Idealism vs. Reality
Two books that should come to mind when thinking of idealism vs. reality are Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Both books are similar in the form that both are about the stories of everyday people that just want to be happy. However both books also contain ideas that are realistic and some that would be considered idealistic while trying to achieve that happiness. According to Webster Dictionary idealism means the theory that the essential nature of reality lies within good consciousness or reason. That same dictionary also says that reality means in actual fact or the quality or state of being real. The two words have completely opposite meanings yet some how Edith Wharton And Lorraine Hansberry seemed to use them in such a way in their stories that it seems like the stories connect.
Ethan Frome has a great deal of idealism in the beginning in the way that Ethan wants to make a better life for himself and try to go to college yet he doesn’t have any money, he is married to someone he hates, and he has no way to escape this hell of a life he seems to live in. The reality comes in when he realizes his wife doesn’t really love him, the girl of his dreams is his wife’s cousin, and there is no way he can get the money he needs to escape. Now turn to A Raisin in the Sun, the character Mama receives a exceptional amount of life insurance money after her husband passes. Her thoughts of how to spend the money are to move into an all white neighborhood during the 1950s. Her son Walter wants to open a liquor store so he wont have to continue to be a chauffer. Bennie, Walter’s sister, want to go to medical school and become a doctor even though she doesn’t have the money to afford med school. They have all these dreams just like Ethan and yet they cant seem to achieve it. They want to live better lives and be happy in their lives yet it seems the world has knocked them down every time they try to get back up...