The American Dream proves to be a difficult to achieve in Lorraine
             Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, and Arthur Miller's play, Death of a
             Salesman. While both families illustrate the struggle involved with
             achieving their dreams, they also prove that the struggle alone is not
             enough. We learn from the Younger family that dreams can be achieved, just
             not always in the capacity in which we dream them. We learn from the Loman
             family that waking up is just as essential as dreaming is. While both
             families do not get what they had dreamed, they illustrate the pain that is
             sometimes attached to the American Dream.
             Lena's dream of having a home for her family is her driving force. When
             she uses some of the insurance money for a house, she tells her children
             that she tried to get the best with the money she had. When Walter
             complains, she tells him, "We was going backward stead of forwards--
             talking about killing babies and wishing each other was dead . . . When it
             gets like that in life--you just got to do something different, push on out
             and do something bigger" (Hansberry 2238). She is realistic amidst all the
             Beneatha dreams of attending medical school. She tells Asagai that ever
             since she was a child, fixing what ailed people was the "most marvelous
             thing in the world" (2253). Before Walter lost the money for her college,
             she told him that curing the sick was important to her and that she used to
             care. When he asks her why it does not matter anymore her answer reveals a
             sharp reality. She states that fixing sick people is "not close enough to
             what ails mankind" (2254). In essence, the reality of not going to school
             has made her a little more bitter, like Walter. However, when Asagai asks
             her to go to Nigeria with him, it seems as though things are working out
             for the best for her in ways that she did not plan.
             Walter's dream has withered away. He realizes t...