A real one. One that [she] could point to” after living in houses where “the water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was too old” (Cisneros 4). Esperanza’s Mama and Papa tell stories of moving to a white house with many bedrooms and bathrooms, but the house on Mango Street is far from the stories that they tell. Even though Papa says the house on Mango Street is temporary, Esperanza is skeptical, and says she “knows how those things go” (Cisneros 5). The house on Mango Street is an example of the limitations placed on Esperanza because her Papa cannot afford to fulfill the dreams he has for his family.
As tension grew extremely fast between white America and the leaders and people of the black communities America was an ugly place to be. The Civil Rights movement sparked up anger out of black people that led to non-violent protest and blacks basically saying, “We can’t take this anymore”, and then actually doing something about it. Their desire for better living was clear during this movement and housing projects such as Pruitt-Igoe at the time seemed to be exactly what the African American race was looking for. So people jumped at the chance to be apart of it due to our situation with movements going
Both families in the two plays are forced to deal with the economic, social, and moral pressures imposed upon them since slavery. Each family handles and deals with the pressures in very different ways, while at the same time share some similarities that tie them both together in their fight for freedom. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many issues that the Younger family deals with pertaining to their economic status. There are so many economic pressures, being African American, which they are forced to tackle. Take Walter Lee Younger and his wife, Ruth Younger, for instance.
The family signed an agreement to buy a house, but the house was poorly maintained so it was full of repairs which evidently would cost money that they didn’t have. The community the house was in wasn’t much better, being filled with crime and corruption and not very family oriented. As it seems a lot of their family finds jobs, tragedy strikes with the death of Jurgis’s
The schools are generally over crowded with few good teachers. When there's a great public school there is not enough space for every child in the neighborhood. Children are stuck in low achieving schools because of how the school districts are divided. A lot of children end up in poor public schools because their parents do not possess the income that it takes to send them to a private school. Since 1971 education cost has increased from $4,300 to more than $9,000 per student.
Although “Raisin in the Sun” and The House on Mango Street are two distinct pieces of literature, a theme they both share is that struggles faced as a minority influences the character’s dreams. Dreams being influenced by struggles from being a minority can be seen as Ruth from “Raisin in the Sun” talks of Walter Lee’s dreams, Ruth says, “Walter Lee say colored people ain’t never going to start getting ahead till they start gambling on some different kinds of the things in the world- investments and things”(Hansberry 450). Walter Lee believes that if colored people want to succeed then they must risk and put forth the effort. Most black people were seen as minorities and people of low to middle class. Since the family has been struggling with poverty, Walter Lee feels that he must begin a business to succeed, in order to get out of the low class society.
During that time, as with any setting in the past, racism held a great stance within society, as integration was not advocated, and it was seen unacceptable for whites and blacks to associate with one another. Regardless of these common views within society at the time, both characters flee their homes from their abusive fathers in determination of saving their African American companion while also escaping their harsh lifestyle. Lily and Huck yearn to part from their unhappy lives with their
The issues of both race and beauty are portrayed in many ways. Our analysis will address those two issues through three steps. First, we will talk about the criteria of beauty in this racist society; then the way Black people live in this racist society, and finally the effects of this racist society over Black people. First, the novel starts with the description of an ideal white family; but in the style of a school reading primer, where we meet Dick and Jane and their lovely parents living in a nice and comfortable house with a lovely dog and a cat. “Here is the house.
Many of their stories were written about the struggles of blacks. “The Library Card” and “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is The Self” are writings that deal with the individual verses society but on different levels. The authors gave the readers a snap shot of what their life was like growing up during that time. Richard Wright’s, “The Library Card”, is an insert in his story “Black Boy” that tells a story of himself as a young boy in the 1930’s wanting to read. Wright tells his story about some of the things that happened to him during the time when African Americans were considered to be beneath whites.
Many American people lost their money and their jobs. They were jobless and they were unable to make rents or house payments. Some of them were kicked out of their houses because they couldn’t afford the house. And were homeless living on the street. The causes of the Great depression were when people started loaning money from the bank, and then they would purchase stocks on margin and get profit from it, but people did not make money off of their stock and they owed for the original stock.