Family Over Ambition: An Analysis of 'A Raisin in the Sun'

744 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How are dreams altered in raisin in the sun

Would you sacrifice your family for money? Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, is about a family named the Youngers. They aren’t that wealthy, the main character Walter has a dream of owning a liquor store but, he doesn’t have the money for it. So Mama (his mom) is getting a check for 10,000 dollars after the death of Big Walter (his dad) and wants to use that money for a liquor store. She doesn’t want to use that money on a liquor store. Mama ends up buying the whole family one big house, Walter isn’t too pleased with that. He is so angry and really wanted to pursue his ambition of owning a liquor store but, Mama had gotten the whole family a house. She knows that he is angry that she “crushed” his dream, she feels as if she has So he asks his wife, Ruth, to try and convince Mama to give Walter the money for the liquor store. “ Mama would listen to you. You know she listen to you more than she do me and Bennie” (Walter 32). This evidence show’s Walter trying to get Ruth to ask Mama for the money and this connects to the theme one’s family is more important than money by showing that at this moment Walter hasn’t realized that his family is more important than money. He hasn’t quite got the idea that maybe getting the liquor store isn’t such a good investment and maybe he should use it for Travis when he wants to go to college, or if he wants to buy a nice gift for Mama, or And at the end, he tries to sell the house back for more money than what the Younger family had originally bought it for. But has an “ Ah Ha” moment and eventually realizes that his family has and always will be more important than money. Hansberry developed this theme because she felt that throughout this whole story that family was the most important even though the family was having money problems. It matters that people read the play and discover the theme because they can get a deeper connection if they actually read the story and understand all the hardships that the Younger family is

Show More
Related

  • Trust In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Mama (To Walter) Son- (She goes to him, bends down to him, talks to his bent head) Son… Is it gone? Son, I gave you sixty-five hundred dollars. Is it gone? All of it? Beneatha’s money too?”(Act 2 Scene 3 Pg. 129). Mama told him that she did not want her late husband’s hard earned money to go into a liquor store. Walter did not listen; therefore, he was held responsible and Mama punished him by beating him( pg.129). She further makes him face the consequences by telling him that he got them into this mess, and as head of the family he needs to get the family out of this situation but not at the cost of the families pride (

    Read More

  • Talledega Nights Film Analysis

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    Walter, distraught after Mama had denounced his ambition to run a liquor store, had skipped work for three days, borrowing Willy Harris's car to drive around the city. Mama, seeing Walter so defeated, decided to entrust the remaining 6,500 dollars of her 10,000 dollar check to him, saying, "It ain't much, but it's all I got in the world and I'm putting it in your hands." (Hansberry,) Having incessantly denied Walter's dream,

    Read More

  • Keeping the Family Together in A Raisin In The Sun

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    What a loving mother! Lena Younger, or Mama, is nurturing and supportive when it comes to raising and maintaining a family. Personally speaking, being nurturing means to love, care for, and show concern over someone. Analyzing Mama’s relationships with family members can show us her view on parenting and ultimately show us her devotion to her family. In A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, Mama is a nurturing mother who cares for and protects her family in her struggle to keep them unified.

    Read More

  • Themes Of The American Dream In A Raisin In The Sun

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hansberry starts the play with a family with frustrated dreams. These dreams mostly involve money. Although the Younger family seems turnoff from the middle-class white culture they want to obtain the same materialistic dreams as the rest of American society. The America Dream is for everyone, as Hughes state in his poem “Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain seeking a home where he himself is free”. Is like Hughes is saying let the Younger be able to fulfill their dreams, even though they are not middle-class people. Let them have the freedom to get want they desire. Which indeed is possible for the Younger to obtain if they stay thinking positive and in

    Read More

  • Essay On Family Issues In The Crucible And A Raisin In The Sun

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    Walter destroyed what you would call a family. You would think that money could be the solution of all of your problems, but instead Walter let the insurance money influence him and let it control him. A Raisin in the Sun is a play that took place in the 1950s in Southside Chicago which made a major difference on how family acted towards each other. When Walter spends all of the money that Mama has trusted him with Beneatha, Mama, and Ruth are disappointment at him. Even at one point Beneatha states “Bad? Say anything bad to him? No-I told him he was a sweet boy and full of dreams and everything is strictly peachy keen, as the ofay kids say!” With this, you can see that Beneatha is beyond disappointed and she believes that Walter cannot be saved from his illness which is in this case the money. According to Masterplots,Fourth Edition November 2010,p1-3 it states “These opportunities, however, create tensions and competition in the Younger family dramatized by Walter’s verbal battles with his mother and sister and Beneatha’s arguments with her mother. Moreover, the elusiveness of these dreams create frustration that leads to bitterness.”(Tackach). What I believe this quote indicates is that since the Younger family knew about insurance money there has been competition between the Youngers siblings deciding who gets the money either if it Walter for his

    Read More

  • Walter Lee and Manhood in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    Readers can see early on in the play the importance of money to Walter Lee. In a scene in Act 1 we see Walter trying to talk his mother, Lena, into giving him the money to invest in a liquor store. We can see him growing more and more agitated with her because she has already made her decision on the matter. Walter responds by saying,

    Read More

  • Characters Dreams Deferred in Raisin In The Sun

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    Walter is Mama’s oldest son. His dreams are to be wealth but at the same time wanting to provide for his family. His own personal dream is to open liquor store with his money he receives from Mama.

