Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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

All in all Mama and Walters dreams both involve money. Mama shows us her longing for the acceptance of society when she immediately buys a house in a white neighborhood, to provide for her family. Walter shows us his desperation to be a valuable human being when he steals money in hopes of starting his liquor business. Walter wants to be respected and live a happy lifestyle for this family. He longs to be the head of the household. Walter see’s himself with a liquor store as having power. It isn’t till the end until he rethinks the values of himself and his family’s future about how there is more to living than just having material riches. Mama only yearns for her family to be respected and live up to what society perceives.

The quote ,”Mama: 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 do change . . .Walter: No—it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it.” (Hansberry, pg. 74). Mama tells Walter that life hasn’t always been about money, life has been about freedom but to Walter life has always been about money. Mama wants Walter to realize that there's more than just having money in life to be happy, but to Walter money has always been the key to happiness because since he sees all the white folk that have money enjoy the lives they have he assumes it's because of the

Hansberry develops this particular issue by illustrating how important success is to the second generation of the Younger family, Walter and Beneatha. After a long heritage of slavery and servitude, the Younger siblings want to take advantage of this age of social reform and break from the binding traditions that have beset their race in the past. Mama illustrated this when she says, “Son – I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers – but ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor. We ain’t never been that – dead inside” (Hansberry, 143). They view the expected income of $10,000 in insurance money as a gateway to get what they each desire and achieve success. Walter Younger feels degraded and miserable in his job as a

Just when Mama was beginning to trust Walter and gives him money to take to the bank, he reveals that he “never went to the bank at all” (129). This shocked Mama and asks, “You mean…you sister’s school money…you used that two…Walter?…” (129); Walter realises what he has done and answers “Yessss! All of it…It’s all gone…” (129), in an ashamed and stressed out tone. Consequently, this makes mama extremely upset she says, “I seen him grow thin and old before he was forty...working and working and working like somebody's old horse...killing himself...and you -you give it all away in a day-” (129). This reveals that Walter betrays Mama, because of his want for money, which Mama would not help him with because of their different

The younger family needs money they are getting money from a insurance check for the death of mama's husband (Walters father). In the Younger family there is a lot of hate toward each other is because Walter is totally hates his life. He hates it because he doesn't want to disappoint his family by not having money, he also feel like he's not a man because he has to look his son in the face and say no we can't give you money or no in general. The only time Walter seems to get happy is when the money is coming and in his mind he is going to get his dream but in reality it's mama's money and she can do what she wants. For example Mama says “Mama: “Son, how come you talk so much ‘bout money?” Walter: “Because it is life, Mama!” Mama: “Oh—so now its life. Money is

There are many events in the play that show how family will be there for you through thick and thin. One of these events is when Walter just argued with Ruth, and Mama stayed to continue to talk to Walter to confirm that he is O.K. This happens on page 72, "Mama: (Quietly) Walter, what's the matter with you?" that statement shows that Mama wanted to check up on Walter to ensure that he is O.K. Towards the end of their talk, Mama breaks it to him that Ruth is pregnant, and she is planning to get rid of the baby. Walter's and Mama's talk show that even when everyone else gave up on Walter; Mama doesn't give up on him. Another event is when Walter lost all of the money Mama gave him, and he didn't put any of it into the bank for Beneatha. Mama still stuck by his side when everyone else didn't trust him

You see, this little liquor store we got in mind costs $75,000 and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout $30,000, see. That be $10,000 each. Course, there’s a couple of hundred you got to pay so’s you don’t spend your life just waiting for them clowns to get your license approved.,” (1.1, 1133). Walter believes that investing in the liquor store, will earn his family a fortune. However, the reader is likely to feel that he is being inconsiderate by failing to acknowledge that the money does not belong to him, it belongs to Mama and should be up to her how to spend it. Furthermore, Walter acts selfishly and is inconsiderate of what his mother wants. An example of Walter acting selfishly is located towards the end of Act I, scene II. It is Saturday, and Walter has just returned home from work. He is only concerned of the checks arrival; he fails to greet his family. He tries showing Mama the paperwork that his friend Willy put together for the liquor store, and becomes upset that Mama wanted nothing to do with his plans and had refused to even look at the papers he showed her. Sarcastically he tells Mama, “Oh-so you don’t aim to have to speak on that again? So you have decided . . Well you tell that to my boy tonight when you put him to sleep on the living room couch . . . Yeah-and tell it to my wife, Mama, tomorrow when she has to go out of here and look after somebody else’s kids. And tell it to me, Mama, every time we

