“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” The message of this quote by J.K. Rowling can be seen in many books, movies, and television shows. Two places where this is prominent is Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Both the book and the movie display strong examples of the theme, “It is never too late to start over.” A Raisin in the Sun tells the story of the Youngers, a family of five living in conditions that are less than desireable. Their low income has forced them to live in a small apartment for many years. After being crowded for so long, family life turns into a perpetually contentious situation. Towards the end of the book, Mama, the head of the household, uses her insurance money to buy them a real house. The reasoning behind her expedious decision is to keep her family together in spite of the animosity that has overtaken their day-to-day life. Walter …show more content…
The two of them want to buy a small house and be able to work on their own land, instead of someone else’s. The pair has been forced to leave every job they’ve had on account of Lennie’s faux pas. Even in the beginning of the movie, it is clear that they have endured many hard times, however they keep starting over at a new job. At the ranch where most of the movie takes place, things seem to be going well until Lennie accidentally kills a puppy and the wife of the boss’s son. Unlike the trouble in their past, this incident causes a great deal of hatred towards Lennie. As the mob of men want to lynch Lennie, George has to decide what to do. He quickly comes to the conclusion that he has to murder his best friend, since he cannot save Lennie, and start a new life. Although the ending to this movie is brutal and upsetting, it still proves that it is never too late to start
George and Lennie were lifelong friends and had varying personalities even from the start. Lennie thought about how his Aunt Clara said he should have been more like George. At the time when the story took place, the two men were travelling together, and had been for some time, working and then moving on to search for the next job they could find. They were like many other men in search for work, except it was rare for men to travel together. George felt a need to take care of Lennie because he was somewhat slow. George was an average man of the time. He was a good size, nice, but firm, and he had aspirations to be more than just a nomadic laborer. Lennie, on the other hand, had always been a little different. He was big, goofy, clumsy, but sweet. They were also both good workers. George was concerned with working and getting his money before they got into trouble and had to leave camp. Lennie was the one who normally started the trouble. He was a hard worker and lived to appease George, but he got distracted easily which angered George. George told about how they would own a house and a farm together and work for themselves. Lennie loved to hear the story and think about the possibilities, even though nobody knew if any of it was a possibility. George and Lennie's differences in part led to George's inclination to kill Lennie. Despite their dissimilarity, the two men needed each other probably more than they realized.
A Raisin in the Sun is a set in 1950s after the Second World War which was an age of great racism and materialistic in America. It is about a black family living in south side of Chicago and struggling through family and economic hardships, facing the issues of racism, discrimination, and prejudice. The family consists of Lena Younger known as Mama; Walter Lee Younger who is an intense man, Ruth Younger who is wife of Walter Lee, Travis Younger who is son of Ruth and Walter, and Beneatha Younger who is Walter’s younger sister. The whole family lives in a two bed room apartment and don’t have money to live a better life. youngers are tired from their struggle to ...
A Raisin in the Sun is basically about dreams, as the main characters struggle to deal with the oppressive circumstances that rule their lives. The Youngers struggle to attain these dreams throughout the play, and much of their happiness and depression is directly related to their attainment of, or failure to attain, these dreams. By the end of the play, they learn that the dream of a house is the most important dream because it unites the family.
Differences in generations can cause people to have different viewpoints in life. A Raisin In The Sun is a play set in the 1950s written by Lorraine Hansberry. The Youngers are a black family who lives in a cramped apartment in the South Side of Chicago. When Mama receives a check of insurance money, members of the family are divided in their own hopes of what it will be used for. Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha are the three women of the Younger household and their generational differences clearly show through their actions. The difference between generations is why Mama is the most devout, Ruth is an agreeable person, and Beneatha is outspoken and has modern views.
In life there are always going to be ups and downs, good and bad times, because families go through extensive amounts of arguments. Within the play A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, there are a few complications that the Younger family face. Moreover, the main complications occur between Lena Younger (Mama) and Walter Lee Younger (the son of Mama). Throughout the play, the biggest complication they face is how to spend Walter Lee Senior’s life insurance money. The Younger family goes through several challenging times; however, the family shows that no matter what, everyone should stick together.
A Raisin in the Sun is a 1961 film about an African-American family, the Youngers, who are learning to live and guide their way through various societal issues that surround gender roles, race, the social class system, and the economic structure within their community. The Younger family is a lower income, working class family with the opportunity for an increase in finances. Lena, the mother and grandmother, is receiving a ten thousand dollar life insurance payment due to the passing of her husband. Each family member of the Younger family is looking forward to the financial freedom or dreams renewed that the new money might bring. The film identifies key aspects that are related to money and financial gain, these key aspects include male
Similarities and differences are what make us all unique. The similarities and differences of two men, George and Lennie, are greatly displayed during their journey together. In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie share many similarities and differences; they are both scared to become lonely, they are complete opposites, and they share the same dream for their future.