    Read More

  • Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Mama is talking to Walter, she asks him why he always talks about money. "Mama: Oh--So now it's life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life--now it's money. I guess the world really do change . . . Walter: No--it was always money, Mama. We just didn't know about it." Walter thinks that the world revolves around money. He wants to believe that if his family were rich they would have perfect lives. This isn't true though, and Mama knows it. She knows that no matter how much money Walter has, he will never be happy unless he has a family that loves him. Before Walter goes out to invest in the liquor store he has a talk with his son. "Walter: You wouldn't understand yet, son, but your daddy's gonna make a transaction . . . a business transaction that's going to change our lives. . . ." Walter thinks that this transaction will make their lives better. What he doesn't realize is that he already has a good life and he doesn't need more money to make him happy. He should be grateful for what he has instead of worrying about money.

    Read More

  • The American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    Primarily, in A Raisin in the Sun Walter is an example of one struggling to achieve their dream or desire. Walter serves as the hero and villain of the play due to the actions he takes revolving his dream. “Walter, who firmly believes in the American Dream of economic independence, wants to own his own business, and a liquor store, because he despairs over what he perceives to be his inability to support the family and to provide for his son’s future” ( __ __ ). Walter’s dream is to be sole the provider for his household and give his family a better life. He plans by doing this through a liquor store investment with the insurance money given to Mama from Big Walters death. “In the play Walter loses much of the insurance money that he planned to invest on a liquor store to a con artist” ( ___ ___ ). Walter’s decision on investing in a liquor store turns out to be a horrific choice. In the play although Walter is regretfully deceived and looked down upon as a result of the liquor store ambition, he makes up for it by at the end finally reaching his manhood. During the time of the play the husband of the family is mainly the sole provider for the family. In the case of the play, Walters mother is the sole provider for the family. Walter strives to be the “man” of the house.“A job. (Looks at her) Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say, “Yes, sir; no, sir; very good, sir; shall I take the Drive, sir?” Mama, that ain’t no kind of job. That ain’t nothing at all. (Very quietly) Mama, I don’t know if I can make you understand” ( Hansberry , Pg.73). “Walter minimizes the position of a car driver because to him it diminishes his manhood and his sense of individual worth.

    Read More

  • Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    Essentially this play can be regarded as the mid-life crisis of Walter Lee Younger, passionate for his family, ambitious, and bursting with energy and dreams. Walter cares about his family, and he hopes that buying the liquor store will being a brighter future to Travis, ?And-and I?ll say, all right son-it?s your seventeenth birthday, what is it you?ve decided?...Just tell me where you want to go to school and you?ll go. Just tell me, what it is you want to be ? and you?ll be it.?(Hansberry 109). Walter Lee, shackled by poverty and prejudice, and obsessed with his own sense of success, which he felt, would be the end of all of his social and economic problems. The dreams he had gave him a great sense of pride and self-satisfaction. Unfortunately Walter had to learn a hard lesson in life; pride and greed will eventually lead to unhappiness.

    Read More

  • Materialism In A Raisin In The Sun

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning of the play, Walter is foolish and quarrelsome, with his heart set on becoming affluent. As he grasps how hard work his father worked and how hard his family works, he reasons that living by his standards is more important than gaining wealth, and he stops feeling resentful towards them. This play highlights how many members of society focus more on making money than living by their ethical

    Read More

  • Love and Sacrifice: Analysis of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    To start off, Walter’s obsession with money is going to cost him a lot since it is the only thing he cares about. In the beginning, Walter starts out by only caring only about himself, but towards the end, he starts to care for everyone else as well. This shows that Walter is a selfish person. As Walter Lee states to Ruth, “Yeah. You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see” is the dream that Walter Lee has for himself (Hansberry 33). Walter wants the money that the Younger family is getting from the insurance company to buy the liquor store. He thinks that the liquor store will make them rich and the family would not have to struggle anymore. At the end, Walter changes his whole point of view towards the insurance money. Walter declares to Mr....

    Read More

  • A Raisin in the Sun: Money is Only an Object

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hansberry uses Walter Jr’s character to display one way that poverty has had an effect on the Younger family. At one point in the play, Walter rushes in and says,” Did it come?” Mama quietly mumbles “Can’t you give people a Christian greeting before you start asking about money?” Walter’s mind, consumed by the thought of the ten thousand dollars, asks again, “Did it come?” (24) Walter is demonstrating insensitivity to both Ruth and Mama, but on top of that he is showing that all day he was thinking about the check. As he bursts into the apartment and the first thing he asks is “Did it come?” not even bothering to ask how either of them were feeling or how their day had gone. His only concern appears to be with the $10,000 check from his father’s death. This is a great example of how people can be so focused on something such as money and how it can take over their thought processes. This is especially true during hard times of major struggles and conflicts. Hansberry also displays how poverty can affect a family in a negative way by Mama’s actions. After ...

    Read More

  • The Role of Mama in A Raisin in the Sun

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1950’s through the 1960’s women were not respected in there everyday lives, in the job field or in general. They did not have the rights they deserved, so during this time the “women’s movement” began. Women fought for their rights and fought for the self-respect that they thought they deserved. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the character Mama, expresses her feelings of pushing or extracting a new side for a woman. Her role explains that woman can be independent and can live for themselves. Through her behavior in this play she demonstrates that women can support and guide a family. Mama is in charge of the family, which is unusual, since men are traditionally the “head of a family”. Through Mama’s wisdom and dialect she expresses and portrays an image of pro-feminism. Mama’s experience in the play A Raisin in the Sun illustrates the expressions, the emotions, and the feeling with which Mama and women had to cope. She was able to characterize this through her passionate dreams, her control and her strong willed attitude.

    Read More

  • Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun – Mama

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    Walter wants the insurance 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. Mama cares for Walter deeply and hates seeing him suffer so she gave into his idea. Mama gives Walter the rest of the money and tells him to put half in a bank for his sister's schooling and he could do whatever he wanted with the other half.

    Read More

More about Family Over Ambition: An Analysis of 'A Raisin in the Sun'

Open Document