Lorraine Hansberry grew up in a world where being African American was reason enough to be kicked out of a neighborhood, your home. She lived life dancing from place to place. When she graduated college she moved to Harlem and met her longtime friend, Langston Hughes, the widely known poet. Their meeting sparked an inspiration for Hansberry and she began writing her play A Raisin in the Sun to answer Hughes’ question, “What happens to a dream deferred-” (Hughes 1). In her play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry uses Beneatha, Walter, and Big Mama to show the negative consequences that occur when a dream is deferred. To begin, Hansberry uses Beneatha to show the negative consequences of a dream deferred. Beneatha is a headstrong, stubborn, …show more content…
Walter is a selfish, self-absorbed, drunk who throughout the play is making decisions based on what he thinks will help his theoretical liquor store. He takes from the people that he is supposed to love the most and smothers their dreams. It’s hard to feel bad for Walter but when you take a deeper look into his life it is easier to understand what is happening with him. Walter has never lived anywhere other than the family apartment and he wants more for his son. He wants to be able to send him to college and give him a better life than he had. So, what does he do? He invests his money into a liquor store and proceeds to have it stolen. He trusted someone and they took his money. He says, “Man…THAT MONEY IS MADE FROM MY FATHER'S FLESH- “ (Hansberry 128). After this mistake the lives of Beneatha, Big Mama, Ruth and Travis are all changed. No longer can they move or send Bennie through College. His dream has infected the entire family. A quote that fits well with Walter is, “ Or fester like a sore/And then run?” (Hughes 4-5). This quote asks if your dead dream will infect the people around you negatively. For Walter, it does. His actions have infected those around
A Raisin in the Sun In the book “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, there were characters whose dreams were stated, some of which were shattered by greed and misfortune and others which would eventually come true. The first dream that came about was Walter’s dream of one day owning and maintaining a liquor store. He would do anything to attempt to get his dream to come true, but his mama wanted anything but that to happen. His mama had a dream of her own, though, she dreamed of one day owning her own house, where her whole family could stay comfortably.
It was unheard of at this time for a poor well-educated black woman to have such high ambitions and dreams. Beneatha took a lot pride in this fact and often waved her intelligence around in her families faces. Mama, knowing how much her education meant to her, told Walter to save $3000 for Beneatha's medical schooling. When it was discovered that Walter had invested the money in his liquor store scheme and Willy had run off with all the money, Beneatha was devastated. She had lost all hope and even though her spirits may have been lifted after her talk with Asagai in act III and the chance to move into a new house, it seems that Beneatha will never realize this
The battle against racism was fought with the help of many people. Beneatha in the story, A Raisin in the Sun by Hansberry, was always trying to find herself within the story. Whether it would be the guitar lessons she would take or the clothes she would wear, it all meant something to her.
A Raisin in the Sun In A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry portrays obstacles that the Younger family and other African Americans had to face and over come during the post World War 2 era. Obstacles that had to be over come by the Youngers were economical, moral, social, and racist obstacles. Lorraine Hansberry, the author of the play had to face one of these as well growing up. Born in Chicago on the south side in an all black neighborhood, Lorraine Hansberry and her family had to deal with segregation.
When asked if she had given up on caring about her dream after Walter gave up the money she says “Yes, I think so” (133). She wants it so badly, it causes her to feel the only way that she can deal with the pain is not to care anymore. Clearly, Beneatha is desperately in pursuit of her dream.
school. Walter's mother, Lena (Mama), plans to use the money for a house for the
	During the course of the play, conflicts between Beneath and her brother Walter are revealed. Walter thinks that his sister should be a mainstream woman and not have great dreams and ambitions for her life. "Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people - then go be a nurse like other women - or just get married an be quiet" (38). This passage shows that Walter is clearly a chauvinist, and does not believe in his sister’s desire to be a doctor. Similarly, Beneatha does not believe in Walters aspirations of becoming a rich entrepreneur, and thinks he is rather...
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, has often been dubbed a “black” play by critics since its debut on Broadway in 1959. This label has been reasonably assigned considering the play has a cast that consists primarily of African American actors; however, when looking beyond the surface of this play and the color of the author and characters, one can see that A Raisin in the Sun actually transcends the boundaries of racial labels through the universal personalities assigned to each character and the realistic family situations that continue to evolve throughout the storyline. As seen when comparing A Raisin in the Sun to “The Rich Brother,” a story for which the characters receive no label of race, many commonalities can be found between the characters’ personalities and their beliefs. Such similarities prove that A Raisin in the Sun is not merely a play intended to appeal only to the black community, nor should it be construed as a story about the plights of the black race alone, but instead should be recognized as a play about the struggles that all families, regardless of race, must endure in regard to their diversity and financial disparity. A succinct introduction and excellent writing!
During the 1960s, the African-American people were in racial situations due to their “lowered status”. They had no control over the strong beliefs in segregation, which “is characterized by a mixture of hope and despair.” (Nordholt) African-Americans, like normal people, had strived to achieve set goals. Unfortunately, their ethnicity was what inhibited them from accomplishing their dreams. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the author conveys the theme of the seemingly trivial efforts of the African-American people in their individual pursuits for a satisfactory life lead each person down a road of self-discovery that reveals an indefinite amount of truths, which transform their promising hopes into unachievable fantasies. By using powerful characterization, Hansberry creates characters with contrasting personalities dividing their familial hopes into different dreams. With the use of symbolism, each character’s road is shown to inevitably end in a state where dreams are deferred.
He struggles every day to achieve his dream of getting more money. When the $10,000 check came in, it was his shot at success. His mother gave him a big chunk of it and he invested it in a liquor store and lost the money. After that, Walter became very depressed. He had lost the trust and respect of his family.
Beneatha’s dream is to become a doctor. She believes that her dream was deferred when she was born since she is coloured and a female. Although she fights this, her dream is deferred even more when Walter looses the money which she needed to get into medical school.
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.
In addition, Ruth wishes to move out of the apartment and rekindle the love within her marriage. Beneatha, on the other hand, wants to become a doctor to heal people. Hansberry, constantly uses direct characterization with Ruth to portray her characterization within the play, but also to portray the characters pain or exhaustion, “Drily, but hurt” (16). Ruth Younger, wife of Walter and the mother of Travis, is a prime example. Within the play, she manages the upkeep of the apartment.
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.
Several times throughout the play, it exhibits how their dreams alter as each character puts their dreams aside. It also shows us how over time, some of their dreams “dried up like a raisin in the sun”. Walter was analogously delusional to Willy Loman, but also ends up changing for the better in the last act of the play. In spite of Walter's fixation with money over everything else, he is able to accomplish evolving as a person after he has an epiphany of principles and realizes his dream is delusional. In the end, Walter Younger concedes his craving for wealth in sake of his family occupying their own a house and his child's welfare; He recognizes the significance of family values after his dream is unsuccessful, and Walter knows he needs to do something about