“Raisin in the sun” has three generation of women. Each woman in this play acts different and has different mindsets. Mama, being the older woman in the play, is selfless, caring, and thinks ahead in the future. She also has much love for God and has a lot of faith. Mama is independent and does what she believes is best. Mama gets the insurance money and decides she wants to buy the family a bigger house since the one they currently live in is tiny. Mama is an extremely loving person and tries to guide everybody to where they need to be. Domina writes, “Throughout the play, Mama has been trying to lead Walter into the realization of his own dignity, and it is finally through her forgiveness and trust that he achieves it.” This proves her character
Have you ever found money coming between you and your family and disrupting love and life? Money can destroy families and change them for the worse. In the Raisin in the Sun, the author Lorraine Hansberry, uses events of her life to relate and explain how the Younger family, of Chicago's South side, struggles and improves throughout the book. One main cause for their family's problems is because of money and how it causes anger to control the family. The play deals with situations in which the family is dealing with unhappiness from money. Walter, the man of the house in the Younger family, tries impressing Travis, his son, too much with money instead of teaching him the more important lessons of life. Walter also dreams to invest in a liquor store and make a lot of money and becomes overwhelmed and badly caught up in his dream. Lastly, the Younger family is much too dependent on the check their Mama is receiving. The family has lost the fact that their mama tries to tell them, before, freedom was life but now money seems to have the controlling factor in life. When money becomes an obsession for a family, problems occur.
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down barriers to become an African American female doctor. Lastly, is Walter Lee Younger, son of Mama and husband of Ruth. Walter dreams of economic prosperity and desires to become a flourishing businessman. Over the course of Walter's life many things contributed to his desire to become a businessman. First and foremost, Walter's father had a philosophy that no man should have to do labor for another man. Being that Walter Lee was a chauffeur, Big Walter?s philosophy is completely contradicted. Also, in Walter?s past, he had the opportunity to go into the Laundromat business which he chose against. In the long run, he saw this choice was fiscally irresponsible this choice was. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee's dreams, which are his sole focus, lead to impaired judgement and a means to mend his shattered life.
Though American citizens are recognized as adults at the age of eighteen, human brains take much longer to fully develop. The play A Raisin in the Sun takes place in the apartment of the Youngers, an African American family struggling with financial issues during the 1950’s. Walter’s father has recently passed away, and Mama receives a life insurance check for his death. Walter and Mama share their cramped apartment with Walter’s sister Beneatha, his wife, Ruth, and their son, Travis. Walter works as a chauffeur and Ruth does domestic chores for rich, white families. They do not have many opportunities for better jobs or higher quality education, but Beneatha attends college classes in hopes of becoming a doctor. Walter’s job as a chauffeur
A Raisin in the Sun follows the events of an African-American family living in Chicago during the 50’s. It becomes apparent from the first scene that the family has financial issues. Walter who is discontent with his living situation, believes that an insurance check that his mother will be receiving will solve all of the families problems and allow for a better life. Mama uses a fraction of the check to purchase a house in a all white neighborhood. A representative of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association comes to visit the Youngers and offers to buy back their house at a financial gain and insists that Clybourne is no place for an African-American family. Meanwhile, Walter had already lost the rest of the insurance money ($6500) to his friend Willy Harris who runs away with the money leaving Walter and his family at a loss. This is particularly devastating because the money represents Mama’s husbands entire life of hard work as a laborer. In the end of this story, the Youngers are genuinely more happy and optimistic that they can live more fulfilling lives. The Youngers problem is one that exists in modern day families of the United States. Money management is a physiological issue between spouses and families.
A dream is precious and delicate but can be dangerous when we see the lengths people would go to achieving them. Readers see an example of this in Of Mice and Men, a novella written by John Steinbeck, that follows two migrant workers, Lennie and George, who travel from farm to farm looking for work. Lennie is cognitively impaired and mainly focuses on achieving his dream, and that dream is to tend soft-haired rabbits on the farm that he and George will live on in freedom. Similarly in A Raisin in the Sun, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, Walter Lee, one of the main characters, struggles with being a man, providing for his family, being a black, and most of all following his dreams. Lennie, from Of Mice and Men, and Walter, from A Raisin in the Sun, both go to extreme lengths to achieve their dreams and bring
Dreams of owning a business and having money to accomplish goals are two key parts played out throughout the whole process. Walter Younger is determined to have his own business and he will go to ends meet to see that dream come true. Financial bridges are crossed and obstacles arise when Walter makes a bad decision regarding money that could have helped the family and not only himself, if he had thought smarter. His pride and dignity are tested throughout the story and he is forced to set up for his family. The Raisin in the Sun helps readers to understand the history of racial discrimination and how racial discrimination has an effect on the people in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well as how that has an effect on the characters within the play.
Each of the characters in A Raisin in the Sun has a dream for which they base their whole happiness and livelihood on attaining. However, the character of Lena Younger, or Mama, differs from the other members of her family. Time after time, Mama postpones her dream of owning a house and garden to perpetuate the dreams of her family members. Finally, when Mama receives the $10,000 insurance check, she feels that her dream can become reality, and purchases a house in Clybourned Park. Her dream "drys up like a raisin in the sun" when she learns that Walter gave the money to Willy Harris, who mysteriously disappears. Mama does not shatter simply because her dream has not been fulfilled. "Lena Younger's strength of character has come from the steadfast endurance of hardship and a refusal to be conquered by it" (Phillips 51). Mama's economic hardships may have killed her dream, but she has not allowed it to kill her.