Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Ruth is willing to work day and night to move into the new house, Lena I’ll work twenty hours a day…” says Ruth. The Younger family was stuck in a tight situation when Walter lost all the money for the house including Beneatha's tuition. Ruth feels depressed when Lena makes a decision to not to move into the house, she tries to convince Lena to move in but ends up being unsuccessful. Ruth is amenable to work all to make her family move into the house with her pregnancy. Ruth talks to Lena about the liquor store even though she does not wants to, “Aint nobody a businessman till they go into business” says Ruth. Walter wants his dad's insurance money so that he can invest it in the liquor store. He convinces Ruth to talk to Lena about it as he knows that Lena would not listen to him. Ruth talks to Lena about it but Lenas answer remains the same. This shows that Ruth does not think of her self-respect but of Walter’s unreal

Because of this new depression, Walter starts to get himself wasted every day. He hasn’t been showing up to work, and faces the prospect of losing his job. Mama, realizing the potentially catastrophic effect this can have on her family, must intervene. She gives her son the one thing he has always wanted, power. She gives him the remaining $6,500 to use as he wishes (except for the $3,000 to Beneatha’s continued

       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.

The Younger family scrapes through life, each person searching for their own version of the American Dream. Walter clings to the original American Dream of being successful, even if that means going against his mother’s wishes. Mama wants a house for her family, this dream causes her to not fully support Walter’s dream. Walter holds on to his dream of being successful and nothing less, however Mama only wants a home for her family, meaning “Her dream is unacceptable to Walter, who will have nothing less than the complete American Dream, since her version of it only amounts to surviving, not living in the fullest sense” (Washington 94). Their dreams are so different and Mama struggles to support Walter’s risky dream of becoming successful through opening a liquor store. Finally out of the goodness of her heart, Mama gives him the remaining part of the insurance money to start his business, however Walter loses this money to a dirty friend. Thus causing pain to not only himself, but also his family. Barriers and issues constantly block or prevent him and his family from attaining the wealth and success that Walter desires so greatly.

After telling the exciting news of the family moving into their own house, Walter was furiated. Mama found Walter half drunk at the bar later that day, from the aggravation and negative energy the family gave off on him earlier that day. Walter and Mama have a conversation at the bar, and Mama is willing to give him 6,500 dollars and she ask him to promise her he will put half away in the bank for Beneatha's education, giving Walter the rest toward his business partnership. At this part of the book Walter saw that Mama had trusted Walter with the money his father had worked so hard for all of his life. He promised Mama that he would not let her down. Knowing Walter being so tempted by his dream of the liquor business, he finally had a decent amount of money to put him and his family into a good position. Walter no thought in the mind, puts the full 6,500 dollars towards the liquor business leaving nothing for Beneatha. Walter being so greedy, thought he knew what was best, and yet he is running into a bigger problem he would had never

The Younger family has not been able to experience the finer things in life, and Walter, being the authoritative male figure, feels he is at fault knows that a change is needed. Walter’s solution is to use his father’s life insurance money to fund the acquiring of a liquor license. The women of the household are always ordering around Walter. It’s Ruth, Mama, or Beneatha telling him how to run things, and when he gets a chance to take the initiative by using the money to invest in his liquor license, his friend betrays him, and his dreams are crushed.

Her two grown children, Walter and Beneatha (Bennie), have high aspirations; Travis wants to open a liquor store and become a businessman man while Bennie is in college studying to be a doctor. Both hope that some of the insurance money will go in helping them achieve their respective dreams. Mama and her late husband always dreamed of owning a home. When Mama and Mr. Younger initially rented their apartment on the Southside, it was supposed to be a temporary residence before they bought their own house. But more than thirty years later, the family still resides in the same apartment. The Younger family composed of Mama, Bennie, Walter, his wife Ruth, and their child Travis, all live under the same cramped roof. The play is about the unmet dreams of each member of the family.

Suddenly, things changed, and Walter and his family came into quite a bit of money. Walter’s mama got a check for ten thousand dollars from her husbands life insurance after he passed away, which was a lot of money in that period of time. A nice house or a liquor store could easily be bought with half of the money from the check. Since the check was actually written out to mama, the money was all technically hers, so all that she wanted to do with it was buy her new house for her family, but stubborn Walter, he wanted his liquor store, and would stop at nothing to get it. When he finally realized that his mama was never going to give him the money to get the liquor store, he took it upon himself to get it himself. He eventually stole a portion of his mama’s money to get the store, but he was taken for a fool when the other person that he was making a deal with, stole all of his money. Now he had nothing, and mama had only some of her money.

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.

Walter decides to invest in a liquor store despite his family telling him to do otherwise and doesn’t put money in the bank for Beneatha like he is told to do. In a conversation between

Even though she was against Walter buying a Liquor store, she gave him money because she wanted him to achieve his dreams. When Walter is Swindled by Bobo, Lena keeps the family together when Walter is in a time of desperation. She says “ There is always something left to love, If you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.” She asks the question “When do you think the time to love someone the most is?” She is trying to show that even though walter lost their money they should still show him love to help him through his

Lena Younger (Mama) Mama is the matriarc of the family Walter's and Bennie's soft and sensitive mother. Mama wants to buy a house in a "White neighberhood" using the money from her late husbands life insurance check. She loves gardening and one day hopes for a garden of her

Halfway through the play, Walter tries to explain that he wants more out of his life, and Lena says that he has all he needs- a wife, a family, and a job. Walter then gets even angrier and says “Mama, a job? I open and close doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say ‘Yes sir’; ‘No sir”; ‘Very good sir’; ‘Shall I take the drive sir?’ Mama that aint no kind of job” (Miller, pg 107). Walter’s dream to be rich drives him to the brink of insanity. Finally, Lena decides that she will give him the money to invest in a liquor store. She keeps part of the money to invest in a house, and gives him the rest of it. She tells him to put three thousand dollars in an account for Bonita’s tuition, and the rest is his to invest in the liquor store. Instead of putting any money in an account for Beneatha, Walter gives it all to one of his partners to invest in the store. He is told he will get enough of it back in a few days, so he can put the money in the account. As it turns out, his partner ends up leaving town with the money, and never coming back. Walter lost the bulk of the check. His dream to have money, to be somebody, to be rich; leads to his downfall. Instead, he ends up losing the money that could have helped the family as a whole. Not only did he set himself back, but he also set Beneatha back. Not only did he ruin his dream, but he also ruined his

Walter Lee Younger is a son of Lena Younger, he is a 35 year old chauffeur who dreams of investing in a liquor store, a man who yearns respect from others and at a same time struggles with self- respect. We get a sense that his relationship with the money is the strongest one and waiting for the check is making him snap on everyone in the crowded apartment. The insurance check from Walter’s deceased father is keeping everyone on tiptoes. It is very hard to function in small crowded apartment with so many members and being the only male figure he desperately waits on something to happen for himself, for his family, he wants to be a better provider for them. Walter has a goal to open a liquor store and all he needs for this business venture is

Lorraine Hansberry, the author of A Raisin in the Sun, supports the theme of her play from a montage of, A Dream Deferred, by Langston Hughes. Hughes asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” He suggests many alternatives to answering the question. That it might “dry up like a raisin in the sun,” or “fester like a sore.” Yet the play maybe more closely related to Hughes final question of the poem, “Or does it explode?” The play is full of bombs that are explosions of emotion set off by the frustration of the Younger family, who are unable to grasp the possible reality of their dreams. The family shares the dream of having a better life but compete against each other for the insurance money given to Mama after her husband’s death. The