Walter begins to drink, stay away from home, and to constantly argue with his wife, Ruth. Walter's life is contrasted by the role of his recently widowed mother, who holds to more traditional values of acceptance of life's lot and of making the best of any situation. Walter Lee's "Mama" holds Walter's father up as an example of a man with pride and a man that, despite racial injustice in a dualistic society, worked hard to provide for his family. This adds to Walter's frustration. Walter now feels incapable and small in his mama's eyes.

A Raisin in, the sun deals with the trials and tribulations of the Younger family. Facing the struggle of culture identity crisis , racial integration, death and societal barriers. All of these and more are presented to the family in order to test their will and their drive for a better life then they live now.

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play “Raisin in the Sun” many of the characters struggle to achieve their dreams and often have them deferred due to race and gender. In the play, an African American family must learn how to live in a time period where racial segregation and gender inequality is normal and obvious. In the 1900s, men saw women as less superior. In Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem”, it explains how dreams are deferred when it comes to the African American population. Hughes writes: “Does it dry up, /like a raisin in the sun?”(2-3). Hughes and Hansberry want to let everyone know the hardship African Americans dealt with and that at often times, their dreams were deferred. Racism made it difficult for some African American families to make

In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, a common question is asked, to stay, or to go. The Younger Family is asked not to move into their new home, and in exchange will be paid for not moving into their home. They had already paid for the home, and were now going to be offered the money they paid, plus an excess of money. It is argued by an anonymous writer, that, the family should not take the owner’s association money. Furthermore, according to the anonymous writer, the family should not accept the owner’s association’s money as it is “demeaning and undermines their own pride and dignity as human beings.”

A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, this play also comes in a series of movies. In the movie version of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Leon Kenny, there are many similarities and differences from the play. In the play, for example, a difference is that Mama talks about the check with Walter in their apartment, but in the movie they talk in a diner after Mama finds Walter in a bar. Another difference is that Travis was in the play a lot, but in the movie he was hardly included. A similarity, however, is that Mama gives her same speech about how loving someone when they are down is the best thing you can do for them. The movie version was set in the time period of the Civil Rights Movement, and the play was not set in that time period. While both versions of A Raisin in the Sun address the similarities and differences, the differences exceed the similarities, hence a teacher must show the movie and the play so the students can understand the significance of both.

Money Can't Be Everything A Raisin in the Sun is a play by an African American play writer named Lorraine Hansberry. Reflecting on her life, Hansberry writes this play about the Younger family living in a white neighborhood in the mid 1950’s after leaving a rugged house that was so small that the youngest child in the family had to live in the living room. During the time this play was written there was a lot of racism, segregation making it hard for Black families have any money. In the Play a character named Walter Younger wants to spend his deceased father's life insurance money of a grand total of $10,000, His plan is to open up a liquor store shop that he believes it will benefit his family. truth is he doesn't care about his family at all, he wants is to spend the insurance money on any business idea that'll bring in more money just for himself, Lack of morality and respect for his family is very noticeable in the play.

     Walter dreams of owning a liquor store, and he shows this throughout the whole play. Walter feels that “don’t nothing happen for you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!” Owning a liquor store is Walter’s American dream, as he believes that it will provide him and his family with a greater income so they will not have to live in poverty anymore. However, Hansberry shows through Mama how they have different views of the American dream when she tells Walter that the liquor store would be un-Christian like and that they should spend the money on a new house instead. Hansberry makes Mama more convincing by showing her carrying a Bible as she comes out of her room in the first scene. Mama also is seen asking God for help and talking about God throughout the play. This is shown when Walter admits that the money Mama gave him was gone because his partner took it and Mama says “Oh, God… look down here – and show me the strength.” Mama is very angry that Walter wasted all of Beneatha’s school money, but she doesn’t let her temper get the best of her and instead goes to God for support.