The Price of Being Middle Class The Challenges and Cost of Achieving the American Dream

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1 The Price of Being Middle Class The Challenges and Cost of Achieving the American Dream Historian Andrew Wiese argued that in postwar United States, the perception of the American Dream was different for white and African Americans. Wiese discussed that black Americans faced different challenges in pursuit of the same dream as white Americans, and that the resultant social costs like loss of culture, traditions and class distinctions, were a price to be paid for assimilation. In playwright Lorraine Hansberry s A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family s pursuit of the American Dream demonstrates many of the challenges described by Weise. The American Dream for many families of all ethnic backgrounds, was the achievement of home ownership in the one of the many flourishing suburbs developed after the war. Home ownership represented economic security, opportunity and an improved class status for African Americans. 1 While I agree with Wiese that African Americans postwar pursuit of home ownership came with challenges and social costs, doesn t the nature of assimilation come at a price for anyone? Entry into middle class suburban life, as we see in the challenges faced by the Younger s, comes at a cultural cost, and anyone entering into the middle class loses a piece of themselves to be part of the comfortable class. In this essay I will elaborate on Wiese s discussion of cultural challenges faced by black Americans in postwar America, by examining characters from Hansberry s A Raisin in the Sun. I will add to this discussion by showing that, not just African Americans, but everyone must pay a cultural price by being part of the suburban middle class. I hope that by discussing these cultural challenges, it will provoke the reader to reflect on middle class values in America and the 1 Wiese, A. (Ed.). (2006). The New suburban history. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press,

2 costs paid for the distinction and comfort of being middle class. And also hope to provoke the reader to reflect on what can we do as a modern society to respect the challenges the new members of our society face and have empathy for the costs they are paying today, just as the Younger s and other black Americans paid in postwar America. As new and better employment possibilities opened up for black Americans after World War 2, the ability to purchase the suburban dream home became a reality for many black families. 2 Wiese argued that this type of home ownership was a fundamental aspiration for many black families. We can see an example supporting this argument in A Raisin in the Sun. Lena, the matriarch of the Younger family, reflects on her then failed dream of buying a home. She says You should know all the dreams I had about buyin that house and fixin it up; makin me a little garden out in back. And didn t none of it never happen. 3 Wiese discussed that part of the motivation of achieving suburban home ownership, for both black and white families, was the emphasis on success measured by a comfortable family life of leisure, away from the stigma of the struggling labor class. 4 Elsewhere in A Raisin in the Sun Lena s son Walter laments about his place in the labor class, and his place in American society. Over breakfast he complains to his wife This morning I was lookin in the mirror and thinking about it; I m thirty-five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room and all I got to give him is stories bout how rich white people live. 5 In this passage Hansberry 2 Wiese, Hansberry, L. (1992). A Raisin in the sun. New York, NY: Signet, Wiese, Hansberry,

3 effectively illustrated the insecurities associated with the emerging middle class, and the frustration felt by those not yet there. The challenge of the pursuit of middle class life would not only create frustration but also a new and emerging class dynamic. A dynamic not only between black and white societies, but also within black society. Class status in black America was largely determined by attitudes on social distinctions that African Americans drew relative to other blacks. 6 The ambitious daughter Beneatha in A Raisin in the Sun demonstrated this attitude in describing the family of one of her suitors. She said, Because the Murchisons are honest-to-god real live rich colored people, and the only people in the world who are more snobbish than rich white people are rich colored people. Thought everybody knew that by now. 7 This type of attitude was not the only, or worst challenge faced in pursuit of the suburban dream. Overt racism and resentment towards the new opportunities afforded black Americans were commonly faced in the quest for homeownership. Economic opportunities and acceptance into new occupations contributed to a rise in black family incomes after the war. This rise in income prompted a swell of black suburbanization after the war. 8 Weise described that as a result of the racism faced, many black Americans preferred to settle in predominantly African American suburbs. Wiese argues that the desire of middle class African Americans was merely the simple goal to 6 Wiese, Hansberry, Wiese,

4 live a good neighborhood. As mentioned earlier, class distinction based on comparison to others developed within black America. While living a predominantly black suburb would provide a level of protection from racism, it also contributed to the development of class status amongst African American society. For the black middle class, living separately from the poor black working class was a necessary indicator of success. 9 We see an example of this near the end of A Raisin in the Sun when a white community member attempts to buy out the Younger s new home in an effort to see them leave the community. Walter responds, explaining I have thought about your offer and I have decided that we are going to move into our new house and because well my father, he earned it for us, brick by brick. 10 This passage is important as it reinforces the importance of accomplishing home ownership for the Younger s, and while Walter yearns to be middle class, he respects the efforts of his labor class background. Black Americans faced many challenges while chasing the goal of home ownership, however, once achieved; assimilation and acceptance into middle class suburbia comes with additional cultural prices that all Americans must pay. Agasi, the African student in A Raisin in the Sun provided a significant opinion on post war American when he shared an observation with Beneatha, Assimilation is so popular in your country. 11 Perhaps because of elements of American development and a history of discrimination based on ethnicity and heritage, assimilation to the middle class is and was a goal of many cultural groups in the maturation of American society. Facing 9 Wiese, Hansberry, Ibid, 91. 4

5 challenges and compromising on traditions and values were necessary to fit into the American middle class. Sociologist Alan Wolfe researched and studied the effects of suburbanization and middle class assimilation as part of his Middle Class Morality Project. Wolfe found that suburbanization created a moderate society where the middle class would attempt to avoid conflict by blending in with one another and not too strongly expressing cultural or religious points of view. Wolfe wrote of the middle class, In such a world, one didn t talk about religion for exactly the same reason one did not talk about politics: there were too many diverse views that might lead to conflict, and conflict in turn, would interfere with the imperative of building a new life in the suburbs. 12 Wolfe further found that suburbanization contributed in a decline in church membership. 13 We see an example of this cultural change in beliefs in Beneatha, when much to the religious Lena s frustration she says I m just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has he got to do with anything? Does he pay tuition? 14 As suburbs were purposfully built as genric, neutral environments drawing people from all backgrounds in search of middle class benefits, standing out or being different would disrupt the process of assimilation and living the American Dream. Weise wrote of black suburban pioneers who attended church and who would shop for ethnic products in black neighborhoods in the city, rather than their new community. 15 This is another 12 Wolfe, A. (Ed.). (2000). Civil religion revisited - quiet faith in middle class America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, Ibid, Hansberry, Wiese,

6 example of that shows that not practicing cultural routines and not overtly demonstrating your differences is a necessary cost for a peaceful inclusion in middle class America. The story of the Younger s trials in achieving their dream of home ownership and class elevation paralleled Wiese s evidence of the challenges faced by African Americans pursing the same dream in post war United States. The story of A Raisin in the Sun, when examined in context with Wiese, provides a perspective of the cultural and class dynamics prevalent in the day. Building on the theme of the challenges of inclusion, Wolfe s research shows us that all citizens must pay a cultural price to be part of a peaceful middle class. I hope that by illustrating and discussing the challenges and struggles of the subjects of this essay, that it may provoke empathy for the struggles of today s new and marginalized Americans. 6