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Phil Lombardi Lombardi Professor Gaeta College Writing II April 7th, 2008
Comparing A Raisin in the Sun with the songs of Bruce Springsteen Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun echoes many of the same themes and ideas found in the songs of Bruce Springsteen. A Raisin in the Sun is a play dealing primarily with family values and the stages of dreams, along with other ideas such as the role of the male in a family. Numerous Bruce Springsteen's songs also contain these same ideas. Both of these artists try and show what negative effects a dream can have on a person, but why those dreams are still needed. They factor in their own personal experience to give the reader or listener a vivid picture of what a person brought down by their dreams looks like. Springsteen and Hansberry are able to paint a picture that many people can identify with. One of the main themes of A Raisin in the Sun is the pursuit of dreams. In this play, the main characters all have dreams they want to achieve. Walter in particular is consumed by his dream to escape the life he is living. He wants to have the rich lifestyle and be able to provide better for his family. He is so focused on his goal, that when it is suddenly crushed, he loses control. This idea is often brought up in many of the songs by Springsteen. The song "The River" focuses primarily on dreams that have been lost and what it does to you. In the song Springsteen sings about a man who got his girlfriend pregnant, and married her at the age of nineteen. He goes on to say that from this moment on, all of his dreams were gone. He uses a river as a metaphor for the goals and dreams we all have. He sings "At night we'd go down to
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the river and into the river we'd dive" (Springsteen - River). The man in this song, while having a different situation, can be closely related to Walter. The man in the song works a dead-end job, and it is running him down. Walter works as a limousine driver and cannot stand it any more. When Walter loses his money, he feels betrayed by his dream. The same can be said for the man in "The River" when he sings "Now those memories come back to haunt me, they haunt me like a curse" and concludes by asking "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?" (Springsteen- The River). Both men do not lose sight of their goals though. As Carl Rhodes wrote: It might be that without the "dream," however hollow, there would simply be nothing. As a result, one is left to manage the ambivalence of believing in the promised land whilst wishing for a storm that will: Blow away the dreams that tear you apart/ Blow away the dreams that break your heart/ Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted (Rhodes). Both Walter and Springsteen are looking for a solution to their dreams, something that will get them jumpstarted. At the end of the play, Walter has redeemed himself and is investing money in the bank in order to try and start a better life. In the song, the man still goes "Down to the river" with his "baby" (Springsteen River). They both are looking to the future, although the present is gloomy. Another common theme between these two artists is the importance of family, and the role a "man" has in that family. Walter is struggling to be what he considers a "man." He wants to provide for his family, and for them to not have a hard life. Walter is sticking to the traditional views of the roles of men and women, something that Springsteen is well known for. In one of his songs he says "I've done my best to live the right way/ I get up every morning and go to
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work each day/ But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold/ Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode"(Springsteen Promised). These lyrics describe the pain Walter is going through working as a limousine driver for a rich white man. He can no longer stand his job and it is eating him from the inside out. Springsteen uses "images of the working class environment" and has them "emerge as quests for happiness in a promised land" (Moss). The same can be said for Hansberry who has the Younger's, a working class family, trying to reach a better life. If one were to look from the son's point of view, the song "Adam Raised a Cain" could easily be applied. Travis could easily be saying, just as Springsteen has, "Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain/ Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame" Adam). (Springsteen- Another song that compares to Walter's relationship with Ruth is "Leap of Faith". In it Springsteen sings "It takes a leap of faith to get things going/ It takes a leap of faith, you gotta show some guts" (Springsteen- Leap). Walter desperately wants Ruth to back him in his liquor store idea, or on any idea. At one point Walter describes this as saying "Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. Him woman say: Eat your eggs" (Hansberry). All of these examples are common things that a man with the traditional view of masculinity goes through. "In many of Springsteen's narratives the dead weight of tradition presses its characters into blind obedience to laws they don't understand" (Palmer). Walter is confined by his society, but wants to break out. He wants to be able to provide for his family, and he works hard in a dead end job for little thanks, but still holds onto the dreams of the future. As Pamela Moss wrote, "It is this belief that keeps him in town; it is this belief that keeps him living; it is this belief that lets him survive the pain" (Moss). In the traditional man's eyes the woman does not play an important role, but he cannot make it without her by his side. In Springsteen's world, "the man dictates the terms necessary for the woman to be a part of his life and dreams, and even her dreams" (Moss). The
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traditional male never gives up on what he wants. He is supposed to provide for his woman, and if he is unable to do that, he feels like he has failed. All of this is seen in Walter throughout the course of the play. When Mama finally gives him the money he has "his shot at being a man, his own man" (Poitier). At the end of the play, Walter redeems himself, and redefines what he thinks a man should be. Once he does this, the family recognizes that he "finally came into his manhood today" (Hansberry). Walter accepts that his dream will have to be put on hold for a little while, but that does not make him a failure. He sees the bright future his son has, and that makes him a success. Bruce Springsteen and Lorraine Hansberry use the same themes to construct their works of art. Hansberry's family the Younger's are all looking for a way to get out of the life they are living. Some are more passionate than others, and this consummation of a dream can ultimately drive you down. Eventually they are able to find a way to get out, but almost at the cost of Walter's self respect. When looking at Springsteen's songs, it is hard to find one that is not either about escaping the life you are in, or the love between a man and woman. Many of his songs deal with trying to get out, just as the Younger's are. After hearing Springsteen's songs and reading this play, one can easily imagine the Younger's proclaiming as they leave the house "It's a town full of losers, and I'm pulling out of here to win" (Springsteen- Thunder).
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Works Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." Making Literature Matter. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin\'s, 2006. 374-441. Moss, Pamela. "Where is the Promise Land?: Class and Gender in Bruce Springsteen's Roc-k Lyrics." Geografiska Annaler 74 (1992): 167-187. JSTOR. Sprague Library, Montclair. 2 Apr. 2008 <http://www.jstor.org>. Palmer, Gareth. "Bruce Springsteen and Authentic Masculinity." Every Day, Everywhere: Global Perspectives on Popular Culture. Ed. Stuart Hirshberg and Terry Hirshberg. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002. 249-257. Poitier, Sidney. "The Measure of a Man: a Spiritual Autobiography." Making Literature Matter. Ed. John Clifford and John Schilb. Boston: Bedford/St Martin\'s, 2006. 454-458. Rhodes, Carl. "Utopia in Popular Management." Consumption, Markets and Culture 7 (2004): 120. EBSCOhost. Sprague Library, Montclair. 6 Apr. 2008 <http://www.web.ebscohost.com>. Springsteen, Bruce. "Adam Raised a Cain." By Bruce Springsteen. Rec. 2 June 1978. Darkness on the Edge of Town. CBS Records. Springsteen, Bruce. "Leap of Faith." By Bruce Springsteen. Rec. 31 Mar. 1992. Leap of Faith. Columbia Records. Springsteen, Bruce. "The Promised Land." By Bruce Springsteen. Rec. 2 June 1978. Darkness on the Edge of Town. CBS Records. Springsteen, Bruce. "The River." By Bruce Springsteen. Rec. 10 Oct. 1980. The River. CBS Records. Springsteen, Bruce. "Thunder Road." By Bruce Springsteen. Rec. 25 Aug. 1975. Born to Run. CBS Records.