In life people have ups and downs; the characters in A Raisin in the Sun experience many highs and many lows. Throughout the story there are many decisions that the characters toss around and debate. Mama, the mother of the family, receives $10,000 which is a very large sum of money for their family. It is up to Mama to decide where the money should go. The Characters in the story developed and their true desires are shown through the choices they make. The characters are faced with many obstacles and these hurdles reveal their character and help to shape the overall plot. In Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the struggle to overcome oppression in order to actualize one’s dream is revealed through the character developement of Walter, Beneatha, and Mama. In Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Walter’s character evolves from a man that puts money over everything into someone who cares about his family’s name. In the beginning of the story Walter desires wealth above all else; he says, “I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy…Mama – look at me.” (1.2.54). This quote shows that Walter has let his desire of instant gratification overcome his love for his family. Walter believes in get-rich-quick techniques such as risky investments. Walter initially believes the money should be invested in a scheme that will empower him and provide him with financial independence. Walter views the money as a way of proving his self- worth. However, at the end of the story Walter
In the drama, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry sheds light on the hardships a struggling black family faces. As the long awaited insurance check arrives, the family debates on how to spend the money. Walter Lee exhibits frustration over his job and desires more success in his life. While Mama continuously worries that her son's dream of owning a liquor store is not the right path for the family, she believes her dream will be most beneficial for everyone. In addition, Ruth is pregnant and yet it is not her only dream to become a mother, she dreams for roots and to live comfortably. Pride in ownership, as well as financial success and family stability not only conflict with each other yet all depend on one check.
In A Raisin In the Sun Lorraine Hansberry uses everyday objects-a plant, money, and a home to symbolize a family's struggle to deal with racism and oppression in their everyday lives, as well as to exemplify their dreams. She begins with a vivid description of the family's weary, small, and dark apartment in Chicago's ghetto Southside during the 1950s. The Youngers are an indigent African-American family who has few choices in their white society. Each individual of the Younger family has a separate dream-Beneatha wants to become a doctor, Walter wants to open a liquor store, and Ruth and Mama want a new and better home. The Youngers struggle to accomplish these dreams throughout the play, and a major aspect of their happiness and
“A Raisin In The Sun” is a play in which Lorraine Hansberry, the author, shows on how money can have a major effect on many people’s lives. Walter, the main character, experiences on how the theme Money and Mortality has affected his own life. In the play “A Raisin In The Sun” Lorraine Hansberry uses certain characters to show the theme Money and Mortality, such as Walter, Beneatha and Mama.
The idea of family is a central theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in her play to magnify “the value of having a home and family”(Ardolino 181). The Younger family faces hardships that in the moment seem to tear them apart from one another, but through everything, they stick together. The importance of family is amplified by the choices of Walter and Beneatha because they appear to initiate fatal cracks in the Younger family’s foundation, but Mama is the cement who encourages her family to pull together as one unit. The hardships of the family help develop a sense of unity for the Younger household.
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
“ A Raisin in the Sun” is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry about the life of an African American family during the era of segregation. The play starts off with the Younger family receiving a 10,000 dollar check from Mr. Younger’s insurance policy. The family argues over what they are going to do with it. Mama wants to buy a house with it, Walter wants to invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to use the money to go to medical school. The contrast of the characters’ personalities fuels the conflict and drives the story forward. Beneatha is a young college student and the sister of Walter. She has a dream of becoming a doctor. Beneatha is a dynamic character who is easily influenced by her family and the people
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
In Lorraine's Hansberry A Raisin In The Sun. Walter wants to make money to support his family. He wants money because he thinks it makes him a “man”. How ever when his money is stolen, Walter’s perceptions of manhood shifts from valuing wealth and power to valuing family and pride.
Throughout Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, we see the positive and negative effects of chasing the American Dream. Hansberry expresses her different views on the American Dream through the characters and she portrays the daily struggles of a 1950 black family throughout A Raisin in the Sun. In this play, she is able to effectively show the big impact that even small decisions can make on a family. Hansberry shows the many different attachments that come with the fulfillment of this American Dream. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, each family member has their own pursuit of happiness, which is accompanied by their American Dream.
In the play “A Raisin in the Sun” written by Lorraine Hansberry, she is able to take us to place to see what it was like for an African American family to survive in the mid-twentieth century. The play details how the main characters are going through an evolving social and economic position, as well as the evolving gender roles. Hansberry uses the characterization of Beneatha, Ruth, and Walter in order to show the expectations and assigned gender roles for the characters in the story. In short, Beneatha is depicted as a woman who is challenging gender norms and expectations upheld by her family, whereas Ruth is seen as an example of a submissive housewife fulfilling her expected duties. Using “A Raisin in the Sun,” as well as “Marxists
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.
In the words of Jim Cocola and Ross Douthat, Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun to mimic how she grew up in the 1930s. Her purpose was to tell how life was for a black family living during the pre-civil rights era when segregation was still legal (spark notes). Hansberry introduces us to the Youngers’, a black family living in Chicago’s Southside during the 1950s pre-civil rights movement. The Younger family consists of Mama, who is the head of the household, Walter and Beneatha, who are Mama’s children, Ruth, who is Walter’s wife, and Travis, who is Walter and Ruth’s son. Throughout the play the Youngers’ address poverty, discrimination, marital problems, and abortion. Mama is waiting on a check from the
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.
In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, Mama has the role of being a mother figure for all of the characters. She is a very outgoing women who loves her family. Overall, Mama wants her family to succeed in life. In addition, when it comes to momentous family decisions she does what she believes is best for everyone. However, other members of the family sometimes have contradicting beliefs, which makes them feel like their house is matriarchal. I believe that their house is Matriarchal, but Mama’s decisiveness is for the best of everyone. In conclusion, Mama is not a tyrant because she makes decisions for the best of her family, the money belongs to her, and she wants to see her dream come true.
In fact, Hansberry uses Walter’s bad decisions and mistakes to project that mistakes can change one for the better, helping one find who he or she truly is. Walter is livid after getting played and robbed of his riches, he then cries out “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER’S FLESH,” (Hansberry 2.3). Walter is being selfish with the money knowing not all of it is his and he uses it anyway, just for it to backfire and hit him where it hurts most. It is said that money is the “root of all evil” and can drive an individual insane. Money has the power to become addictive where someone can never seem to have enough. It can blind a person from their morals and priorities. That is where Walter began to drift away and lose himself over the years. But after Walter makes one of the biggest mistakes of his life, he finally understandings that life was