Theatre is not only a form of entertainment, which confirms what is already known, but also a source of inspiration, which provokes the analysis of what is taken for granted. Terrence Smith and Mike Miller summarized this idea in the phrase "The purpose of drama is not to define thought but to provoke it." Scattered throughout American history are examples of plays that truly embody this quote; the 1950s produced two such shows. Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller in 1949, follows an elderly salesman who fails to realize his dream of being rich and famous. Written in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry focuses on an African-American family's struggles with money and identity. Through the supportive characters of Linda Loman and Ruth Younger, Miller and Hansberry illustrate how wives often suppress their own dreams to support those of their husbands, suggesting that wives' dreams must be postponed to maintain a stable marriage. In Death of a Salesman, Linda Loman's dedication to her husband consumes her, to the point that she has no direction in life without him. Willy Loman, Linda's husband, is one of New York's street vendors. Even though he is over sixty, Willy continues to work, hoping to become famous and rich, and therefore successful. Over the years, Willy becomes increasingly unpredictable, lashing out at his wife and children when they fail to meet his expectations. Despite Willy's abuse, Linda remains "very often jovial" as she "has developed an iron-clad repression of her exceptions to Willy's behavior – more than loving him, she admires him, as if his fickle nature, his temper, his big dreams and petty cruelties, served her only as a sharp reminder of turbulent desires with... middle of paper... death Ruth Younger's commitment to making her husband's liquor store idea a reality surprises him Walter himself, both women also show a dark side of this method for a stable marriage. Linda is a widow who has no idea how to live the rest of her life as she has eliminated dreams long ago cause of actions According to her, based on these two plays, the need for a new definition of “stable marriage” is realized. Rather than being a relationship that lasts for a long time due to a few disagreements, a successful marriage should be one in in which both spouses achieve something. of their dreams, no matter how they differ. The female half of the human species cannot continue to make all the sacrifices to satisfy the males; this balance is not a “balance” at all, which raises wonder as to how marriages have survived this way for so long.