Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Lorraine Hansberry purposely used Walter as one character to represent the theme Money and Mortality. Walter’s character is revealed by a narrator, the narrator can simply identify that Walter is a very overprotective person when it comes to the topic of money. “Without even looking at his son, he begins to hard stare at his wife”. The narrator can identify this quote to Walter because; in the beginning of the play Walter and Ruth had an argument over the insurance check. This quote can be related to the theme Money and Mortality because; the narrator identified the concern of money towards Walter. “You know what the check is coming tomorrow”. The author, Lorraine Hansberry shows on how Walter is very excited to receive the check. This second quote from the play can show Walter’s concern with the check; the narrator can identify this by showing on how Walter is constantly reminding Ruth about the check. After Ruth tells Travis they have no extra money to give to him for school; Walter

His mom, Lena, is the head of the house and is the decision maker. She is still treating Walter and Beneatha, Walter’s sister, like children. Walter has no hope in the world, besides the insurance money that Lena got when her husband died. With

Lena Younger became the head of the household upon the death of her husband. She moved from the south to the north to better herself and her life. Lena dreams and aspirations are link to those of her family. She does not aspire to be more than what she is, but she wants more for her family. Lena is struggling to understand how money as became such a big part of her family. She cannot comprehend the way her children are acting, when they were brought up better than that. Beneatha rejecting God by saying it is just man who does all the work and does not get the praise. She is just expressing the family situation in way that maybe Lena would have been able to understand. Lena wants Walter Lee to stand up and become the man he can be; she wants him to feel he is a man, so she decided to give the chance to be the head of the family by giving him the rest of the insurance money to put in an account to manage.

Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19, 1930. Growing up on Chicago's south side, in a middle class african american family with four other siblings . Hansberry’s childhood took a very big part in the writing of A Raisin In The Sun . During 1938 Hansberry and her family had moved into an all white neighborhood , where they were faced with a traumatic and racist experience; The family had fought against the segregation and racism pointed towards their children. Hansberry was almost killed from a brick flying through the window of her house sent flying from a hostile neighbor. After these traumatic events the Hansberry family was left with no choice, but to keep fighting.

Has money ever been so important to you that you forget about family values? In A Raisin in the Sun, a play by Lorraine Hansberry, the mother and her son Walter argue over money and religion. The source of their conflict is the $10,000 that they received from their father’s life insurance. Walter and 2 of his partners attempt to open a liquor store, however Mama is an honest Christian woman and she believes that investing in a liquor store is not right, whereas Walter believes that it could change their lives if their store succeeds.

Walter is good at what he does. He thinks of all the different ways people can commit insurance fraud so when those cases do come to him he can catch them. When he met Phyllis he went in hopes of renewing the policy not knowing the wife with her killer looks would be the one he’d meet. Phyllis began to talk to Walter asking how she could be of help and than saying the husband has been thinking of going with the competitor. Being the good at his business, Walter knew there was more to it than just the normal insurance conversation. Wanting to gain power within each other has both characters testing the waters within each other. Not only did Walter notice the conversation was going elsewhere but also the body of Phyllis that he says can “make

When Lena uses some of the money to pay for a house in an all-white neighborhood and tells Walter she will not give him any money to pay for a liquor store and that his wife is pregnant he shuts down and stays drunk for a few days. This shows that Lena thinks that family comes before money. These actions are what cause Lena to give Walter the remaining money to put in a savings account for him to use to help him feel like he is providing for his

Have you ever played monopoly with cheaters? Although monopoly is just a game it’s not fun playing with cheaters, games like monopoly are a lot like living under systems. Especially when there’s cheaters involved because people don’t like living under systems when people in power aren’t fair. The historical fiction play A Raisin In The Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, is about the struggles of living under an unfair system for an African-American family in the 1950’s. This family is large and living in a very small home, in this time period that was common because people were still adjusting to the idea of racial equality in the U.S.

Moreover, in contrast to Beneatha, who wants to change the world from her educational efforts, Walter shows a conformist image with his statement: “I didn't make this world [, and] it was [given] to me this way" (Hansberry 989). For a person who thinks like that, his dream of using the insurance money to invest in a shaky business deal is an understandable result. On the other hand, even if Beneatha has hobbies that are utterly incompatible with her family’s economy, such as “riding a horse [and] playing the guitar,” this shows that she is a character with intelligence and an enterprising spirit, compared to her brother. When she talks to Walter, she demonstrates her strong passion, and how studying is crucial in her life: “I quit school or just drop dead” (Hansberry 929). This passion fuels

Mama’s Life Views In the play A Raisin in the Sun By Lorraine Hansberry the Younger family has been through a lot. The family members, Walter and Ruth, Beneatha, Mama and Travis, go through a mess of family conflicts. Poverty is the breaking point for the family, and the family is fighting racial boundaries. With their father’s passing, an insurance check is on the way.

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about a family of African Americans that are struggling to achieve their dreams. The American Dream is the belief that any goals or dreams can happen if one tries his or her best to achieve them. At the end, Hansberry shows the Younger family realizing that the American Dream is not realistic in order to send a message to the readers that the American Dream is a failure. Through her play, Hansberry also portrays the American Dream as a failure of imagination by making few characters in the book struggle with their dreams because a lot of people cannot imagine something that is against ordinary happen such as a woman being a doctor or a African American family living in a white society. Therefore,

Gender Roles in A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry, in her play A Raisin in the Sun, uses several themes and motifs and terrific imagery to portray an accurate representation of how society was in 1959. One such way she achieved such a profound social commentary is through her monumentally depicted gender roles of the mid-twentieth century. Throughout her play, Hansberry substantiates the, at the time, traditional gender roles in which, men assert total and absolute power over the women. Moreover, women were meant to be in the home assisting the man, which can discernibly be perceived through her immense characters as well as their development.

       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.

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 beginning of the story all Walter wanted was the money. He didn’t care about his other family member’s ideas on what to do with it. This lead him to be really selfish and egotistical. This can be shown many times throughout the play. One particular part was when Walter was in the kitchen with Ruth and and of course, Walter was babbling about the money and his dreams of owning a