Dreams: Do They Dry Up Like a Raisin in the Sun?

Ever since I picked up A Raisin in the Sun, I have always wondered why Hansberry included the short little poem in the beginning of her play.  Now, after reading the play, I realized that dreams are a crucial motif throughout it. Furthermore, I realized that while some dreams are accomplished, many others are left unfulfilled to "dry up / Like a raisin in the sun" (Langston Hughes). For example, Walter dreams to become wealthy and provide for his family. In fact, he wants to attain this dream of his so badly that he was willing to make a very risky investment in a liquor shop. Walter’s ill-advised decision marks the destruction of his dream as he later finds out that the money he invested has gone down the drain when Willy Harris runs off with the large sum of money Walter had invested: the $3500 Mama had given to him and the $3000 meant for Beneatha’s education. As a result, this shows the nature of the society in which Walter lives in – a society that is swayed by the thought of money which leaves the symbolic raisins of many left to dry under the unforgiving heat of its sun. This supports that fact that, contrary to popular belief, the play does not have such a happy ending as it seems to have. Although Ruth achieves her dream of moving out of the ghetto and owning better house to live in, her dream of building a happy family still is left unfulfilled as Mr. Lindner says that the family doesn’t “know what [they’re] getting into” (Hansberry 149) and the move to an all-white neighborhood is likely to cause future conflict. Thus, the once thought cheerful ending is not as happy as it seems.

Secrecy: A Motive for Murder?

After reading both The Great Gatsby and The Diamond as big as the Ritz, I noticed that even though the two stories are different from each other in terms of content, there is still the motif of secrecy present in both. For example, in The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, this motif of secrecy is shown in the form of the secretive wealth of the Braddock family: “‘We’ve got a dozen anti-aircraft guns and we’ve arranged it so far–but there’ve been a few deaths and a great many prisoners” (The Diamond as Big as the Ritz 81). Here, Percy is describing the weaponry his family has in order to keep the diamond, the backbone of his family's wealth, unknown to the rest of the world. This shows the extreme and immoral measures Braddock takes to keep his wealth a secret. The fact that he captures and imprisons "unfortunate mariners" into his dark pit solely for the purpose of maintaining the confidence of his richness is just absurd and the fact that some have even died shows how immoral one's actions can become when faced 

with enormous affluence. The fact that Braddock covers up pit of unjust behavior  with a peaceful green golf field on top strikes a comparison with how Gatsby covers up his unwanted past his is made up stories, "which weren’t even faintly true," as a facade to amplify and drastically elevate his social standing. In both scenarios, Fitzgerald demonstrates how affluence leads to immoral behavior to protect the secretive nature of one's wealth.

Time: Can It Really Flow Backwards?

“And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180).

These final three paragraphs of Fitzgerald’s literary masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, are some of the most memorable and truly awe-inspiring sentences of the world of English literature. Fitzgerald uses the motif of time and the symbol of the “green light” to coherently convey his point. Nick describes how Gatsby’s “green light” of being with Daisy “seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” yet “[Gatsby] did not know [his dream] was already behind him.” This obliviousness of Gatsby suggests that he was travelling through time at a speed too great to handle that everything around him became a blur and the impossible task of going back in time and “acquiring” Daisy was the sole thing in Gatsby’s life that was in clear focus.  Regarding the syntax of the second paragraph, I noticed how the final dash causes an abrupt end to the sentence, sparking the sense of continuation. This suggests that although Gatsby died an unfortunate death, his dream or “green light” of living with Daisy still lives on. Also regarding the syntax, I further noticed how the length of the breaks in the paragraph increases as the paragraph progresses. This indicates the increasing distance between Gatsby and Daisy as time progresses. Five years ago in the book, Daisy and Gatsby were charming lovers, but as time passed when Gatsby fought in the war, the distance between them grew literally and metaphorically with Tom now in between them. Eventually this distance is the greatest when Gatsby dies. This increasing distance also demonstrates how the current of time is so strong that no matter how much “we beat on [like] boats against a current” to go back to the past, the distance between the past and the present reality increases as we are swept away by the “ceaseless” forward momentum of time.