was to have pride. So the house was bought and Ruth s dreams were realized. Grandma s dreams of having a happy family grew more and more apart as the issue of how the money should be used became more prevalent. As everyone s hopes faltered their dreams changed. They realized what they really wanted in life. Self-respect and a decent life which they gained at the end of the film. This was a big turn around and fulfilled all Grandma s wildest dreams. The Jewish-Americans in Avalon had high hopes coming to America. Sam, Gabriel, and the other brothers were having the time of their lives. Running their own businesses and making money. Making their own version of the American dream come true. As the years went on and life began to change the families grew more prosperous in monetary terms but fell apart gradually. Sam refused to wait for Gabriel to cut the turkey in a family tradition. Soon the whole families did not meet anymore and the traditional Thanksgiving dinner only included the immediate families instead of the huge festive family gatherings. Each of these families had hopes in America. The dream of success in Avalon and Raisin in the Sun were found not to be in money but to be in family. Yet it was a hard lesson to realize. In Joy Luck Club each and everyone of the mother s dreams were realized. They lived vicariously through willing daughters to correct the ghosts of their past. These families were all representative of dreams when in America. The consequences of hoping, failure, and realization of a fantasy was all part of the American Dream that they all sought to be a part of.