Analysis Of Lorraine Hansberry 's ' A Raisin Of The Sun '

Ruth just want to get out of poverty and to have a happy family. She doesn’t want to lose her opportunity to get out of the too small dilapidated apartment of which her family is forced to live in do to their lack of finances.

Walter believes that money will solve all of their problems and he speaks about money constantly "because it is life [. . .]"(1010). Walter's selfishness can be seen at the climax of the play when the family finds out that Willy has ran away with the money: "I never. . . went to the bank at all. . ."(1032). Consequently, Walter used the money to begin his own business.

Mama implies that the money was more than just currency, but what is left of her husband’s dream to bring success to his family. She is terribly disappointed with Walter for losing all of the money so easily, and not putting it toward to what he promised. Because of this great loss, Walter is still left with no money. His dream to become wealthy is now at the bottom of the gutter, all over again, and he has to work even harder as well as gain his confidence back in order to fish it out.

After Mama tells Walter she was out taking care of business Walter replies with ”What kind of business?” This short simple reply from Walter gives the effect that he’s worried about something and wants an answer quick. Walter being in such a state of worrisome shows that he is really worried about the money and if Mama spent it or not. The insurance money was key to Walter’s plans of owning his own liquor store. After Mama isn’t quick to answer Walter’s first few questions he grows even more restless and says, “Where were you, Mama? Mama, you didn’t do something with that insurance money, something crazy?” Finally, Mama answers saying she took care of business Walter gets even more upset because he could tell she used the insurance money and could almost see his dream crumbling before his very own eyes. Lorraine Hansberry asks numerous questions when she writes as Walter in order to create a sense of urgency and worry on the whereabouts of the money. This is an example that supports the theme because Walter dreamt of having his own liquor store while Mama and much of their family dreamt of living in a nicer house, which she decided to

The predicament that Walter finds him-self in motivates him to want to invest in a liquor store in order to grasp some type of financial freedom. He doesn’t just want to have enough money to provide for his family, but he tells his mother, “I want so many things” (74). He is obsessed with earning a lot of money. At the beginning of the play Walter is waiting for Mama's check from the insurance company as if it was his own, and Beneathea has to remind Walter that, “that money belongs to Mama, Walter and if is for her to decide how she wants to spend it” (36). Here we see how he is searching for his identity with money. Much of Walter’s dialog is about making money or who has money. When his wife Ruth mentions that his friend Willy Harris is a good for nothing loud mouth, Walter retorts; “...And what do know about good for nothing loud mouth? Charlie Atkins was just a good-for-nothing loud mouth too, wasn’t he! He wanted me to go in the dry-cleaning business with him, and now he’s grossing a hundred thousand a year. A hundred thousand dollars a year! You still call him a loud mouth!” (32) The idea of making a hundred thousand dollars is what he had most on his mind, and to Walter the liquor store is how he will achieve that. The liquor store represents an

       Ruth, Walter's wife, was pregnant when her husband was in a great despair. Although Walter lost the money and also her dream, Ruth forgave him and encouraged him to start everything over. Ruth, whose dream was to be wealthy and to have a fine family, calmly accepted the fact that her dream was only a dream. To her, it was a consolation that her husband had come back to reality after his unsuccessful dream.

Not only does the money represent good, but also bad where its fuels more the conflict between the siblings Walter and Beneatha. As one can see, Walter seeks to use the money to invest in a new liquor store with his friends; Beneatha looks to use the money to pay for medical school. The conflict is, the money brings only parallels the thought that money can corrupt an individual and this case it corrupts the family as each of them tries to take the money for their own use. For this reason, Mama is the only individual who uses the money for the whole family purchasing the house in order to move them out of the tight, dark, and bad apartment they were living in. The money drives the family; the one individual who seems mostly mesmerized by money is Walter who portrays the average African American man who with the money symbolizes the common misuse of money especially in a society where African Americans are expected to be poor and uneducated. Mama explains the impact of the money when she said “Oh—so now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life—now it’s money. I guess the world really does change . . .”

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.

