The Haves and The Have Nots – Communications Essay
Opportunity varies between classes and backgrounds. People of a different background always had less options or abilities to achieve what they wanted. White people had the money and the respect to get a chance at what they
dreamed. Examples of African American families and how they lived were usually a lot less fulfilling then an example of the way a white person lived. The actions of men and women in the world obscure their chances and opportunities due to their class and background.
During the 1950’s coming from a different background then the white people you usually were struggling financially. It took a lot of effort to work really hard and barely get the pay that you needed to live off of. White people had a lot of money and could afford what they wanted. Compared to other backgrounds the white people had a lot more. A Raisin in the Sun, written by Loraine Hansberry, was about a family of African Americans that lives in Chicago. The family of five and soon to be six all live in one small apartment. The group isn’t very happy with their jobs, working as servants for rich, happy, white families. They didn’t have very much money. “Ruth: Get your mind off of money and eat your breakfast. Travis: (eating) This is the morning we supposed to bring fifty cents to school. Ruth: Well I ain’t got fifty cents this morning.(Hansberry, page 28)” That quote shows how she barely had two quarters to spare.
Their lifestyles, when compared to the other classes and backgrounds, seemed very unfair. The example of the Youngers from A Raisin in the Sun shows the difference between the lifestyles. The characters Mama and Ruth were off all day working to clean or cook in other people’s houses, and Walter, Ruth’s husband, was a chauffer. They were very unhappy having to get up in the morning, in their small apartment where five people lived and have to go off to work as someone’s servant. The crowded household had full rooms and the youngest boy, Travis even had to sleep on the couch. The problem that they had with this lifestyle was that they didn’t have a way to change it. There wasn’t a way for some African Americans to somehow work really hard, make a lot of money, and live the life you wanted. You couldn’t change your class or background.
The goals or dreams were different when you compared the two groups. An example is when Walter repeats a few times throughout the dialog that he wants to give his wife pearls, and thinks he should be able to. That was just one of his dreams, that he could give his wife some jewelry. When that is compared to what the white people already can purchase it seems that the backgrounds who are suffering behind the white people don’t have barely enough to survive.
People all over the world affected the opportunities that other races and backgrounds could have. The two groups had very different lifestyles. The goals or what the people of different groups dreamed of achieving were minor to what the white people were already capable and successful at. The financial standings for example: the African Americans in the play A Raisin in the Sun were barely enough to live off of. But the white people could live in a huge house, enough room for a large family to live, have better jobs that they wanted, and still have the 50 cents that their son needs for school. The society that all of the groups, including the white people, was not accepting their differences and wasn’t providing the respect that they needed to have in order to achieve the opportunities that they wanted.