How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Why is Raisin in the Sun a version of the Faust Legend?

Faust legend, raisin in the sun

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Well, the Younger family doesn't exactly hang out with Mephistopheles pulling pranks on the Pope but there are some thematic similarities. Quick money can be seen like a pact with the devil in that it entices the members of the family. Each wants to use the $10000 for something different. This desire really envelopes them simply because they have never experienced that sum of money all at once. Through many trials and tribulations, including Walter losing $6500 of it, the family discovers a house as the most uniting use for the money. The Faustian comparison goes as far as desire distorting what is real and important. Faust goes on a very different journey than the Younger family and I am hesitant to that the lessons learned were identical. Still Faust was blinded by desire and, like the Younger family, could have lost everything. At least, in the end, I'm pretty sure the Younger's would have got to keep their souls. Without God's mercy old Faust would have had to move in with the Devil permanently!