A Raisin In The Sun Analysis

A raisin in the sun is a book by Lorraine Hansberry that tells the story of a lower-class black family's struggle to gain middle-class acceptance while facing internal family conflicts the book was written in 1959, so the movie is an interpretation of the book. Yet the movie made it seem as if Walter is a very selfish man. Reading the book brings a different visualization .The movie also was able to move to different locations, the book however, which was written originally to be acted out on stage. Yet besides all the differences, a common theme ran though in both the book and the movie

Walter Lee Younger a 35 year old man, who lives in a house with his Wife Ruth, Son Travis, Sister Beneatha, and Mother Lena. Walter is greedy, ambitious, and shallow. He obviously shows these characteristics during the play by the way he act towards his family and outsiders. For example, since Walter is unsatisfied with his life he takes it out on Ruth when she was simply just telling him to eat his eggs because they're going to get cold, “ 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 to him is stories about how rich white people live.” Walter says selfishly to Ruth after ignoring what is saying. After Walter complains to Ruth about his life she simply says again to him again, “Eat your eggs, Walter.” He became very angry after hearing Ruth repeat this sentence a few times, jumps up, slams on the table and says, “DAMN MY EGGS-- DAMN ALL THE EGGS THAT EVER WAS! This shows that if Walter is not happy then he will make sure that everyone in his family will know. Also, Working for a rich white man as a chauffeur, puts Walter down because he only wishes he could be the person in the back seat. “Honey, you never say nothing new. I listen to you every day, every night, and every morning, and you never say nothing new. So you would rather be Mr. Arnold than be his chauffeur. So-- I would rather be living in Buckingham

Welcome to the Windham High school drama club revival of A Raisin in the Sun!

“Money is not the key to happiness,” no big pay amount would make much of a difference. As people in America everybody thinks you cannot afford to avoid the unhappiness of having to  life,  having plenty of cash does not make your any more enjoyable then what it is in the present. Happiness depends on how you feel towards your loved ones which in Lorraine Hansberry's Play, “A Raisin In the Sun” Walter's obsession with money often caused him to act unkindly to his loved ones. In the book Raisin in the Sun a family from the Southside of Chicago they lived in a small apartment trying to find a way out of the community they have lived in. The Younger family was dealing with living in a white dominant society dealing with poverty and prejudice acts. The Youngers’ try to ignore the obstacles and stay on their feet throughout the 1950s.

The story of this play is simple and the majority of African-Americans faced such issues in the 1950’s, living on the south side of Chicago, struggles with poverty, dignity and dreams of a better life. Wanting better for your children and trying to fit in, while maintaining family values. A Raisin in the Sun is an excellent example of the relationship between family values and conflict. In this play it portrays: values and purpose of dreams, the need to fight for racial discrimination and the importance of family.

Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on March 19, 1930. Hansberry was an African American. She was one of four siblings that include two brothers and one sister. In the 1930’s racism and segregation was prevalent in the time. Her parents were “civil rights activist Carl and Nannie Hansberry” Tillman. She was raised in the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Her family was one of the wealthy African-American families in Chicago. When she was five years old, her parents got her a fur coat. She wore it to school one day and she got beaten for wearing it. Also, when she was eight years old she moved to the white suburbs of Chicago and once her and her family arrived at their new homes they faced harassment and threats by mobs of white people. She nearly died after getting hit in the head with a brick. Her father went to court to fight for the legal right to live in that new neighborhood. The Supreme Court case of Hansberry v. Lee Weston Playhouse Theater Company. The characters in A Raisin in the Sun are black and live in Chicago just like Hansberry. The characters are also going through segregation/racism, similar to Hansberry.

Walter is the protagonist; however, although he does not appear to be a hero in the traditional sense of the word, he is the person who the drama revolves around. The play changes Walter dramatically. At the end, Mama says about him; "He finally come into his manhood today, didn't he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain."

Lorraine Hansberry, famous playwright and social activist, had many experiences from her childhood to draw on when writing her works, many of which are especially present in A Raisin in the Sun. An example of this would be the Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee in 1940. Lorraine Hansberry’s family moved to a white neighborhood in Chicago and was evicted because the community had previously attempted to create a racially restrictive covenant preventing African Americans from moving into the neighborhood. Though the case was eventually brought before the Supreme Court and decided in favor of Hansberry’s family, it was not because the neighborhood community was discriminating against African Americans. The case was eventually decided in favor of Hansberry because the required number of people had not signed the covenant so it could not legally be in effect (Hansberry v. Lee). Though this event was decided in the family's favor, it can be argued that it was for the wrong reasons, even if it allowed the family to keep their house. This event was affected Lorraine Hansberry's writing in the future and was so impactful that she wrote a similar event into her play, A Raisin in the Sun.

In the play Walter Lee Younger Junior is a 35-year protagonist who can't provide or stand up to be the man to his family. Walter Lee Younger Junior suffered so hard and he was tired of they way him and his family were living in poverty and he's trying to take away poverty from his family and try to figure out a new, and better ways to secure its economic prosperity. Walter is going insane due to all

Throughout out the whole play, “A Raisin in the Sun.” many of the scenes were either very uplifting or very dark and almost ominous. After reading this play many themes could be brought up but one that really connects with the overall storyline, is that even when times are tough and things are going down hill real fast, family will always be there to help lift you up.

It was a rough time for them. Walter is an African man who has a son and wife. He is very short tempered and doesn’t like when people tell him what to do. “Walter picks up his keys and coat and walks out” He is very short tempered and could get angry easily.

A Raisin in the Sun,by Lorraine Hansberry is a rollercoaster through an African American families trials and tribulations of chicago living during the reform of segregation. Two of the main characters are Beneatha, young medical student, and Mama, strong widower and mother.

The Younger family is a black family that struggles to gain middle class acceptance. When the play opens, Mama, who is the mother of the Younger family, is waiting for a $10,000 life insurance check from the death of her husband. Walter Lee Younger who is the son of Mama, shows signs of disappointment with his current living conditions “I got a boy who sleeps in the living room… and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live…”(1477). Walter was desperate to attain a better live for their growing family that he

I disliked many characters in this play, because of their greediness. Walter Lee Younger wanted the insurance check for his investment in a liquor store, while his sister Beneatha Younger wanted the money for her schooling. Lena Younger “Mama,” was the one who received the check in the first place, and she wanted to spend the money on something that would benefit the whole family, not just her. She had the biggest heart out of all the characters in the play. The character that I hated the most was Walter Lee Younger. In the beginning of the play, Walter Lee Younger spends trying to convince his mother to invest in the liquor store because he believes that it will fix his family’s financial problems. He kept pressuring his “mama” throughout

Showing his frustration to his mother, Walter does not feel like he will ever acquire his dream because he feels like he never got the chance or opportunity to. The inability of not able to provide a better life for his household is causing him to stress, act out of character and clouding his decision making. With nowhere else to turn he thought he could use his father’s life insurance money to invest into a liquor store which turned into a scam. Walter feeling trapped from making advancements in life, he makes a huge mistake and learns from this error. In the play Walter is talking to mother describing his anger,