Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

In Lorraine Hansberry’s “ A Raisin in the sun” a constant theme of money, morality and hoping for a better and a new life kept coming into play. To demonstrate this theme is best shown through Ruth. Ruth Younger is wife of Walter Lee Younger a lady that works as a maidher family's poor financial situation, she has to double as a housewife and a working mother... She finds hope when the family decides to move into a better home in a white neighborhood, and decides to keep her child. In the play Ruth shows she will do anything to make her family. We came across some example in the play that show it. Ruth loves her family and shows she doesn't care about money and just cares about family. Showing she has morals, because she wants to get a house

Acts I and II in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, mostly consisted of the Younger family discussing their problems of how they are not happy with the way they are living, along with what Lena should do with the insurance check she is receiving in the mail from the death of her husband. Walter, Lena’s son, believes Lena will give all the money to him so he can start business selling liquor with two of his friends. Walter says to his wife, Ruth, “You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see. That be ten thousand each. ”(984).

Walter Lee Younger American dream is all about materialism and what he can get right now. He has the notion of a self-made man, who starts with nothing and achieve great wealth with hard work and determination. This consumes Walter Lee, so much so that it is all he can think about, he becomes envious of what others have accomplished such as Charlie Atkins dry cleaning business. He wanted the liquor so much so, that he put everything into it, but does not work very hard to accomplish his dream, he trust others instead of putting everything in his own hands to make them come true. Walter Lee wants the insurance money to buy a liquor store, just so that he can tell his son that he has accomplish a dream and he own something that will make their lives better. He wants his son to be proud of him and look at him with pride for all that he has accomplished. Walter Lee does not look at the long run, just the right now and the quick schemes and the liquor store is just a means to and end for him. Lena do not sees Walter’s dream stating “ we ain’t no business people, we just plain working folks.” Lena decided

A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, has been transformed into both live plays and films; the most recent being in 2008 starring Sean “P” Diddy. Films can’t keep every last detail from the book but they do keep the important parts of it. With the removal of scenes, there can be additions or changes to make the movie more interesting. The addition of Mama coming back from work, Walter at the bar, Ruth at the clinic, and Clybourne Park make the film stronger and more realistic than the written play.

In the play “A Raisin in the Sun” written by Lorraine Hansberry, the insurance money that the Younger family is soon to receive was mostly a curse for the Younger family. The insurance money had caused a lot of tension between the characters on how and where they should use this money, one example of this being how Mama and Walter were going back and forth to try to figure out how to spend and use the money. In Act II Mama said “Oh—So now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time, freedom used to be life—now it’s money.

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, Lena Younger (Mama) is the steady and cohesive influence in a family beset by internal and external turmoil. Mama fights to uphold ethical standards that her children do not always share. Although the younger generation does not initially espouse Lena’s standards, in the end, they find a greater appreciation for the dignity of her values. Mama’s emphatic proclamation that “we a people who give children life” encapsulates her entire belief system (Hansberry 1861). The theme of life forms the foundation of Mama’s values, and it guides her interactions with all members of her family. It sheds light on what Hansberry herself states about A Raisin in the Sun---that the Youngers represent “people

As a son brother husband and a father he is struggling to improve the living conditions of his family and prove himself as a man. He works as a chauffeur and he hates his job, he wants to be a business owner and buy a liquor store but mama doesn’t want anything to do with liquor. From most of the first act, he was just nasty to every other character in the play, he fights with his sister Beneatha and he’s rude and mean to his wife Ruth and even his mother Lena. Walter is upset that his mother wants to give his sister college money to become a doctor, he thinks his sister is dreaming and should have more “realistic goals”. He belittles her dream many times in the play, he tells her to think about becoming a nurse but not a doctor. In his head he thinks he’s realistic and his dream will bring happiness and wealth not only to him but also to everyone in the family. Walter doesn’t stop asking for the money he wants to become rich because he never had anything growing up; he wants to provide for his son and wife, he is very stubborn and full of pride but he has different motivations behind his

Every family has their own problems right? Well, in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry so does this family named the Younger family. They are black family and live in a house that was not fit for five people to live there. They were also a black family and they lived in a time when blacks were not liked. There is a certain Younger, whose name is Walter.

