Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Beneatha, Walter's younger sister is a college student who is independent, a feminist, and has the desires to become a doctor. A portion of her father's insurance money is to be set aside for medical school. When the check arrives, tensions within the family begin. After Beneatha learns of the loss of the stolen money, she denies Walter as her brother saying, "That is not a man. That is nothing but a toothless rat. He is no brother of mine" (1039). At this point in time, it is obvious that the power and significance of money is tearing the Younger family apart.

This only further infuriates Walter. Not only does his mother make a complete power-grab by buying the house; she bought it in a cracker neighborhood! Walter storms out and is almost ready to kill someone over it. He feels he has lost his only shot at power. Walter comes back home screaming at his whole family, they don’t support him, especially his mother. He accuses her of not supporting his dream.

Although she is happy with mama’s decision to buy a house, Ruth is more concerned with receiving the affection of her husband and keeping him happy than the consequences or the moral implications his decisions will have. Ruth maintains the apartment they live in and most of the time, goes along with whatever Walter says. This is where Ruth and Mama differ; Mama wants Walter to be happy but not at the cost of doing something morally wrong, Ruth will do whatever it takes to make Walter happy. We see this when Ruth is contemplating having an abortion in order not to complicate living arrangements in the apartment and to allow Walter the financial means to pursue his goals. She also intends to keep it from Walter so spare him the burden of having to make a decision like that. When Mama find out about the abortion, she is appalled and says, “…we a people who give children life, not who destroys them.” Mama also succeeds in expressing her rich values and nurturing nature in Act III, Scene Three, when it is discovered that Walter has lost the remainder of the insurance money when his liquor store investment partner disappears with the money. Beneatha goes into a rage and openly expresses her hatred and contempt for her brother, and says, “He’s no brother of mine.”(Hansbury 3.3)

Walter seems to be overcome with a search for power and a drive to become wealthy and leave the life of being a worker behind him. It also shows that he cares for his family seeing how he is striving to give them the best, but that aspect is overshadowed by his greed. I feel the scene also shows the Younger family at its lowest point in the movie. Walter is on the complete edge and is thinking of stealing a community's money and the rest of the family, besides Momma, seemed to lose their faith and trust in him. When things seemed hopeless with the loss of the money, they only became worse as a loss in more than money occurred. A loss in their character, faith, history, and respect for each other overcame the family, particularly Walter and Beneatha. Nevertheless, Momma soon sets Beneatha straight with an emotional and positive speech about how there is "always something left to love" and sets the standard that the family should adhere to. It marks the turning point at the end of the movie

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.

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

Sometimes, women believe we have a sixth sense about things and would like to prevent setbacks from happening, but a man must be a man sometimes and find out in his own. Walter also argues with his mother about giving him part of the insurance check so he will be able to have a respectable career. Beneatha who is Walter younger sister, she is outspoken and has different views on how or what a woman should represent. Beneatha dreams to go to school and become a doctor. While Walter does not seem to believe Beneatha should be a doctor, he says to her, “If you so crazy about messing around with sick people, then go be a nurse like other women” or just be quiet and get married” (481). In that quote, Walter was implying that women are only suitable to be supportive to men. Lena, known as Mama wants Walter to be the man of the house, but won’t allow him to be a man because she herself is the women of the house. Mama finally realizes that everyone else, including herself, was not giving Walter the opportunity to be a man therefore, she gave him part of the insurance money and says” it aint much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands” (509). I think letting someone else take charge of something that is valued so much is an extremely tough decision, but we as humans must that chance.

She had put a down payment on a house in Clybourne Park. This made Walter especially angry because because Clybourne Park was a highly white neighborhood. Walter felt betrayed and in more ways than one. Walter being the oldest male in the house, considered himself the head of the house. Mama going off and fulfilling her dream instead of his made him irate. He called Mama out; “You run out lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it, so what you need was for me to say it was alright for? … So you butchered up a dream of mine - you - who always talkin’ ‘bout your children’s dreams” (95). Walter wanted nothing to do with Mama. He felt cheated out of what was most likely the only opportunity he would ever have to achieve his dream. At this point, Walter was absolutely uncontrollable. He started deliberately acting out as if he was a teenage boy. It did not stay that way long though. Eventually, Walter went back to normal, but only after Mama did something that may have not been the best idea. Mama ended up giving Walter the last sixty-two hundred dollars that had not been spent. Walter instantly changed. He

After Mama thinks for awhile about what her son had told her about crushing her children’s dreams she confronts Walter and says to him “... there ain’t nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, nothing else-if it means- if it means it’s going to destroy my boy. (She takes an envelope out of her handbag and puts it in front of him and he watches her without moving or speaking) I paid the man thirty-five hundred dollars down on the house. That leaves sixty-five hundred. Monday morning I want you to take this money and take three thousand dollars and

Mama Younger is Walter’s mom and basically wears the pants in the house. Everyday Mama looks out for everyone and always puts herself last. Mama is very laid-back and down-to-earth. Walter is really upset with Mama because he says, “So that’s the peace and comfort you went out and bought for us today!” He is upset that the money did not go to him. Also, Mama only cares about what is the best for everyone, for example, she says, “Son- I just tried to find the nicest place for the least amount

Mama implies that the money was more than just currency, but what is left of her husband’s dream to bring success to his family. She is terribly disappointed with Walter for losing all of the money so easily, and not putting it toward to what he promised. Because of this great loss, Walter is still left with no money. His dream to become wealthy is now at the bottom of the gutter, all over again, and he has to work even harder as well as gain his confidence back in order to fish it out.

Walter struggles in understanding who he needs to be for his family. He wants to take his place as the patriarch of the family, but he feels incapable of providing them with the lifestyle they deserve. This concern is always at the forefront of his mind, and it affects his attitude and outlook. The anxiety that Walter is dealing with creates confrontation with his sister. He fears that her dream will interfere with his own agenda of making a better life for his family. The severity of the tension becomes more and more apparent with Walter’s unwise investment. Walter is dealing with the burden that he has let his family down, while Beneatha is flabbergasted by the reality that her future has been snatched away from her, and she had no control over it. While reflecting on the situation, Beneatha remarks, “ I sound like a human who just had her future taken right out of my hands! While I was sleeping….things were happening in this world that directly concerned me and nobody consulted me—they just went out and did things—and changed my life” (Hansberry 3.15). Walter and Beneatha’s individual issues with the outcome of the situation cause them to find fault with one another during a time when their family needs to pull together to get through such a financial hardship. Walter is in an emotional pit; his turning to alcohol and music instead of his family for support expands the

Walter is upset about what Mama has done. She chose to fulfill her dream of a owning a home over anyone else’s dream.

       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.

At one point, Mama gives Walter chance to prove himself as head of the house by giving him the money for his liquor store and Beneatha’s college money to put in savings. Even when Walter lost all of the money, Mama still had faith in him when no one else did. There was little doubt in Mama’s mind about Walter needing to be head of the house like he should be. Determined for Walter to be the patriarch of the family, she permits Walter to make the final decision about the house she wants. After he decides the family is moving and Mr. Lindner asks Mama to give some input, she