The play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ by ‘Lorraine Hansberry’ is about a matriarchy, Lena Younger or known as “Mama” to her family the Youngers who are poverty stricken family. She is about to receive insurance money from her husband’s life insurance policy, which is rightfully hers. However each member of the Youngers family we come into contact with have a plan to use the money for themselves, each individual’s through-line plays a vital role in their dreams, thoughts and choices in the end. Throughout the play the family have experiences that money can’t buy happiness and the effects of racial prejudice emerge.
The Youngers are a poor black family that live in the Southside of Chicago in the 1940’s. The family live in a two bedroom apartment, of
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We just plain working folks” and refuses to give Walter the money until Act 2 Scene 2 she finally apologises to Walter and says “I been wrong, son” then gave him a large sum of money, “sixty-five hundred dollars” to be exact. The money would have to be “put in a saving account for Beneatha’s medical schooling. The rest you put in a checking account – with your name on it.” Walter finally gets a chance to be the “head of his house and the man Mama always knew he could be, just like is father. In a sense his intentions were good he even said “Daddy ain’t going to never be drunk again.” Walter even has a heart-to-heart with his son Travis about “what kind of man you going to be when you grow up?” Ironically Walter goes behind the Youngers back and gives the money to “Willy”, in trusting their business venture to work. This backfires in the end as “Bobo” tells him that “Willy is gone”, he has disappeared with the money and is never seen or heard from again. Walters’s character is questioned one more when he has to make a decision for his family, it was about the down payment on the families’ new house. The house is situated in a white suburb in “Clybourne Park Improvement Association.” Chairman of the “New Neighbours Orientation Committee” “Karl Lindner” has offered the family a large sum of money, in actual fact to “buy the house from you at a financial gain to your family.” The most important decision in the play was made by Walter who rejects Mr Lindner’s offer. “We don’t want your money, and he has “decided to move into our house”, so they will not give in to the racial
In the drama, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry sheds light on the hardships a struggling black family faces. As the long awaited insurance check arrives, the family debates on how to spend the money. Walter Lee exhibits frustration over his job and desires more success in his life. While Mama continuously worries that her son's dream of owning a liquor store is not the right path for the family, she believes her dream will be most beneficial for everyone. In addition, Ruth is pregnant and yet it is not her only dream to become a mother, she dreams for roots and to live comfortably. Pride in ownership, as well as financial success and family stability not only conflict with each other yet all depend on one check.
In Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun a number of social issues are both explicitly and subtly exemplified through out the characters experiences and relationships. Living in a cramped Chicago apartment, the Youngers’ display both influential goals and conflicting restraints. Beneatha Youngers is a controversial character; she complicates society’s typical gender roles, introduces the wrestle between assimilation and ancestry of African-Americans, but specifically serves as a paradigm for her generation in the play.
Walter believes that money will solve all of their problems and he speaks about money constantly "because it is life [. . .]"(1010). Walter's selfishness can be seen at the climax of the play when the family finds out that Willy has ran away with the money: "I never. . . went to the bank at all. . ."(1032). Consequently, Walter used the money to begin his own business.
“A Raisin In The Sun” is a play in which Lorraine Hansberry, the author, shows on how money can have a major effect on many people’s lives. Walter, the main character, experiences on how the theme Money and Mortality has affected his own life. In the play “A Raisin In The Sun” Lorraine Hansberry uses certain characters to show the theme Money and Mortality, such as Walter, Beneatha and Mama.
The idea of family is a central theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in her play to magnify “the value of having a home and family”(Ardolino 181). The Younger family faces hardships that in the moment seem to tear them apart from one another, but through everything, they stick together. The importance of family is amplified by the choices of Walter and Beneatha because they appear to initiate fatal cracks in the Younger family’s foundation, but Mama is the cement who encourages her family to pull together as one unit. The hardships of the family help develop a sense of unity for the Younger household.
During the 1900s many black families barely had enough money to pay for the basic necessities needed to live. At times some families would receive a significant sum of money, something they were not used to getting. Deciding on how to spend this money is what caused problems among some families. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, she argues that there are times when in a state of financial instability and where money is a necessity to completing one’s dream that some family members choose to put their dreams over others when suddenly given the opportunity. After Mama’s husband died she was bound to receive an insurance check that would be used by the Younger family. Before even receiving the
Walter instead of begging at the feet of Mr. Linder accepting the money too not move in the white neighborhood he, stands his ground on behalf of the family and states that they’ve worked hard their whole lives and are deserving of a spot in the white neighborhood, and despite discrimination are ready to live their lives in that neighborhood. At that point Walter got the respect from his sister who rarely admits her love towards him but, also the infatuation and justification from his wife, Ruth, who was very proud. When Mr. Linder tried to move onto Mrs. Younger (Mama-Lena) she state’s “I am afraid you don’t understand. My son said we was going to move and there ain’t nothing left for me to say.” (3.1.137) standing by her son and completely supporting him and his decision as the head of the household. Walter finally felt his manhood coming back, as Mr. Linder shut his briefcase and welcomed them too the neighborhood despite the problems they will face later on. The family celebrated and packed their stuff into the moving trucks immediately, and headed for the start of their new lives!