The last type of symbolism is the issue and load of money. All through the play the subject of money assumes a critical part in their live. From Walter's perspective, money symbolizes a ticket. The best way to have a name in the public arena or have some significance is to have this "ticket". Without it you are rejected and an outsider. The need for this "ticket" is driving Walter to the point of madness. He, in the start of the play, is extremely quiet about his recommendation of putting money in an alcohol store. He goes to Ruth, clarifies how this will make him rich and more joyful. However Ruth brushes him off and says "eat your eggs". Walter at that point tries with Mom, disclosing that to have money will make Travis acknowledges him more as a father. Mom at that point says that he has an occupation; Walter hinders and says that his activity is opening and shutting entryways for white individuals, and that, that isn't viewed as a job in circumstance. At that point Walter totally detonates when Ruth reveals to him she is pregnant. He weights the family all the more saying that it is much more essential now that

When Walter loses all his money, he’s willing to lose his dignity and be more aggressive to earn it back. We see this when the money is stolen Walters and how it affects Walters view of manhood when he says, “Mama, you know it’s all divided up. Life is. Sure enough. Between the takers and the “tooken.” (He laughs) I’ve figured it out finally. (He looks around at them) Yeah. Some of us always getting “tooken.” (He laughs) ….But I’ll say one thing for old Willy Harris ... he’s taught me something. He’s taught me to keep my eye on what counts in this world” (141). Walter is willing to go against his morals to get what he wants in life, He takes now and apologizes later, whereas the tooken think through ramifications of their actions and don’t act. After the money is stolen, he is willing to take and win, whereas he had

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.

Suddenly, things changed, and Walter and his family came into quite a bit of money. Walter’s mama got a check for ten thousand dollars from her husbands life insurance after he passed away, which was a lot of money in that period of time. A nice house or a liquor store could easily be bought with half of the money from the check. Since the check was actually written out to mama, the money was all technically hers, so all that she wanted to do with it was buy her new house for her family, but stubborn Walter, he wanted his liquor store, and would stop at nothing to get it. When he finally realized that his mama was never going to give him the money to get the liquor store, he took it upon himself to get it himself. He eventually stole a portion of his mama’s money to get the store, but he was taken for a fool when the other person that he was making a deal with, stole all of his money. Now he had nothing, and mama had only some of her money.

In ''A Raisin in the Sun'' Hansberry uses Walter Lee Younger to represent the ambitious but, uninformed African American family. Walter's main role in 'A Raisin in the Sun' is to personify the African American families that make many gambles, which eventually lead to complete failure. Walter is shadowed by greed and ignorance which causes him to fail to achieve the success he wishes to gain. Walter Lee Youngers' greed is exemplified when he talks about, "Check coming today." (Hansberry 26). Walter's lack of wisdom and hard headedness allows him to portray American success, which he hopes of achieving in a very short time. When Walter Younger fails at what he has been trying to do he exclaims, "THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER'S FLESH."

Lorraine Hansberry’s novel, A Raisin in the Sun, revolves around a middle-class African-American family, struggling during World War II. By reading about the Younger’s true to life experiences, one learns many important life lessons. One of the aforementioned would be that a person should always put family’s needs before their own. There are many examples of this throughout the novel. Just a few of these would be the example of Ruth and her unborn baby, Walter regaining the respect of his family, and Mama and her unselfish ways.

Halfway through the play, Walter tries to explain that he wants more out of his life, and Lena says that he has all he needs- a wife, a family, and a job. Walter then gets even angrier and says “Mama, a job? I open and close doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say ‘Yes sir’; ‘No sir”; ‘Very good sir’; ‘Shall I take the drive sir?’ Mama that aint no kind of job” (Miller, pg 107). Walter’s dream to be rich drives him to the brink of insanity. Finally, Lena decides that she will give him the money to invest in a liquor store. She keeps part of the money to invest in a house, and gives him the rest of it. She tells him to put three thousand dollars in an account for Bonita’s tuition, and the rest is his to invest in the liquor store. Instead of putting any money in an account for Beneatha, Walter gives it all to one of his partners to invest in the store. He is told he will get enough of it back in a few days, so he can put the money in the account. As it turns out, his partner ends up leaving town with the money, and never coming back. Walter lost the bulk of the check. His dream to have money, to be somebody, to be rich; leads to his downfall. Instead, he ends up losing the money that could have helped the family as a whole. Not only did he set himself back, but he also set Beneatha back. Not only did he ruin his dream, but he also ruined his