A Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis

Walter Lee Younger's route, which was filled with riskiness and impulsiveness, exemplified the road taken by blacks who had been oppressed so much that they followed their dreams with blind desperation. Though Walter was the only adult male in his family, he did not assume the role as "man of the house." His mother, Lena was the

During the 1900s many black families barely had enough money to pay for the basic necessities needed to live. At times some families would receive a significant sum of money, something they were not used to getting. Deciding on how to spend this money is what caused problems among some families. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she argues that there are times when in a state of financial instability and where money is a necessity to completing one’s dream that some family members choose to put their dreams over others when suddenly given the opportunity. After Mama’s husband died she was bound to receive an insurance check that would be used by the Younger family. Before even receiving the

(page 45-46)” In the first act alone, the audience is shown the great disparities between the American dream for a white man and the American dream for people of color. However, now with this insurance money from Big Walter’s death, there is a chance of someone their dream, the problem that the Younger’s face is which someone should get to use the money. Beneatha needs it for college to become a doctor, Walter needs it to invest in a liquor store so he can finally “be somebody.” But Mama wants to use that money to buy a house. She wants to leave their current rented apartment and she wants a nice house in the suburbs where she could have a garden and “with a yard where Travis could play in the summer. (page 44)” Mama believes that a change of scenery is what the family needs and that it will bring them back together. These three characters have the most conflicting wants for the

A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry shows how people’s actions can be perceived as both good and bad. In this play, the Younger family is trying to achieve the American dream, “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. The family inherits ten thousand dollars from a relative. Each family member has their own idea about how to use this money to fulfill their dreams. The play uses the decisions of the family members to make the reader think about what are the right choices. Mama is the matriarch of the family, and she wants to use the money to buy a house in a white neighborhood. She wants to move to this neighborhood because it is a better environment for her family. Lindor is a man who lives in the white neighborhood and he appears to make decisions for the benefit of the family. The decisions that Mama and Lindor make and the actions they take can be viewed as good or bad for both the individual and the community.

“No amount of money will make you happy if you're not happy about yourself,” a self explanatory quote that explains money’s not truly people's happiness. Everyone thinks that if you're wealthy then it will solve all of your problems and you will live a very happy life. However, is not actually true. In a Raisin in the Sun, a play by Lorraine Hansberry, is about an African American family in the 1950s, who live in poverty, receive a check for 10,000 from Life Insurance. The check that could possibly change everyone's lives, was given after the death of Mr. Younger. Lena Younger, who everyone calls Mama, has two kids named Walter and Beneatha. Walter is married to Ruth Younger and they both have a child named travis. Walter Younger, a greedy,

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.

Her two grown children, Walter and Beneatha (Bennie), have high aspirations; Travis wants to open a liquor store and become a businessman man while Bennie is in college studying to be a doctor. Both hope that some of the insurance money will go in helping them achieve their respective dreams. Mama and her late husband always dreamed of owning a home. When Mama and Mr. Younger initially rented their apartment on the Southside, it was supposed to be a temporary residence before they bought their own house. But more than thirty years later, the family still resides in the same apartment. The Younger family composed of Mama, Bennie, Walter, his wife Ruth, and their child Travis, all live under the same cramped roof. The play is about the unmet dreams of each member of the family.

In the playwright A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is about a poor African-American family named the Younger. This family live in a poor one bedroom apartment in the Southside of Chicago. In the play this family suffer and struggle a lot and they were always praying and wish to live in a very big house of their own. In the beginning of the play this family knows that they going to get Walter Lee Sr insurance worth 10,000 dollars that he left behind after his death for Lena ( mama). In the play this family was waiting on the check so that they share it to themselves. In the playwright Walter Lee wants to open his own type of business which is liquor store, in the other hand Lena ( mama) has always wanted to buy a big nice house with a backyard where her grandson Travis can been playing everyday. The three characters that are in the playwright are Walter Lee Younger Junior, Lena Younger (mama), and Ruth Younger this are three characters.

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.

At most times, the American Dream resembles an ideological puzzle more than a fully realizable image. Within the confines of her fantastical, theatrical world Lorraine Hansberry attempts to fit a few of these pieces together and, in the process, ends up showing exactly how everything doesn't just snap-together all nicely. The problems in her play, A Raisin In The Sun, deal primarily with the basic nature of humans and their respected struggle's to "make it" in America.

     Walter dreams of owning a liquor store, and he shows this throughout the whole play. Walter feels that “don’t nothing happen for you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!” Owning a liquor store is Walter’s American dream, as he believes that it will provide him and his family with a greater income so they will not have to live in poverty anymore. However, Hansberry shows through Mama how they have different views of the American dream when she tells Walter that the liquor store would be un-Christian like and that they should spend the money on a new house instead. Hansberry makes Mama more convincing by showing her carrying a Bible as she comes out of her room in the first scene. Mama also is seen asking God for help and talking about God throughout the play. This is shown when Walter admits that the money Mama gave him was gone because his partner took it and Mama says “Oh, God… look down here – and show me the strength.” Mama is very angry that Walter wasted all of Beneatha’s school money, but she doesn’t let her temper get the best of her and instead goes to God for support.

In return, Mrs. Young is a wonderful mother; she has suffered and sacrificed for her children. She always explains and lesson to her children instead of making them feel guilty. The Young family starts running into problems when Mrs. Young (Mama) receives about ten thousand dollars from life insurance of her husband. With a poor family likes Young, ten thousand dollars is really a dream, it is a huge amount of money that they could never get for all of their life. The children start fighting over the money; every one has his/her own reason to use that money. Mama must figures out how to keep the family in peace and together. Mama deeply believes in God and lives her life in "cultural and ethnic pride". She usually talks about how her generation has won its freedom and proud to be able no longer be slaves. At the end of the play, even she failed to convince Walter not to put the money in the liquor store but she made her commitment, she has what she has fought for all of her life, her family now all together in love, happiness and forgiveness.

Lena Younger (Mama) is the matriarch of the family. She wants her family to remain close and not go crazy over an insurance check. Her plans for the insurance check include moving her family into a larger and nicer home. At first, she is against Walter Lee using part of the insurance money to invest in a liquor store. She would later change her mind realizing that it would be the opportunity for Walter Lee to step up and be the man of the

There is conflict through the remainder of the play between Mama and Walter because he blames her for the loss of his dream. Walter had a dream of investing in a liquor store. He thought it would make him millions of dollars, and allow him to provide for his family. Eventually, she decides to allow Walter to have control of the remainder of the money. She gives specific instructions to set-aside a portion of the remaining money for Beneatha’s education and the rest was for him to decide (107). She does not exert this control over her children for the sake of maintaining power, rather to continue to provide for them. She willingly relinquishes her power as matriarch and tells Walter “to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be” (107). Putting the happiness of her children before her own is what almost any mother would do.