Economic and societal poverty are the key forms of poverty highlighted in the three-act play, A Raisin in the Sun. Lorraine Hansberry, the playwright, discusses the hardships of African-Americans attempting to emerge in society in the 1950’s. The play is staged in ways where the audience can grasp the trifles of an African-American family continuously experiencing setbacks whilst attempting to achieve their notion of the “American Dream”. To Walter Lee Younger, his idea of the “American Dream” is that anything is possible for those who have money. Unfortunately, there is a minor problem: Walter Lee Younger is a working-class African-American man who struggles to make ends meet in the Southside of Chicago, Illinois. The family undergoes
The play by Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, presents an African-American family living in poverty in the 1950’s. The family receives ten thousand dollars from deceased Mr. Younger’s insurance; the money is supposed to be distributed in buying a house, Beneatha’s education, and Walter’s liquor store investment. However, Walter invests wrongly and loses more than half of the money, forcing Beneatha to consider moving to Africa to pursue an education. Beneatha Younger’s struggle with segregation while pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor demonstrates that education can be obtained with determination and discipline.
Walter Lee Younger a 35 year old man, who lives in a house with his Wife Ruth, Son Travis, Sister Beneatha, and Mother Lena. Walter is greedy, ambitious, and shallow. He obviously shows these characteristics during the play by the way he act towards his family and outsiders. For example, since Walter is unsatisfied with his life he takes it out on Ruth when she was simply just telling him to eat his eggs because they're going to get cold, “ This morning, I was lookin’ in the mirror and thinking about it… I’m thirty - five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room and all I got to give to him is stories about how rich white people live.” Walter says selfishly to Ruth after ignoring what is saying. After Walter complains to Ruth about his life she simply says again to him again, “Eat your eggs, Walter.” He became very angry after hearing Ruth repeat this sentence a few times, jumps up, slams on the table and says, “DAMN MY EGGS-- DAMN ALL THE EGGS THAT EVER WAS! This shows that if Walter is not happy then he will make sure that everyone in his family will know. Also, Working for a rich white man as a chauffeur, puts Walter down because he only wishes he could be the person in the back seat. “Honey, you never say nothing new. I listen to you every day, every night, and every morning, and you never say nothing new. So you would rather be Mr. Arnold than be his chauffeur. So-- I would rather be living in Buckingham
“ A Raisin in the Sun” is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry about the life of an African American family during the era of segregation. The play starts off with the Younger family receiving a 10,000 dollar check from Mr. Younger’s insurance policy. The family argues over what they are going to do with it. Mama wants to buy a house with it, Walter wants to invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to use the money to go to medical school. The contrast of the characters’ personalities fuels the conflict and drives the story forward. Beneatha is a young college student and the sister of Walter. She has a dream of becoming a doctor. Beneatha is a dynamic character who is easily influenced by her family and the people
The story of this play is simple and the majority of African-Americans faced such issues in the 1950’s, living on the south side of Chicago, struggles with poverty, dignity and dreams of a better life. Wanting better for your children and trying to fit in, while maintaining family values. A Raisin in the Sun is an excellent example of the relationship between family values and conflict. In this play it portrays: values and purpose of dreams, the need to fight for racial discrimination and the importance of family.
In the words of Jim Cocola and Ross Douthat, Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun to mimic how she grew up in the 1930s. Her purpose was to tell how life was for a black family living during the pre-civil rights era when segregation was still legal (spark notes). Hansberry introduces us to the Youngers’, a black family living in Chicago’s Southside during the 1950s pre-civil rights movement. The Younger family consists of Mama, who is the head of the household, Walter and Beneatha, who are Mama’s children, Ruth, who is Walter’s wife, and Travis, who is Walter and Ruth’s son. Throughout the play the Youngers’ address poverty, discrimination, marital problems, and abortion. Mama is waiting on a check from the
Generally speaking, people are ruthless, cold, and unforgiving when they are crossed or their funds are negatively affected by someone. Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, focuses on a struggling black family.Over the course of the play, we learn that a black family living in poverty receives insurance money due the death of the father, but Walter, the son, foolishly loses the money when he invests it into a liquor store. His mother reacts in different ways to her son’s actions in the play and the film version. In the family, Walter and Beneatha are the children of Mama, and the character, Ruth, is Walter’s wife. Introduced in A Raisin in the Sun is the character, Mama. The portrayal of Mama in the 2008 film version of A Raisin in the Sun is the most compelling because it characterizes her as forgiving and loving nature in the best way possible, which contributes to the family being able to bounce back in times of financial struggles compared to the play and the 1961 film version.
When it is taken into account the hardships people have had to live through because of money and its value, it is easy to assume that a possession of that wealth would solve the issues faced. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, money is seen as the way out of the tunnel the Younger family has been stuck in for so long. The arrival of a ten thousand dollar life insurance check spins the family upside down as they try to figure out how to use the money to better themselves, individually and as a family. The only dominating male figure in the family, Walter Jr., is set on making his family’s life better with the money by using it to hopefully make more money. Walter has seen what his family has gone through as a result of their socioeconomic status and he wants more than