An Analysis of A Raisin In the Sun

An Analysis of A Raisin In the Sun

"A Raisin In The Sun" is a play written by an African-American

playwright - Lorraine Hansberry. It was first produced in 1959. Lorraine

Hansberry's work is about a black family in the Chicago's South-Side after

the Second World War. The family consisted of Mama(Lena Younger), Walter

Lee(her son), Ruth (his wife), Travis (their son), and Beneatha (Walters

younger sister). The Younger family lived in poor conditions, and can't

afford to have better living standards. However, Lena is waiting to

receive a $10,000 check from her late-husbands insurance money. The two

main characters in the play, Mama and Walter, want this money to be used

for the benefits of the whole family. Even though both of them want to

benefit the family, each one has a different idea of what to do with the

money and how to manage it to benefit everyone.

Walter Lee, like his father want's his family to have a better life

and want's to invest the money in a liquor store. Walter want's the money

so that he can prove that he is capable of making a future for his family.

By doing well in business Walter thinks that he can buy his family

happiness. Walter has dreams. Dreams he most likely got from his father.

Dreams of better life for his family and himself. A dream of financial

security and comfortable living. Ruth, on the other hand is stable and down

to earth. She doesn't make rash choices to accommodate a dream. She will

just make do with what she has. Mama is a loving person, she is wise but

lives in the past. She is happy to have her family with and be safe from

society. She thinks that money is not something that makes a family happy.

Besides dreams Walter also has a husbands responsibilities which

are universally thought of as being able to support his family and raise

his children so they are morally in line with what he believes in. Walter's

problem, however, seems to be that he is building his supposedly well

thought out plan of investing money in a liquor store into something he is

infactuated with. By creating this infactuation, he is not able to achieve

his responsibilities. Besides having responsibilities Walter also has his