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In A Raisin in the sun by Lorraine Hansberry is about an African American family that is continually slugging with jobs and money. When Mama, the head of the household, husband dies, she receives a check in the mail from the death. Mama makes a decision without consulting any of the other family member of buying a bigger, nicer house with the money. With the dreams of the other adults in the family that were relying on this money that would fulfill their wants, their character will be tested of what truly matters. The character of Walter Lee Younger is to represent the aspiration but, uniformed African Americans during this time. Walter’s main role in A Raisin in the Sun is to embody the African American people that take make many chances, which eventually lead to complete defeat. Walter has a personality of selfishness and ignorance which causes him to fail to achieve the success of owning a liquor store. At the end of the story Walter embodies the roles of a man and takes the initiation to stand up for his family. …show more content…
Walter’s negativity and constantly trying to pick a fight with Beneatha (his sister) and Ruth (his wife) shows how disgusted he is with his life. Also his lack of wisdom and stubbornness exemplify his success, which he hopes of achieving in a very short time. When Walter Younger fails at getting the money for starting a liquor store, he exclaims, “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHERS FLESH.”(Hansberry 128). Walter is emotionally and physically drained which makes him even more
Walter feels as though no one in the family supports his idea of opening a liquor store, but they want him to be an entrepreneur, but opening a liquor store is against his mother's moral grounds. Walter's arrogance is clearer when he asks Beneatha about her decision to become a doctor: He asks why she couldn't just become a nurse or get married "like other women." When he comes home after drinking with his friends and Beneatha is dancing to the African music, he says, "Shut up" to Ruth, just before joining Beneatha in the dance. Walter is obsessed with getting money so that he can buy "things for Ruth"; he is unaware that treating Ruth more kindly and with more respect would be more appreciated and valued than any "gifts."
Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, relates the story of a working-class African-American family with dreams. They are willing to rebel against the position that society has forced on them because of their race and class in order to fulfill their dreams. Walter Younger is a chauffeur who "can find no peace with that part of society which seems to permit him and no entry into that which has willfully excluded him" (Willie Loman 23). He wants to rise into wealth and live as his employer, Mr. Arnold, does. Walter feels as if he is going crazy at times. He tells Mama, "sometimes it's like I can see the future stretched out in front of me-just plain as day.... Hanging over there at the edge of my days. Just waiting for me- a big looming blank space-full of nothing.... But it don't have to be" (73-4). James Draper explains Walter's inability to act out in his work " Black Literature Criticisms," saying:
The civil rights movement brought enlightenment towards the abolishment of segregation laws. Although the laws are gone does segregation still exist in fact? “What happens to a dream deferred, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?'; said, in a poem by Langston Huges. The story, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry showed segregation and its affects upon all races. This essay will show how Assimilationists and New Negroes fought for their own identity in the mid twentieth century. Whether they were being true to themselves or creating carbon copies of oppression was determined by one’s view upon society.
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 by Larraine Hansberry is about a poor African American family living on the south side of Chicago, that wants to accomplish their dream but it is be a problem because of money. This essay is about Walter and Beneatha's dreams and how their dreams impact others and drive the story. They are given a chance to move out of their neighborhood when they receive a life-insurance check worth $10,000 when their father dies. Walter wants to invest in a liquor store and Beneatha wants to use the money to go to medical school. Walter and Beneatha are in the conflict about not only their dreams, but also how that money will be spent.
Her play reveals the fears and restraints, which kept many blacks from achieving the 1950's American Dream. The dominant theme in A Raisin in the Sun is the quest for home ownership. The play is about a black family living on the Southside of Chicago — a poverty-stricken, African American enclave of the city.... ... middle of paper ... ... Goodman, Paul.
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a modern tragedy in which the protagonist, Walter Lee Younger, is unable to find the fulfilling life he wants so badly. A contrasting view of the quest for that fulfilling life is offered in the character of Beneatha (whose name seems a play on her socioeconomic status, i.e. she-who-is-beneath), who serves as a foil against which the character of Walter is defined. Both Walter and Beneatha, representing the new generation of blacks coming of age after World War Two, are in conflict with Mama, who represents the previous generation and its traditions. The character of George Murchison is also opposed to both Beneatha and Walter, since he symbolizes assimilation on the white man's terms. Walter and Beneatha are also in conflict with their environment, a society where they are marginalized and subject to daily humiliation because of what is called their race (not, in fact, a biological distinction but a cultural construct).
