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.
Walter
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As a black poor family, their opportunities are limited just as the limited window of sunshine to the plant. Like the plant, the family struggles and does not live an amazing life yet they survive and persevere. Mama dreams for her family to grow new roots and become healthy again, and if they do not acquire new opportunities soon , the family will never change in a positive way. “Like them, this little old plant that ain't never had enough sunshine or nothing -- and look at it…”(1557). When Mama gets the new house, the change from one to many windows connect with the change from a few small opportunities to a possible many successful opportunities. At the end, Mama picks up her plant and walks out of the Southside apartment for the last time, with perseverance to face the many incoming obstacles that come with being a black person residing in a white neighborhood.
Although she is pregnant, it is not even definite that Ruth will be having her baby. She feels this way at first because of the family’s life. Ruth does not want raise another child in the same way of life she is raising Travis, not even able to afford money needed for his schooling. This shows how bad the family's living situation really is because Ruth is a loving mother who dreams of a happy family, living a good life without just barely getting by. She wants to have an abortion because Ruth believes it is worse to bring a child into a household that is reliant on a
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
Primarily, in A Raisin in the Sun portrays a low-class African American family, living on the Southside of Chicago in the 1950’s. Throughout the play, an opportunity to escape from poverty comes in the form of ten thousand dollars of a life insurance check for the family ( Mrs. Younger, mama ) received upon her husband’s death. Lorraine Hansberry’s play shows the struggles of accomplishing dreams and how racism still exists today.
“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
“ 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
We all work with one. Maybe you live with one. Or maybe we've done it ourselves...pretending to know something we don't, trying to act like something we're not. Why do people do this? Pride. Some are afraid to admit that they just don't know something, they want to appear intelligent than they are and so they stretch the truth about themselves or embellish certain things they say. This is what Walter Lee of A Raisin in the Sun was doing as he conversated with his sister's date, George, about business plans. Walter Lee was THAT guy. He had goals. He had dreams. He was also desperate and thought he knew it all. Prometheus was a Greek god that was known for his sly intelligence. As annoyed George exits the conversation, he bids Walter "Good
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.
A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, depicts the struggles of an African American family in the 1950s. The Youngers are a poor African American family of five living in a run-down, one-bedroom apartment. Mama, or more formally known as Lena, is the head of the family who lives with her two children. Her son, Walter, is married with a child who both live with them. Her daughter, Beneatha, dreams of pursuing medicine instead of a husband. Soon, an opportunity to escape poverty arises in the form of a $10,000 life insurance check from the patriarch of the family. From buying a house, paying for medical school, and investing in a business, each member of the family has a different plan for the money. When Walter discovers his wife is pregnant and wants an abortion, he says nothing to change her mind. With this, Lena decides to use some of the money for a down payment on a house and gives the remainder to Walter to take to the bank. Walter is supposed to deposit some of the money to pay for Beneatha’s medical school but instead, Walter gives all the money away. Without the excess funds, the Youngers rely on the strength of family and dreams. The American Dream is embodied in the lives of Lena and Beneatha Younger in A Raisin in the Sun.
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down
Set in the 1950’s, “A Raisin in the Sun” is about an African-American family, the Youngers, living in Chicago. The Youngers have received a check for $10,000 from the late Mr. Youngers life insurance policy. Each family member has their own idea of what to do with the money but the main character, mama, wants to buy a house because it was a dream that she shared with her late husband. As you can imagine, this results in turmoil for the family. Mama’s son Walter wants to invest the money into a bar. Mama’s daughter Beneatha wants to use the money to cover her costly medical school tuition. The turmoil continues to grow when mama makes a down payment on a house that just so happens to be in a predominantly white neighborhood. Shortly afterwards, a man named Mr.
Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, is a great example of the struggles faced by an impoverished black family; who strive to deal with the realities of life on the ghetto side of South Chicago. Written in the 1958, this play illustrates the destructive consequences of impecuniousness and repression on African American families. Throughout the play, Hansberry (who is he, describe) shows the day-to-day struggles of a black family and explains the different perspectives on the American Dream. Each character in the play have their own hopes and dreams, however, these end up clashing with one another. Hansberry uses the Younger family to show that despite oppression and subjugation; a dream to live a better life is achievable with family unity and support.
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.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry in the period following the Second World War. It is divided into three acts and explores the circumstances of the Younger family, a colored family living in the ghettos of southern Chicago. In particular, the play deals with the efforts of Walter Lee, the scion of the family to bring his family out of poverty and into riches by entering into a business venture. The play highlights the psychological and societal barriers to Walter's goal of becoming rich like the white people he sees around him. In effect, Walter's ambitions typify the American dream and the play discusses how the American dream is only a myth against the reality of financial inequality, racial prejudice and constricted social mobility.
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.
The house Mama buys in Clybourne Park represents the rise of the family’s social and economic status. As she imagines the house she wanted for the family, Mama explicitly expresses that she wants, “a yard where Travis could play in the summertime” (44). The yard symbolizes Travis’ space to develop, rather than in an overcrowded apartment; therefore, Mama envisions Travis running around in an open space without any limitations rather than playing with rats in the alley below. In other words, Mama wants to give Travis the opportunity to achieve whatever it is that he desires to achieve. After all, in the words of the late Big Walter, “God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams—but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while” (45-46). Mama takes these words to heart as she makes the decision to break the color barrier of Clybourne Park in order to insure an opportune future for Travis.
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