Jessica Dattilo
Intro to Literature
Prof. Skutar
26 March 2015
Money vs. Family “A Raisin in the Sun,” a play by Lorraine Hansberry, follows the Younger’s family who lived in poor conditions and could not afford a better lifestyle. However, there is an insurance check coming to Mama, Walter’s mother, for $10,000 from her husband’s death. Walter Lee, a main character in the play, wants the money to help change his family’s financial problems. He is passionate and determined man, and full of liveliness of his dream. He becomes obsessive about the insurance money and he changes throughout the story. He learns from his mistakes and realizes what life is really about.
Walter is the man of the house in his family, and has to deal with the poverty that his family goes through. His father has died and he wants his family to have a better life just like his father. Throughout the play he changes a great amount. At the beginning of the play, he is not the nicest person, and is immature. Walter
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We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes-but we will to be good neighbors. That’s all we got to say. We don’t want your money.” (992 Hansberry)
This particular part in the story really shows that Walter has changed, and that he has become more of a man than he use to be. Walter wants to show that money does not mean the world to him anymore, and by standing up to Mr. Linder he shows that to his family. He wants to be more of a man of the house, and not just look at money as power. Mama saw Walter step up and take charge. She says to Ruth, “He finally come into his manhood today, didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain (994
Walter Lee is stubborn, very ambitious, and filled with pride at the beginning of the story. He strives for success with the money “Mama,” also known as Lena got from the life insurance from her husband who recently passed away. Walter was so selfish all he wanted was to provide a better life for he and his family because he was not satisfied with their current standards of living. He wants more and wishes to become rich because he believes he never had enough growing up, but at the same time he wants to provide money and societal respect for his family. He put his trust with the money into a person who betrayed him and he ended up losing it all including his sisters schooling money. After this scene in the play Walter was at his lowest point,
Walter has long dreamed of making his family’s condition better, of giving them wealth that his low-paying job is unable to do. Nature appears to be against Walter and his family, for they are living in a poorly maintained tenement apartment while surrounded with racism. Walter understands this
The drama A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, shows the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the Southside of Chicago in the 1950s. In the beginning, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. This money comes from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy. Each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. Mama, wants to buy a house to fulfill a dream she shared with her husband. Mama’s son, Walter Lee, would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store with his friends. He believes that the investment will solve the family’s financial problems forever. Beneatha, Walter’s sister and Mama’s daughter, wants to use the money for her medical school tuition. Ruth, Walter’s wife, discovers that she is pregnant, but
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.
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
Money determines how happy he is. Mama is getting tired of his complaining so she decided to trust him with the large sum of money. This money makes him happy and friendly. It causes him to become the perfect family man. When he receives the insurance money he is ecstatic, but when he loses the money to Willy Harris he lets his self-loathing side come out. Walter knows that he screwed up and he really does not know how he will face the consequences.
“A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry is a Drama about a generous insurance check that could mean either a profit-making gain for the younger family or destroy the already suffering family. “The Younger family comprises of Mama, Beneatha, her son Walter and his significant other Ruth, and her grandson Travis.” (Synopsis) “The family has lived in the same cramped Chicago dump for quite a long time”.(Synopsis)Walter is a taxi driver and Ruth fills in as low maintenance house keeper. Mother has recently resigned as she is expecting a $10,000 check from her croaked fathers allotment. There are many themes of this play, but the one that stood out most to me is the theme hopes, plans and Dreams.The Younger family is given a chance to realize
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.
No matter how hard they try, there are some people who cannot get ahead in life. Walter Lee Younger is a man who is frustrated with his current position in life, and every disappointment he has encountered thus far. Although he tries to be a loving man, sometimes he does not know how to show the idea of love, 'Sometimes...sometimes...I don't even know how to try' (Hansberry 89). His position in life can be regarded as symbolic of every black male struggling to provide for his family by any means necessary. Although Walter has a job, it seems inadequate for his survival. As a result, he has become frustrated and lacks good judgement. Throughout this play Walter searches
Yessir- whatever you want to be- you name it son! And I?ll hand you the world.? (108-09). Walter?s false confidence allows him to make such a strong promise to Travis. Walter is unable to see that these things he is promising Travis quite easily may not become reality because he is solely focused on his dreams. Therefore, he believes everything he promises as a result of his dream will become a reality. Furthermore, as a result of his sole focus on dreams, Walter is unable to associate himself with decent people. The prime example of this poor association is Willy Harris. At this present time in the novel, Walter is seeing the true extent of his impaired judgment due to focus on his dreams. As he discusses his ?business transaction? with Bobo, one of his colleagues, Walter is unable to see Willy Harris for the true epitomic evil doer he is. As his evident mental block continues, Bobo gives him insight on the growing problem, ??what?s a matter with you, Walter! When a cat takes with your money he don?t leave you no road maps.?? (128). Walter is beginning to learn the consequences of trusting a malevolent man like Willy Harris. Walter is solely focused on his dreams and quite palpably, it was a mistake. His judgment is so impaired, he trusts this man with the money Mama selflessly gives to him and his sister and it instantly vanishes. Finally, Walter is unable to see he is affecting those around him because he is singularly focused on
Toward the end of the play his spirit is broken, and he behaves almost like a madman, plotting to give in to Lindner and accept his offer; this action greatly worries his mother. The whole time, Walter wasn’t simply looking for a chance to follow through with his plans. He was seeking support from the system that he found himself subject to. This idea comes up in Gertrude Samuels’ Even More Crucial Than in the South. “…the real drive that is now rising ominously is a demand for personal dignity” (Samuels 1546). His personal dignity is at stake repeatedly throughout the story when he finds himself battling against a troubled family and a corrupt system.
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.
When Walter loses the money, his views change. He convinces himself that a man doesn’t need morals, and that the only thing that matters is how
He is thirty-five years old and is married to Ruth Younger, who is thirty years old. He is Mama’s son. Walter is best described as unhappy and stressed. Walter did not like the idea of Mama putting a down payment on the house and says bitterly, “So that’s the peace and comfort you went out and bought for us today!” He says it bitterly because he wanted the money for the business he wanted to invest in.
Walter loses the money that Mama gives him by trusting the wrong person, but he redeems himself by the end of the play by refusing to take the neighborhood representative's buyout offer.