Mama talks to Walter about her fears of the family falling apart. This is the reason she bought the house and she wants him to understand. Walter doesn't understand and gets angry. "What you need me to say you done right for? You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it. So what you need for me to say it was all right for? So you butchered up a dream of mine - you - who always talking 'bout your children's dreams..." Walter is so obsessive over money that he yells at his mom for not giving him all of it. He doesn't know that what his mom is doing is for the family. He thinks that having money will make the family happy, when in reality the family doesn't need anymore than what they have to be happy.
The South in Camouflage Embedded into African-American history, is the great migration to the north. A Raisin in the Sun is a play about an African-American family, the Younger family, and their struggle of life in the north. The family continues to struggle due to their financial situation, and due to racial injustice. They want to live life just like any other successful person. But with Ruth and Mama having domestic work as a job, and Walter’s job as a chauffeur .
It shows the life of Youngers, an African American family who lived on the Southside of Chicago in the 1950’s. Their future seems uncertain but they are trying to be optimistic because they want to live a better life. The main theme in A Raisin in the Sun is an African American family facing
Ruth is realistic about their life while Walter is unrealistic about his dream and the effects it could have on their life. Beneatha and Walter both need the life insurance money to pursue their dreams; Beneatha wants to be a doctor to help others, and Walter wants to own a liquor store to feel accomplished and to provide for his family. Mama is selfless and shows plenty of love and compassion for her family; on the other hand, Walter can be selfish at times and can occasionally be harsh to Ruth and Beneatha. These women all teach Walter that the most important thing in the world is not success, but it is family and what it means to you. They teach Walter that what genuinely matters in life is not how much money you have, but how willing you are to protect and care for your family.
A Raisin the Sun is about a black family who goes through many struggles together but they never leave each other’s sides and they support one another. The Younger family was pretty poor because it was hard for blacks to get good jobs. However, Lena, the mama, got money that was her husbands and she used some of it to buy a house. The house happened to be in an all white community and a man named Carl comes to Lena to tell her that her family is not welcome. During the Harlem Renaissance there were many issues with skin color.
A Raisin in the Sun is set in the South of Chicago in the 1950’s and portrays the lives of an African-American family, the Youngers, who like many other African-American families migrated from the South to the North to leave behind the social, economic and educational oppression. Unfortunately this is no different in the North. In the play it is seen how Mama solely believes that the meaning of life is freedom and Walter, her son, believes that money is life. Both these characters have conflicting ideas on what they perceive life’s meaning to be. These ideas will be closely analysed, with evidence from the text, to illustrate why they are relevant to Mama and Walter. The function of time will be closely analysed as well to show how over the course of a few weeks it influences their particular meanings of life. I agree with Mama saying that their interpretations of life are due to intergenerational differences, and not on what Walter suggests about life always being about money. The aspect of the deferred American dream, which I feel is a central problem in the play, will also be dealt with in relation to Mama and Walter’s dreams and how time functions in relation to this.
This episode illustrates a major conflict throughout the story. As Walter dreams bigger and bigger he seems to leave the'smaller' things such as his family behind. This movement away from the family is against the furtherance of the values and morals of the family. While his father would have been happy simply working and caring for his family, Walter is more concerned with becoming a'mover and shaker' without thinking about the resulting consequences for his family. Later in the morning Beneatha, the younger sister of Walter, initiates a conflict by speaking in an unacceptable manner about God – seemingly rejecting values that have been taught to her since childhood.
The late 1950s was filled with racial discriminations. There was still sections living as well as public signs of Colored and Whites. Blacks and Whites were not for any change or at least not yet. A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Vivian Hansberry, tells a story of a black family that is struggling to gain a middle class acceptance in Chicago. The family of five, one child and four adults live in a tiny apartment that is located in a very poor area. Dreams of owning a business and having money to accomplish goals is two key parts played out throughout the whole play. Walter Younger is determined to have his own business and he will go to ends met to see that dream come true. Financial bridges are crossed and obstacles arise when Walter makes a bad decision regarding money that could have help the family and not only himself, if he would have thought smarter. His pride and dignity are tested throughout the story and he is forced to setup for his family. The Raisin in the Sun helps readers to understand 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.