A Raisin in the Sun & The American Dream

I love teaching Lorraine Hansberry's award winning play A Raisin in the Sun. I love it because it is a vehicle for teaching the American Dream through a setting and conflict that students aren't typically familiar with. My students love it because the play is easy to read and comprehend and full of surprising twists that keep them engaged. In my thirty years as a high school English teacher, I've never had a student dislike A Raisin in the Sun.

I made a game-day decision to fit A Raisin in the Sun into my Junior Honors curriculum when we read Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem" during our American Moderns unit. I spent time on Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, but I didn't feel like I did them justice. Because the title of Hansberry's play is inspired by Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem," I did some magical rearranging that only teachers can do, and poof, I squeezed in four days for the play.

Prior to reading the play, I assign pre-reading discussion questions and/or pre-reading Slides. Both are excellent, but the Slides are particularly good because they contain outbound links that will provide students more background information on things like the Civil Rights Movement, the Chicago Freedom Movement, the Fair Housing Act, and the like.

The conflict in A Raisin in the Sun was inspired by events in Hansberry's life growing up on the South Side of Chicago. There are several pertinent themes in the play, and one of the top three is the American Dream.

I love to debate the American Dream. These questions help students think more deeply about it.

• Do you believe in the American Dream?  Were there times in American history when it was not available to all?  Is it available to all today?  Why or why not?

• Do your parents have an American Dream?  What does it look like?

• Do your grandparents have an American Dream?  What does it look like?

• Do you have an American Dream?  What does it look like?

• What sacrifices will you have to make to achieve your American Dream?

• To what kinds of hard work will you have to commit?

• What will be the reward of achieving your American Dream?

In the play, Mama and her son Walter have different American Dreams, and the pursuit of those dreams is what causes the central conflict in the play. From the quotations excerpted above, you can see that Mama's dream pertains to freedom and family, while Walter's pertains to money and opportunity. If you ask students to choose a side, you will have reluctant students and a group split in half. Both Mama's and Walter's dreams are valid and worthy, so choosing one over the other is difficult.

Another interesting line of questioning to get your students to connect with the play is to ask what their own parents and grandparents think are differences between themselves and their children/grandchildren. This usually sparks laughter and funny stories, but the point is easily gleaned: generations scoff at other generations' behavior, trends, obsessions, and ideals. However, when you ask about the grandparents' and parents' American Dreams in comparison to your students' own, there are probably more similarities than there are differences. Students can map these similarities and differences on T-charts and share them with others.

What text do you use to teach the American Dream? Have you taught A Raisin in the Sun? Check here in the coming days. As my students work through this play, I'll post a few more blogs. I invite you to share your thoughts here or on Instagram.

I invite you to check out my teaching materials for this unit in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Sincerely,

Meredith