Object of the Study Approach of the Study

Reading and Writing by Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs, An Introduction to Fiction by Robert Stanton, How to Analyze Fiction by William Kenney, Humanistic Psychology by John Cohen, Understanding Human Motivation: A Cognitive Approach by John Jung, Psychology Principles and Applications by Stephen Worchel and Wayne Shebilske, Introduction to Psychology by Rita L. Atkinson, Richard C. Atkinson, and Ernest R. Hilgard, Characteristically American by Ralph Barton Perry, and The American Dream by Robert H. Fossum and John K. Roth. To gather explanation of the play and the theory of American Dream, the writer used some online sources, such as, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Changing Conceptions of the American Dream ” by Matthew Warshauer, “A Raisin in the Sun” in the sparknotes.com, “The Aspirations of Women in A Raisin in the Sun” by Emilie Browne, and PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide by Paul P. Reuben. In order to have a good understanding about the meaning of American Dream, motive and motivation the writer used some dictionaries, such as Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature , Dictionary of Keywords in Psychology, Random House Webster’s College Dictionary , and New Oxford American Dictionary. Concerning with the library research, there were four steps that the writer used in this thesis. First, the writer read the play to find the topic. Second, the writer tried to find some references, which could be used to support the topic in revealing the idea of American Dreams. Third, the writer used some theories to analyze the 29 relation of character’s motive in revealing the idea of American Dreams in the play. Finally, after having answered the two problems, the writer drew the conclusions from what she had already discussed in the analysis. 30

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

This chapter consists of the analysis of the literary work and the answer of the problem formulation. The first analysis deals with the characterization of Mama, Walter, Beneatha, and Ruth as the main characters in the play. The second analysis is the contribution of the ideas of American Dream as the main character’s motive of life. I would like to answer the formulated problems using the theories presented in chapter two.

A. The Characterization of the Main Characters

Character has various types. As Abrams 1981: 20-21 stated that characters in the novel are divided into major and minor character. The major character takes the important role and becomes the focus from the beginning until the end of the play, while the minor character is the character that appears in certain setting. According to this theory, in Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Lena Mama, Walter, Beneatha, and Ruth are categorized as the major or main character because they play the most important role in the play and they become the focus of the story as well. In order to find out the characteristics of the main characters, Murphy’s theories of characterizations 1972: 161-173 are applied. They are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, reaction, conversation of 31