A Summary of a Review of 'A Raisin in the Sun'

In  1959, a critic named Brooks Atkinson reviewed the recently produced Broadway play by Lorraine Hansberry called ‘ A Raisin in the Sun’. Brooks summarizes the story and the characters personality and traits along with the setting and problem in the story. He then goes into more detail about the story’s characters and how the actors selected to be in the play were carefully chosen. Brooks goes on to say that ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ is like a Negro version of another play called ‘The Cherry Orchard’ because they both have to do with the environment the character’s in and how it affects their lives. He also adds that the play is ‘honest’ in that the actors act like real people and not like made up characters from pure imagination. Brooks also commends Ralph Alswang’s skill in making the setting, an apartment, in which the entire story takes place in and how it showed the family’s social status and tastes in culture. Brooks concludes with saying he enjoyed how Hansberry depicted such an intense subject as this with such simplicity that almost any person could watch and understand this play.

Of Dreams and Dancers

Of Dreams and Dancers

An Essay on Dreams

By Emmanuel Perry

September 13, 2011

            
             Have you ever listened to Jackson Browne’s song ‘For a Dancer’ or read Langston Hughes’s poem ‘A Dream Deferred’? I happen to have listened to both of them and wondered if these lines and lyrics could relate to me and my life.I was surprised how many positive real-life experiences came to mind! The reason it was so surprising was that both the poem and the song talk about loss and many other depressing thoughts. I feel blessed to have such positive experiences that can even be compared to such a tragic song

             When I was younger, I always wanted to go to a theme park in California called Lego Land. As the name of the park suggests, I was a fan of Legos and I still am a fan of the Lego brand. However, due to the fact that we live in Connecticut, we’d need another important reason to go all the way to California. I was worried that we’d never go, that my dream would dry up like a ‘raisin in the sun’. To keep that from happening, I kept the thoughts of Lego Land in my head as I tried to collect coupons from the Lego Magazines I got every month. One day dad told me that we would be going to California to look for high schools for Mia and me. Dad also mentioned that we had time to stop by Lego Land along the way! This experience taught me to never give up on a dream. You should always strive to complete your goal. If you keep at it, maybe your patience and determination will pay off! As I think about the poem  ‘ A Dream Deferred’, it reminds me of the song ‘For a Dancer’ in some ways. For example, ‘For a Dancer’ talks about an untimely, sudden death of a friend. When you think about someone you know who has died, you’d probably wonder if they have fulfilled their dreams in life.The poem, ‘A Dream Deferred’ talks about what might happen to a dream that is forgotten.  Do you think a dead persons dreams and goals “sagged, like a heavy load” the minds of those who knew the deceased person’s desires, never to be achieved? Do you think that the deceased persons’ friends become inspired to work towards his dreams, like the colored people of America when Martin Luther King died?

  The lines ‘Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known’ from the song ‘For a Dancer’ by Jackson Browne remind me of a time when I used to draw books to aid me with my budding attraction to cartooning. I would carefully copy the images created by a cornucopia of different cartoonists and illustrators. It was hard to draw step by step, and slowly things changed from me copying others to drawing your own ideas in their style of art. A few months later my drawings ‘[became] my very own’, as Jackson Browne would say. Other artists or authors no longer inspired my cartoons. In another verse, Jackson talks about how to cherish friends and family when he said, ‘I must have thought you'd always be around Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found’.  These words mean that you should not take your friends for granted, that you should have fun with your family and always think of each day as a new opportunity to be happy.




      These words of poetry and song relate to many positive things in my life. I think it’s a good thing to relate yourself to music you enjoy. Maybe that is why some people love certain songs, because they relate to some aspect of their lives.  Even though these songs are about somewhat saddening thoughts, I see them as connections to good things in my life. I believe that if you look at a negative thing positively, life will be much more enjoyable.

Am I Simple?

Am I Simple?

An Essay on Simplicity

By Emmanuel Perry

September 27, 2011

Pine Point School

In class this week we listened to a song called ‘A Simple Man’ that was about how to be a simple and humble person. This song made me wonder if I was ‘simple’ in the way the song suggested. Being simple is to not worry about things that have passed in the future. Being simple means that you do not try to buy many things or try to find true happiness through them. It isn’t hard to be simple; I found that out myself. Many of my traits or practices relate to this ‘simple’ song.

        Many of my habits and practices relate to the lyrics in ‘A Simple Man’ . A line in the song says ‘oh take your time…don’t live to fast. Troubles will come and they will pass’, this means don’t rush through each day, missing all the little things and worrying about all the other things. it means to take time to enjoy life and not to worry so much about your problems, for all problems come to an end. I am a very relaxed person and I don’t worry about things to come or things that have happened. There’s a time to work, a time for play, and a time to let it all go away. Another line states ‘and don’t forget son, there’s someone above’ which means that you should be comforted by the fact that there is a greater being that is looking out for you. I am a Christian and I believe that there is a being out there who loves me and watches over me daily. When I am in doubt about anything, instead of worrying about it, I pray to God that he will give me patience and a clear mind to get the job done. One last thing I can relate to is the verse ‘Forget your lust for the rich man’s gold…all I want for you my son is to be satisfied’ in that I do not go out and buy the newest thing merely because it is high-tech and popular at the time. I am very thankful and satisfied with the things I own now. There is no harm in wanting to buy something you want, but will it give you the feeling of joy and satisfaction that it gave you three years later? Many of my possessions have been with me for many years, and they give me the same feeling of excitement as they did those years ago. This song’s interpretation to being simple really surprised me in that I can connect to it in many ways. Maybe I am ‘a simple man’ after all.

There is a man very close to me who seems very ‘simple’ compared to the song ‘A Simple Man’. This man I am talking about is my uncle Ted. My uncle seems so satisfied with his life. I never hear him complain about not having a fancy car or ‘lusting for the rich man’s gold’, as the song would say. Uncle Ted seems so joyful when Mia and I come to his house and tells us how thankful he is to have a nephew and niece that visit him almost every week. He is also thankful for his wonderful home he can go to and relax in during the weekend because he works in New York City during the week. When my uncle does come back to Connecticut to relax over the weekend, he does not bring his worries with him; he lets them go because he knows ‘troubles will [eventually] pass’. The lines ‘you’ll find a woman, you’ll find love’ correlate to my uncle’s relationship with my aunt, Sheryl. They both love each other very much and have been married for a long, long time. They both love to laugh together and almost never fight. Instead, they tend to talk about the problem almost half-heartily with each other. I really love my ‘simple’ uncle and his love for family!

Being simple can be obtained. It may be harder for some than it is for others to obtain the kind of ‘simple’ lifestyle this song tries to promote.  In fact, it may seem downright impossible to change. The change to become a ‘simple man’ may be for the better, but you should remember to always be your own person, no matter how ‘simple’ you are.