Definition Of Family In 'Secondhand Lions'

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,

that ain’t anything at all. Mama, I don't know if I can make you understand” (73). Walter is not able to provide for his family by American standards, and as a result, his family lives in poverty.

The Younger family scrapes through life, each person searching for their own version of the American Dream. Walter clings to the original American Dream of being successful, even if that means going against his mother’s wishes. Mama wants a house for her family, this dream causes her to not fully support Walter’s dream. Walter holds on to his dream of being successful and nothing less, however Mama only wants a home for her family, meaning “Her dream is unacceptable to Walter, who will have nothing less than the complete American Dream, since her version of it only amounts to surviving, not living in the fullest sense” (Washington 94). Their dreams are so different and Mama struggles to support Walter’s risky dream of becoming successful through opening a liquor store. Finally out of the goodness of her heart, Mama gives him the remaining part of the insurance money to start his business, however Walter loses this money to a dirty friend. Thus causing pain to not only himself, but also his family. Barriers and issues constantly block or prevent him and his family from attaining the wealth and success that Walter desires so greatly.

The central theme of the movie is that despite your age, you still have a something to offer and a job to do. The “secondhand lion” that uncle Garth bought for sport ended up protecting Walter from an attacker trying to find the uncles’ money. The uncles are like “secondhand lions” in that they are being called to care for young Walter and to be the male examples in his life. Once both uncles discover their new purpose in life, they become happier with their current stage of life.

Everyone's experiences with it are different, some are favourable, and some are fallacious. Everyone has it, but no one’s family is synonymous. Family is strong and sacrosanct, but strange. The understanding of family varies between people and their personal experiences. In the play Only Drunks and Children Tell The Truth(ODACTTT) by Drew Hayden Taylor, one sees family defined in several legitimate but different ways.

The Younger family has not been able to experience the finer things in life, and Walter, being the authoritative male figure, feels he is at fault knows that a change is needed. Walter’s solution is to use his father’s life insurance money to fund the acquiring of a liquor license. The women of the household are always ordering around Walter. It’s Ruth, Mama, or Beneatha telling him how to run things, and when he gets a chance to take the initiative by using the money to invest in his liquor license, his friend betrays him, and his dreams are crushed.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a family is "a group of two or more people who reside together and who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption.” (Eutk). In the beginning, family was considered to be all of the individuals who contributed to the household as far as bringing in money; including servants and non-parental adults, who are also considered part of the family if they play a large role in the upbringing or care-taking of children other than their own. But in fact, over the last few centuries until present day, the institution of the family has completely changed. In the late-18th Century, marriage was considered just a union based on love, but as time passed, there were other financial, social, and political shifts in the

The title of Tim McCanlies’s movie, “Second Hand Lions” is extremely significant to the meaning behind the whole story. Hub is one of the main characters in the movie, he is a man in his older years who has been through many hard times and has seen any number things. In his prime he was a fighter, a brave man unafraid of any challenge. He succeeded at many thins and could do as he pleased. Therefore, the reality of getting old was painful and frustrating for a man so full of passion and energy, and he struggled to find his purpose. When his nephew Walter was left to live with him, he forced some prospective on to Hub. Near the end of the movie Walter gives a speech to Hub telling him that he can’t just sit around and wait to die. He explained that there are plenty of things to live for even when life seems impossibly hard. Walter explained how he looked up to Hub and wanted him to be there to raise him and help him become a man. Earlier in the movie Hub ordered a lion in hopes of hunting it, but when it arrived it was old, worn out and tired, they called it a second hand lion. Later in the story that second had lion sacrificed itself to save Walter. Hub is just like that secondhand lion. He may be out of is prime and his crazy adventurous days may be over, but he still has fight left in him, and more importantly he has many valuable life lessons that he has yet to share. Walter offers Hub a chance to relive his younger years, and allows him to find meaning in his older

In the film ‘Secondhand Lions’, the director uses a variety of film techniques to show change throughout the film. At the beginning of the film, Walter Is dumped by his mother. The director uses dialog when Mae ‘Walters mother’ says,“You're going to have to trust people, or you are going to grow up bitter and disappointed”. This shows to the audience that Walter trust nobody.

A family is seen as a group of people who are biologically or psychologically related. They connect on historical, emotional

Walter's frustration festers and his anger turns inward towards his family who, in Walters eyes, do not understand him. Walter's family members do understand him and they also want to amass material dreams, but Walter's family members know that it is going to take work to get there.

He valued the insurance money more than his own family and wanted to satisfy his own dreams. Walter’s mother gave him a chance to redeem himself by entrusting him with all of the money, but he ended up making a huge mistake for everyone. She does not want to hurt him, but to love him more since the world around him is being cruel and unfair. Walter ends up showing his own mother that he can think about

They want to protect him, but Walter lacks the maturity to understand this, and gets defensive instead. He makes the decision to value money over his connection with his mother. The beginning of a conflict is seen when Mama finally confronts him about how wrapped up he is in becoming

Journal Synapsis 4 In chapter ten the textbook describes a family as two or more people living together who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. I believe that family are also individuals that make you feel loved or happy in ways that no one else makes you feel. Its more then just money that can buy these feelings for a short moment that also seems to be a tremendous issues form long ago. The person with the most things often has a really big family, but the thing is that those people tend to have problems with each other like addictions, depression because although they might have many things many power there is no love.

Showing his frustration to his mother, Walter does not feel like he will ever acquire his dream because he feels like he never got the chance or opportunity to. The inability of not able to provide a better life for his household is causing him to stress, act out of character and clouding his decision making. With nowhere else to turn he thought he could use his father’s life insurance money to invest into a liquor store which turned into a scam. Walter feeling trapped from making advancements in life, he makes a huge mistake and learns from this error. In the play Walter is talking to mother describing his anger,