Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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

He plays the role of the antagonist, pushing everyone else’s dreams to put his forth. Walter thinks her dreams are far too big. In scene 1, she “apologizes” for wanting to become a doctor. “ Well-I do-all right?-thank everybody! And forgive me for ever wanting to be anything at all!...FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME!” (37). Even after the feuds with Walter and after all that has happened, family matters more than all the money in the world. Walter gets scammed and loses all the money. Beneatha gets mad but learns that he has been through a lot. She defends her brother from Mr. Linder. The Youngers planned to move there with the money from the insurance check. But, Mr. Linder says that it could be dangerous since where they are moving, there are mostly white folks. Beneatha standing up for him shows that, even though she might not be able to go to medical school anymore because of him, Walter will always be her

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

       Ruth, Walter's wife, was pregnant when her husband was in a great despair. Although Walter lost the money and also her dream, Ruth forgave him and encouraged him to start everything over. Ruth, whose dream was to be wealthy and to have a fine family, calmly accepted the fact that her dream was only a dream. To her, it was a consolation that her husband had come back to reality after his unsuccessful dream.

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

For example, this type of issue would create a myriad of conflicts between Mama and Walter. Walter, a 35 year old living in his mother’s apartment, along with his wife, Ruth, son Travis and sister Beneatha. Mama still considers herself the head of the family, whereas they live under her roof. As head of the household Mama feels it is her duty and responsibility to make all the decisions for the family. Even when the family receives $10,000 in life insurance for her late husband's death, she decides how she will spend the money. In this instance, the conflicts between Walter and Mama begin.

Out of all the characters in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are two main ones that influence the plot. Mama and Walter impact the plot the most because both characters have different perspectives and their actions significantly shape the plot.

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

Mama says this after Beneatha tells Mama that there is nothing left in her brother, Walter to love. Mama’s dream of a better quality of life is deferred because she has carry the responsibility of tending to a family with so much indifference and of holding together the few pieces of her family left together.

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

"The characters are, on the one hand, controlled by their gender roles, but those roles and the behavior in those roles also reflects the impact of race on the family structure" (Copenhaver 156). At times the family members clash with one another due to their attempts of enforcing their way of how the family should live. Lena Younger decides to strip Walter Lee from his control as the man of the house when she perceives his incapability to advise Ruth to not fulfill her decision of having an abortion. The family's negligence and disapproval of Walter's idea of opening up a liquor store leads him to act out. He then displays every common stereotype a male should have and so do a black women's

Mama concerns herself only with the fact that she and her family will own the house, and not have to dwell in the tired, old apartment on Chicago's Southside. In a sense, Mama's dream has "crust[ed] and sugar[ed] over like a sugary sweet" (Hughes Lines 7-8). Her dream has changed to fit the circumstances she must cope with. The character of Mama represents those who do not shrivel up and die just because their dream does.

Walter has a low paying job and is expected to provide the money for his wife, child, sister, and mother, who all live in a run-down apartment in the South side of Chicago. His dream is to give his family a better life. His selfishness and unwillingness to listen to his family is the main cause for all of his problems as well as his family's problems. In a very small, Younger household, there are five people who live there. Mama, or Lena, who is the matriarch of the family.

Lindner over to finalize the agreement. Walter even tells Mama what he is going to say: “All right, Mr. Lindner—that’s your neighborhood out there! You got the right to keep it like you want! You got the right to have it like you want! Just write the check and—the house is yours.”(144) So even though Walter had his whole speech for Mr. Lindner planned out, he changes his mind at the last moment. The reason for this sudden change is because of the words his mother implied on him earlier. Mama told Walter, “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.”(143) Mama is saying that Walter will be disrespecting five generations of Youngers if he goes through with his plans. The statement Mama made helped Walter to realize that by selling the house he was only making himself feel better about the money being lost, but was making everyone else in the family lose more and more respect for him. To show just how upset the family was, Beneatha even told her mother, “Love him? There is nothing left to love.”(145) Beneatha feels that Walter has stooped so low this time that there is nothing there but a soulless body that cannot be loved. Walter makes amends between himself and his family by telling Mr. Lindner, “We

Mama, however, is strong, spiritual and eager to help her children in any way she can. She values family above and beyond all else, but has the deep insight into the other character's motivations even when she doesn't agree. In the middle of the play (at the fuse for the final conflict), she recognizes that Walter is miserable because no one believes in him and his dreams. She gives him a large chunk of the insurance check to invest in a liquor store even thought she doesn't agree with it. She trusts him with it and, when he loses the money to a "trusted friend," she becomes enraged and begins to physically attack him. However, by the next scene she has forgiven him and tells her daughter that she should do the same; "There is always something to love: when do you think the time is to love somebody the most? It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in hisself 'cause the world done whipped him so!" With those words, Mama seems to symbolize all that is good, solid and peaceful in the world.