Like A Raisin In The Sun Literary Analysis

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,

As Walter's dreams become bigger and bigger, he seems to neglect the 'smaller' things such as his family. "Here I am a giant surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what the giant is

Ruth stresses the importance of maintaining a good image of her family. When George arrives to take Beneatha out, Walter and Beneatha are not being well mannered, so Ruth takes control and tries to make-up for their behavior. “Beneatha, you got company-what’s the matter with you? Walter Lee Younger, get down off that table and stop acting like a fool…(80)” Ruth is also independent and kind.

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.

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

At the beginning of the play Walter Lee younger believes that manhood stems from being able to provide for one’s family. We first encounter Walter’s concept of manhood when he and Ruth are arguing over breakfast and Walter says, “I’m thirty-five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live…” (Hansberry 478). This begins to show his ideas because it shows that he is getting older and he still cannot provide for his family. One thing that might hurt Walter the most

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

In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry you go back in time to when segregation was still aloud. In this play you meet a cast of people with dreams of a better life. The American Dream, to be specific. This dream is portrayed differently for each character, all of which impact the play. Two of these character

Walter Younger wants to invest his money, and is tired of the white man stopping his desires. His dreams are to have money, so he can live the American dream just like the fellow white men. Also to provide for his family, and most importantly his children. He works as a chauffeur opening door, and driving the white man around. Walter in the story struggles with his living, and the poverty that his family are in. In the story, Walter tries to invest his money into opening a liquor business. After losing his money in the investment. Towards the end of the movie, he starts to realize that his dreams are already there. This was a major inciting incident in the story. To repeat, Walter and his family dreams are crushed by Walters poor choices.

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.

Because of this Walter has lost his self esteem and will to do anything to make his life better. This is important because it shows that Walter does not have a firm grasp on his own identity.

     As Walter's dreams become bigger and bigger, he seems to neglect the 'smaller' things such as his family. "Here I am a giant surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what the giant is talking about,? (Hansberry 85). Walter has big ideals, but his methods of achieving his goals and ideals are somewhat irrational. Walter can be regarded as more concerned with becoming self-employed without really thinking about the consequences, which may be imposed on his family. Later in play, Walter learns that he needs to set his dreams aside for the sake of the

Everyone in the Younger household is in the pursuit to find happiness, they all had a dream of the perfect life without any struggles. In "A Raisin in the Sun", Lorraine Hansberry writes in a denotative, informal style. Her use of straight-forward concrete language establishes how hard it was for African-Americans to achieve their dreams. The usage of one of the rhetorical triangle, pathos, helps connect the readers emotionally with the use of powerful words and phrases to stir up emotion. The use of pathos also has readers create passion towards the idea of the play. Furthermore, Hansberry fundamental ideas of the play were to show the importance of dreams and the effects of a dream deferred.

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.

Walter had a dream of opening a liquor store with his friends. However, Walter did not want to open this store not so much for the alcohol, but for the sensation of being in charge. All his life, Walter wanted to bring in enough money for his family so that his family did not have to struggle anymore. Walter wanted his wife and mother to not have to work anymore. He wanted his son to go to any college without worrying about tuition. Ultimately, he wanted to finally become the man he was hoping to become for his family. Walter proves this by saying, “Mama – sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool-quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking ‘about things…sitting there turning deals worth millions of dollars…sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me” Walter wants to be able to essentially be like those white men. He wants to be able to go out during the day and not have to worry about losing his job. Walter wants to be like those white men who have money. He wants to feel financially secure. Walter had these dreams he not only wanted to achieve for him but also for his family. Walter had good intentions. He just showed them through acts of