A Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis

In Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun a number of social issues are both explicitly and subtly exemplified through out the characters experiences and relationships. Living in a cramped Chicago apartment, the Youngers’ display both influential goals and conflicting restraints. Beneatha Youngers is a controversial character; she complicates society’s typical gender roles, introduces the wrestle between assimilation and ancestry of African-Americans, but specifically serves as a paradigm for her generation in the play.

Firstly, Ruth is a mature woman who can make decisions on her own. Ruth tries to get an abortion, “I think Ruth is thinking bout getting rid of that child”. Ruth is an independent mature lady, she makes a decision to get an abortion which was unlikely for Ruth to other family members. Ruth’s family has been struggling with money and relationship with each other, bringing

     Ruth compares with two people I know personally. My mom and my grandma remind me of her very much. My mom is very similar to Ruth because they are both independent, witty, loving, and kind. My mom keeps my family on track everyday just as Ruth does. Both my mother and Ruth crack jokes often to lighten the mood. My mom and Ruth care about the well being of their families more than anything. My Grandma is also very similar to Ruth in many ways. My grandma is loving, kind, and firm. My grandma and Ruth both

The play Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is identified as a modernist text for it challenges the life of African-American families living in an industrial environment. Walter and Beneatha’s mother,

Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, depicts the lives of the Younger family, an African American family living in the Southside of Chicago during the 1950s. The play takes place in their cramped apartment offering the reader insight into the arguments, discussions, and conversations that take place between the characters. In one scene, Hansberry specifically offers the reader a conversation between Asagai, an influential companion, and Beneatha to show us how disparate the Younger siblings, Beneatha and Walter, are. As Asagai looks at Beneatha, he sees “what the New World has finally wrought.” Similarly, Beneatha takes a look at Walter and says, “Yes, just look at what the New World hath finally wrought” with an enraged

Tateh’s abuse of Ruth and mistreatment of blacks resulted in her attraction towards men of color. As a child, Ruth was forced to work long hours in her father’s grocery store, immediately after school until close. After, long days of both school and work Tateh often crawled into bed with Ruth and molested her. Which ended in Ruth quickly growing to both fear and hate Tateh for what he put her through. The abuse he put her through also allowed her to sympathize with people of color as Tateh mistreated them as well. Ruth saw how despite the constant mistreatment of blacks, by both Tateh and others, they were always laughing. This happiness attracted Ruth and gave her hope that she could overcome her abuse and prosper. Considering Ruth’s hatred towards Tateh and his hatred towards blacks,even she admits

It is a common experience: a woman dates a man who is rude to everyone except for her. He makes her feel special, but a few months later, he becomes an abusive, controlling boyfriend. Walter Younger from the play “A Raisin In The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, while not an abusive person is a milder example of this phenomenon. He is the father in a large African American family, and lives with his mother, sister, wife, and young son. His father has recently died, and his mother, Lena, receives an enormous check from their life insurance. They need this money, as they live in a small house and need to move to a larger one, but Walter wants to invest the money into opening a liquor store instead. Although the play seems to revolve around him, Walter

Walter’s believes in the beginning, of the book to be a man you have to be career oriented and making enough money to provide for your family. In the beginning of the book, Ruth is making eggs for Walter as they discuss what to do with the money from the life insurance. Ruth is focused on making breakfast while Walter is focused on how a man would respond as, “I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby!.” (37) The fact that it’s choking walter to death that he can not provide for his family and be successful without the life insurance money shows that his mainfocus is achieving for his family . Walter believes his family should not only have enough money to get by, but thinks they should have a surplus of material objects. Walter tells Mama, “sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking ’bout things … sitting there turning deals worth millions of dollars …”sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me.” (76) As Walter sees his opportunity start to pass he starts to see he need to start focusing on his career.

