A dream deferred in A Raisin in the Sun and Death of a SalesmanMost people in America would like to be financially successful. Sometimes living in a capitalist society causes many people to become too materialistic. Greed is the characteristic that many Americans then acquire. All in pursuit of the American dream. For most Americans, this high status is very difficult to achieve. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, we see how difficult it was for Willy Loman and his sons to achieve this so-called American dream, and these people were proud white Americans. In A Raisin in the Son by Lorraine Hansberry, she examines an African-American family's struggle to escape the poverty that prevents them from achieving any kind of financial stability, or the American dream. It focuses on Walter's attempt to "make it" or "be someone." She also analyzes how racial prejudice and economic insecurity affect a black man's role in his own family, his ability to provide, and his identity. What Hansberry is trying to illustrate is how Western civilization has conditioned society to have materialistic aspirations and how these ideals corrupt the identity of the black man and his family. Many black men face systematic racism that affects their role in society. The frustrations that a black man faces can have far-reaching consequences on the family. For example, if Walter gets angry at work or has a bad day, he cannot get angry with his boss and risk losing his job; instead, he takes it out on his wife Ruth. Moreover, the job he holds can bring little to the family. He is not even able to provide his son Travis with change without ruining himself. What type of “breadwinner” can a black man be in America? Walter Younger is thirty-five years old and just a limousine driver. He is unhappy with his job and is desperate for an opportunity to improve his family's situation. He tells his mother what he thinks of his work when she doesn't give him the ten thousand dollars; I open and close car doors all day. I'm driving a man in his limousine and I say, "Yes sir; no sir, all right sir; shall I take the wheel, sir?" Mom, it's not a kind of job... it's nothing at all.