In the play “Raisin in the Sun” the person whose dream was most deferred was Walter Lee. With Walter being the man of the house he struggles against poverty and wanting to provide a better life for his family. In the play, it is Walter’s dream that is deferred and leaves the family devastated. Walter’s dream was to be wealthy to gain pride, dignity, and respect. He believed that he could achieve this dream by opening a liquor store with friends as joint investors. He believed that a man who works for someone else can never truly be great or respected. He is frustrated by his dead-end job and wants to make a better life for his family. Walter feels that he can only give his sun Travis stories about white life and how things are better for other

The chasing of a mirage is a futile quest where an individual chases an imaginary image that he or she wants to capture. The goal of this impossible quest is in sight, but it is unattainable. Even with the knowledge that failure is inevitable, people still dream of catching a mirage. There is a fine line that separates those who are oblivious to this fact, and to those who are aware and accept this knowledge. The people who are oblivious represent those who are ignorant of the fact that their dream will be deferred. This denial is the core of the concept used in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. The perception of the American Dream is one that is highly subjective, but every individual dream ends in its own deferment.

At the beginning of the play, Walter is very self centered. “ What fool told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messin ‘round with sick people-then go be a nurse like other women-or just get married and be quiet…” (Walter pg.14). This is a perfect example as to how Walter is focusing more on what he wants rather than other people’s dreams. He could care less as to what Beneatha does, he believes that his dreams should be the first priority. “Do you know what this money means to me? Do you know what this money can do for us? Mama-Mama- I want so many things…” (). Walter thinks that his idea gets supported that everything in their lives will be good. He ignores the fact that he needs the full $10,000 for his investment, which will not allow Beneatha to have money for medical school or Mama to put a down payment on the house she wants. Walter was destined to pay for the investment in the liquor store because he believed all their problems could be solved with money.

He has a wife and kid, Ruth was his wife and Travis was his son. Walter felt that is he did not make something of himself not only would he let down his family, he would let down the memory of his father. A hardworking man full of dreams, who only wanted to provide enough for his family. Walter grew up in that same manor, a hardworking man who wanted to provide enough for his family, he also had many dreams for his family.He always told his wife about his dreams in the morning, then asked for his eggs not to be scrambled yet she scrambled them. This symbolized his dreams being crushed. All Walter wanted to have a successful business to pass down to his son, he wanted to have pearls around his wife’s neck. He essentially wanted to be like the white man. Since the only black families that were rich have already assimilated to the white culture. So Walter and a couple of friends Bobo and Willy got the idea of going into the liquor business. They would own their own store but they did not want to wait for their liquor license to come so they would need ten thousand dollars to get it faster. It just so happened that Mama has ten thousand dollars coming in for her husband's life insurance and walter needed some of it for the down payment. Yet throughout the play mama would not give him the money because she did not

In the dreaded year of 8th grade, it was my mission was to conclude my studies with a report card entirely full of A’s. I was heaving myself through the mountain of assignments, projects, and tests, it was becoming hard to bear. With my brainpower revolving around school, grades shrouded my view and I didn’t possess an ounce of time for family. I felt like an outcast, in my room, fenced in by papers and essays, while my family bonded and laughed together. It ripped me to pieces, but I couldn’t abandon my dream. It was imperative that I found a way to maintain harmony between my studies and family. Dreams are the basis of the path a person follows in life, however, in order to attain their ambition people may sacrifice family affairs.

The American Dream is still alive today, whether it be money, stardom, or love. But these things seem to stay the same throughout history. And everyone deserves to strive for the American dream. In the play “A Raisin in the Sun”, the story opens up with an African-American family struggling to find their way out of poverty, which is making it hard for them to find financial stability. In this paper there will be an analysis on the Youngers family hope and opportunity in achieving their American dream. The Walter family shows how the American dream does not only have to belong to the Caucasian race.

Topic : In Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin In The Sun” a person’s dream is an essential driving force for each character and their personal struggle to deal with the obstacles they face in everyday life. A dream is also a reason for why many people want to continue to be motivated and inspired. Based on the play “A Raisin In The Sun” do you think the Younger family wanted an American dream ?