Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

He envies Mama’s role as leader of the house and wants it for himself. Despite receiving much ridicule from his family Walter still seeks their approval and praise. A prime example of the ridicule Walter receives is when Mama says he is a “Disgrace to his father’s memory” (p.75). Here Mama has questioned Walter’s manhood and pointed out that he does not lead the family like his father would. Walter is unable to convince Ruth to not get an abortion prior to finding out about their new home in Clybourne Park. Likewise Walter wants to use the money to buy a liquor store, but Mama shows her dominance by rejecting his idea. Due to Walter’s inability to achieve his dreams, he confides in alcohol as his solution. He also belittles Ruth and Beneatha to make himself appear stronger and more powerful. This behavior is quite similar to that of

       Walter was upset when he heard his mother had spent the insurance money on the house and thought it wasn't fair that Beneatha got some of it for her medical school while he got nothing for his liquor store business. Lena, who always wanted her son to be happy, trustingly gave the rest of the insurance money to Walter. Holding the money in his hands, Walter thanked his mother and appreciated the trust she had in him. Walter then gave the money to his buddies to help him getting his liquor license without realizing that they betrayed him. As his dream crumbled to pieces, Walter was regret that he didn't listen to his mother, wife and sister.

In the first act of the play Walter begins to talk about the arrival of the check. He tells his wife Ruth to talk to his mom about the liquor store he wants to start because she will listen more to her than him. In the story Walter says, “Mama would listen to you. You know she listen to you more than she do me and Bennie”. This quote from Walter states that he is using his mother’s loyalty and kindness to his wife to benefit him, he is only thinking about himself. In the play Walter says, “you just sip your coffee, see, and say easy like that you been thinking bout that deal Walter Lee is so interested in, bout the store and all.”

Mama does not want Walter to open up a liquor store because Mama is not those kind of people “We ain’t no business people. Ruth. We just plane working folks” (42). Throughout the play Mama and Walter has differences in life about what the want to do with insurance money they got from Mama’s husband that passed away. Mama wants to buy a house ,but Walter wants to invest in liquor store.

She illustrates the lifestyle she wants for them—Travis having a yard to play in, Beneatha attending medical school, and owning a home. An important aspect of her vision is that she wants control of the family’s destiny. Mama’s dream influences her perspective when handling the money. She is incredibly dedicated to her vision, even referencing the money she will leave to Beneatha with “Ain’t nothing going to touch that part of it. Nothing.” Mama is willing to exercise total control over the money and wants to fulfill her vision. This perspective eventually clashes with Walter’s when he desires to have control over his destiny too. Though they possess drastically different perspectives, they both want power over their

In the beginning Walter is very selfish and only seems to care about the liquor store, he even asks Beneatha why she can’t just be a nurse or marry a rich man. The reason he says this to her is because he wants her to not go to medical school. Walter would rather invest the money rather than use it to pay for her schooling. Walter puts his own selfish needs before his family’s

After telling the exciting news of the family moving into their own house, Walter was furiated. Mama found Walter half drunk at the bar later that day, from the aggravation and negative energy the family gave off on him earlier that day. Walter and Mama have a conversation at the bar, and Mama is willing to give him 6,500 dollars and she ask him to promise her he will put half away in the bank for Beneatha's education, giving Walter the rest toward his business partnership. At this part of the book Walter saw that Mama had trusted Walter with the money his father had worked so hard for all of his life. He promised Mama that he would not let her down. Knowing Walter being so tempted by his dream of the liquor business, he finally had a decent amount of money to put him and his family into a good position. Walter no thought in the mind, puts the full 6,500 dollars towards the liquor business leaving nothing for Beneatha. Walter being so greedy, thought he knew what was best, and yet he is running into a bigger problem he would had never

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.

Walter has proven that he is extremely selfish while talking to Mama about why he is so infatuated with money. “Because it’s life, Mama!” (Hansberry 74). Walter refuses to see why opening a liquor store is so bad, as he does not agree that it is a waste of money to just gamble away. He has ultimately blocked out the opinions and views of his family and he only focuses on the life insurance check that is soon to come in. He wishes to put all his blind faith, and money, into his acquaintances which his sister Beneatha has warned him are unreliable. He is extremely carless with the money he has not yet been given. While talking to Beneatha’s date, Asagai, Walter drunkenly slurs that he wishes to talk to Asagai’s father about business. “Big. Invest big, gamble big, hell, lose big if you have to” (Hansberry 84). If Walter is so careless with the money he does not yet hold it in his hands, how would he behave with money he will possess? As Walter continues to express his ideas to the family, it is clear how selfishly invested he is in the liquor store more than he is in his own family’s

From the start of the play Walter speaks of wanting to start a liquor store. In Act I Scene One Walter tells Ruth about the liquor store and tries to convince her to tell Mama about how it could be a good investment of the insurance money (Hansberry 32). Walter thinks the liquor store will be a good investment and a way to earn money for his family. Throughout the play he is fixated on this idea. While the reader may look at this and see it as a bad idea, in Walter’s mind this is a good way to earn money and start a business that will earn money to help support his family.

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination and hard work” This quote by Colin Powell reminds a person of the Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun written by Larraine Hansberry. It is a drama and is about a black family that lives in southside Chicago in a small apartment. They are waiting on an insurance check for $10,000 due to the father’s passing. Mama put downpayment on a house in this drama/play. There are three main objects of symbolism. They are light, plant and window however the strongest are the light and the plant.

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.

Walter Younger genuinely exemplifies the American dream. He a bona fide entrepreneurial soul and yearning to advance. Walter wouldn 't like to test the present framework as Beneatha does. Rather, he wishes to advance up the social step into a higher class. He is unsatisfied with his work as an escort, and needs a major house, a great car, pearls for his better half, and a well-paying good occupation. Walter so seriously needs the bourgeoisie way of life. Walter 's adoration of riches and influence really makes a profound yearning inside him for change that makes him go for everything without exception at all cost. After a few occasions, Mama understands the essentials of his arrangements even though she ethically questions the possibility of an alcohol store. In the wake of making an upfront installment on a house in an overwhelmingly white neighborhood, Lena gives her most seasoned child obligation over whatever remains of the protection cash, requesting that he set away a critical segment for his sister 's medicinal school training. Despite what might be expected, Walter chooses to put most the cash in the alcohol store business with two men of faulty character. The arrangement falls through when Willy, one of the speculators, flees with all the cash. The family is totally subject to the cash:

No one is responsible for Walter’s situation except Walter himself. Throughout the play the audience can recognize that Walter is mostly an arrogant character who is dissatisfied with his life. Since he has a dissatisfaction for his financial and living situation, he brings everyone around him down to try to compensate for his feeling of insuperiority to his rich, white boss while he is working as a chauffeur. All Walter can truly think about is himself and money. Thinking about money does not always have to be a bad thing when one has to provide for a family, but Walter does not take his own family’s opinions in mind with his money decisions. All Walter can think about is making a deal with Willy Harris to start a liquor store. Even when Ruth and Lena advise against trusting Willy Harris

It is said that “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” by Mahatma Gandhi. Based on the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses her characters to represent different ways to overcome and achieve finding one’s identity to get her message about its value across. But in search of finding one’s identity, the characters will face obstacles and other individuals that may interfere with the process of fulfilling the task to uncover their identities. In Walter’s, Beneatha’s and Mama’s search, they will find themselves making mistakes, exploring new thing, and even taking sacrifices when necessary.