VOID

Alden
ARITS
April 3rd

Adverse Effect Of Dreams Broken

Dreams. Everyone's drive in life. Me, you, your friends, your family. Martin Luther King Jr. was famous for his "I Have A Dream" speech. Even that one guy down the street has a dream or two. Dreams can help you strive in life, help you prosper. But what happens when the dreamers dream is desecrated some how? Take Walter Lee Younger from Lorane Hansberry's book, A Raisin In The Sun. All of his toils, his work, the pressure and tension between him and his family. He is piratically driven mad due to his dream. Alas, poverty, racism, and family issues always keep him down. To him, and his family, these things are naught but misfortunes hammering them to the ground. This theme of the adverse, and otherwise fatal effects of dreams torn apart in this book can be shown with Coal Chamber's "Friend?", Green Day's "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams", and System Of A Down's "Shimmy".

At times, fate can look angelic, yes. But it can also look completely horrific. It extends a gloomy hand to come rapping at your door, and no one can resist opening it. Walter opens his door to this harbinger of grave news, whom goes by the name of Bobo. He is so nerve wrecked, that he takes forever to speak the bitter truth for Walters impatient ears. Finally, he comes out with it, nailing Walter hard and true. Willy never did show up. As a matter of fact, he ran off with the money. All of it. "THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHERS FLESH!!" (Hansberry, 128) Walter yells to the world so even the devil, which just so happens to be Willy Harris, can hear. A greedy man has waltzed in, danced with Walter, and left him with nothing. This left Walter in utter despair, knowing his dream will never come true, although it was really a lie. Walter is a mess, a pawn used by a player. Led to believe a lie. Like Willy was some kind of friend. Friend? Ha! Coal Chamber sang about friends once. Well, a Friend turned traitor. It went something like this "All this time I called you Friend! I won't be there for you again!" It was about a friend that severely hurt one of them to a severe extent. Well, I would say Willy really did hamper Walter severely. This shows the theme through Walters agonizing defeat, if you may, by having his dream taken away. Driving him piratically insane. A "friend" desecrated his dreams.

Mrs.Johnson and Mama just finished there conversation. When she left, the Youngers get a phone call. A phone call from Mrs.Arnold. She has to discuss why Walter has not shown up for work for the past three days. Since she love's him, Ruth saves Walter by claiming that he is quite ill, and apologizes for "not calling sooner". When she hangs up the phone, she implores Walter as to why he has been skipping work, and he dully explains himself. Apparently, he has been wasting away while driving around, then sulking at The Green Hat, a bar. "You can just sit there and drink and listen to them three men play and you realize that don't nothing matter worth a damn, but just being there..." (Hansberry, 106). He has given up on his dream (this is before a betrayal brought to you by the devil himself). He can not help but to mourn over himself, claiming that nothing is worth it anymore. So he condemned himself to drown his spirits in, well, spirits. He enslaved his soul to wander down a street of broken dreams. "I walk a lonely road, the only one I have ever known. Don't know where it goes, but its only me and I walk alone. I walk this empty street, on the Boulevard Of Broken Dreams. Where the city sleeps, and I'm the only one, and I walk alone. I walk alone." Green Day made that song, "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams". It was about how they could not achieve a dream anymore. How they couldn't go on with a broken dream. Like Walter. He never felt backed up, so he couldn't go on. The theme is shown in this for it is one of the many emotions of one who has had there dreams ended. His broken dreams that shackled him made it seem as if he walked alone in the world.

Now we can see this ANYWHERE in the book. Walter wanting to be the man of the house. Wanting to make things brighter. Have an office job. Be on top instead of serving the guy on top. Like when Mama rips up Walters paper work to invest in the store, he bites back and says "Well, you tell that to my boy when you put him to sleep on the living room couch..." (Hansberry, 71). Walter is pretty much stating that his dream, when accomplished, will insure that Travis will no longer need to sleep in a couch anymore. He will be able to support his family more than any of them can hope to. All he can do, though, is dream his dreams. He wants life for a change. Like System Of A Down. Their song "Shimmy" is about what they want for a good future. It goes something like this, "I think me! I want LIFE! I think me! I want a HOUSE and a WIFE! I wanna shimmy shimmy shimmy to the break of dawn, YEEAH!" Walter wants to get a good support so hid family can get these things instead of laboring endlessly for a glimpse at them. His dreams are just toying with him, because he can only see them, which saddens him. Walter Lee Younger may eternally dream about these things. . . . . Is that fair?

"Friend?" by Coal Chamber, "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" by Green Day, and "Shimmy" by System Of A Down all show the theme of the fatal and otherwise adverse effects of a dream differed. All three songs have an antagonist in the subplot of dreams. Willy, Family, Society. All obstacles keeping him away. Keeping him at a great distance. So all in all, dreams can, and will drive one back into anger or sorrow if they are not grasped firmly. Just imagine if you were to go through the same thing with whatever it is that floats your particular boat. You may end up like Walter, or maybe not. Yes, dreams are indeed the drive in life.