Another factor that influences my interpretation of Ruth, is economics. Nadar’s interpretation of Ruth is that she is a survivor and a positive role model for underprivileged women and widowers. I do not disagree that she is a survivor, but I do believe Ruth was exploited by working the land and becoming the reproductive means for Boaz and Naomi’s economic profit. Yee talks about Ruth’s desperate act of trying to have sex with Boaz as a way to lock him down for economic security. She states “Whether or not Ruth and Boaz had sex that fateful night should not distract us from the economic urgency that compelled Ruth the foreigner to go to the threshing floor in the first place,” (20). Yee and I completely agree with Katherine Sakenfeld when she states “No woman should have to do something so socially unacceptable in Israelite culture… in order to put food on her family’s table for the longer term. This is not a slightly adventurous tryst. It is a desperate act by a desperate person,”

In addition to growing savvy when dealing with discrimination, Ruth devotes her love to her kids so they will not repeat her sad youth. Roth recalls her despair in her callous Jewish family, “I was starving for love and affection. I didn’t get none of that” (McBride 83). Ruth resents the tyranny and cruelty of Tateh, who disrespects his wife, molesters Ruth, and enslaves his son. Attracted to black men’s kindness, Ruth falls in love with James’s father Dennis, yet their marriage offenses both Tateh and the Jewish faith. Ruth depicts the

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter Younger wants to be a “real man”. His dream is to become successful in business and make his family rich. However, when all his money is stolen, he becomes very pessimistic, abandoning the ideas of morality and dignity. At the end of the play, his son Travis inspires him to value his family’s pride over materialism. Over the course of the play, Walter’s view of manhood changes from someone wealthy and successful to a person who has pride and believes in human dignity.

“I mean it! I’m just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything?” (Hansberry, page 33). A Raisin in the Sun, play written by Lorraine Hansberry, depicts a poor black family in the Southside of Chicago waiting on an insurance payment to better their lives. The family consists of Ruth, Walter, Travis, Beneatha, and Mama. Beneatha being the daughter of Mama. Throughout the play Beneatha struggles with her identity, and her role as a black woman in her society. She’s an optimist, she wants the best for herself and her family, her personality is outspoken and indecisive.

“Disappointment has already begun to hang in her face… She will be known among her people as a settled women.” This tells the readers that the life she has lived has caused her to be who she is. Throughout the first scene Walter and Ruth are constantly fighting. This is mainly about money, and what Walter wants to do, which is to buy a liquor store. Ruth and Walter also fight a lot because Walter thinks that Ruth doesn’t care about the things that he wants and that she doesn’t support him. Shortly after the fight Ruth finds out that she is two months pregnant. This helps to create tension not only between characters but also for the readers. Mama and Beneatha express positive feelings towards the new baby but Walter goes out and drinks. Ruth reacts to the news of the baby by suggesting on having an abortion. “Yes, I would too, Walter. I gave her a five-dollar down payment.” Ruth thinks that this would be the best decision for her family. This tells the readers that Ruth will do anything if she thinks that it will help her family. At the end of act two scene one Ruth and Walter begin fighting once again but it turns into an intimate moment between the two. Walter: “It’s been rough ain’t it baby.” Ruth: “Now when you come to me and try to talk to me. Try to be with me …a little even.” This creates an emotional feeling and helps make the plot more relatable and understanding.

Today I began reading the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. This play follows the life of a poor African American family, the Youngers, trying to get by on the little money they have. The Younger family of five live in a small apartment in Chicago. The family consists of Walter Younger, Ruth, his wife, Travis, their son, Beneatha, Walter’s sister, and Lena, Walter and Beneatha’s mother. The first person we learn about is Ruth. Ruth is a very independent woman that runs the household. Although Ruth is in her thirties, she is aging due to stress. Walter wants to be very successful and wants to invest into a liquor store. Travis is the young son of Ruth and Walter. Beneatha is very intelligent and attends college in hopes of becoming

In A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger family is trying to achieve the American Dream, which is “the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American”(cite dictionary.com). The Youngers are a black family living in a poor part of Chicago. They inherit ten thousand dollars because Mama’s husband died. Mama is the matriarch of the Younger family. Each family member has their own idea about how to use this money to fulfill their dreams, and the play uses the decisions of the family members and other characters to show the reader that people’s actions are not always motivated by what they appear to be. Mama wants to use the money to buy a house in a white neighborhood, because she thinks it is a better environment for her family than their current living conditions and will benefit her family. Although there are a number of people in A Raisin in the Sun who appear too want to help the Younger family, Mama shows through her decision to buy the house that she is the only person that is looking out for the best interests of her family.