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Influence of the harlem renaissance on today’s african americans
Harlem renaissance the black people in america
Harlem renaissance the black people in america
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Beneatha and Walter both feel under pressure to make something significant of their lives by reason of their father's death. Nevertheless, they go about it in different means. Beneatha expands from her loved ones and come across new people, such as Joseph Asagai and George Murchison, and she has strong feelings (or she takes on the feelings of those close to her). Beneatha desires to be a doctor, although this is not usual for Black women in her time period. Walter wishes to open a liquor store with his buddies, but he has not widen his surroundings as much and found different people to learn from. Sadly, this is his downfall, since Bobo and his other friend don’t turn out to be very dependable. Beneatha and Walter both want to overcome racial …show more content…
Escaping poverty was one of their biggest desires, even though they struggled to achieve this goal throughout the play, a great deal of their joy and unhappiness was directly connected to their accomplishment of, or failure to accomplish, this dream of being successful. Walter is his own problem to attaining his goals– he wants to be wealthy and successful, but he only attempt get-rich-quick schemes, which doesn’t succeed over and over again. He has a sincere entrepreneurial disposition and wants to progress. He also feels that having money is an indication of his success. Beneatha is the base of many of the fresh ideas and viewpoints that penetrate the family's home. At this time in college, she is continuously questioning the thoughts of race, society, gender, and the faith that her family has been raised with. She feels designated to become a doctor so that she, too, can be affluent. When that may be taken away from her, she has no reaction other than to despair helping other …show more content…
Walter’s dream is unrealistic and unbalanced in the white entrepreneur world. The only scene that Walter can express his entire dream, without being interrupted by someone in the family, is when he tell his dream-image completely to his son, Travis. This scene visibly presents Walter’s value decision, and also prefigures Walter’s risk with the family’s cash. In his dialogue, what he describes as being successful all depends on how much money he makes. If only he became rich, he could be the superior giving directives to the assistant, drive a nice black Chrysler, finance his wife with a car to run errands in, have a fine house with a landscaper, and complete all of his son’s needs. In his vision, all of this would take place after the business deal, which is going to change their lives. Yet, he only sees the exciting life of the rich minus truly observing the hard work, the ongoing information, and the experience that are necessary qualifications before an individual can make earnings. While he gives up his own individuality and fully agree to the white value, Walter is still faced with many difficulties in achieving his dream. This is because he doesn’t realize the real value of the American dream, which rests in parity and liberty, the moral aspect. Lacking any professional learning and rational attitude, Walter finds his life pointless and becomes another object consumed by the
It's obvious that Walter is not able to provide his family with what is considered the "American Dream." Walter complains to Mama about the way he feels about his 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?" Walter wants to be the one sitting in the back of that limousine while someone else is doing the driving.
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."
In act one of the play, Walter proclaims that “money is life”(Hansberry 74) , meaning that one’s success was defined by how much money he or she had. Throughout the play, Walters and Beneatha’s views on wealth clash because according to Walter, money is the answer to all of their issues while Beneatha constantly reminds him that the money was mama’s and she could do whatever she wants with it whenever he pressed on about buying the liquor store. In scene two of act two, after mama gives Walter the money, Walter explains to his son Travis in a long speech how he will invest the money and what kind of life they will live once the business is successful, this also included sacrificing Beneatha’s school money. This speech also shows Walters “American Dream”. Unfortunately, Walter trusted the wrong man with his money and ended up losing it all. He fails to start the business he had his heart set on and the family ends up moving into Clybourne
Walter and Beneatha’s relationship is very complex. The spiraling tension between the two siblings causes confrontation to form and creep into the Younger household. Walter needs his family to respect him as the man of the family, but his sister is constantly belittling him in front of his mother, wife, and son. This denigrating treatment taints Walter’s view of himself as a man, which carries into his decisions and actions. Beneatha also subconsciously deals with the dysfunctional relationship with her brother. She desires to have her brother’s support for her dream of becoming a doctor, yet Walter tends to taunt her aspiration and condemns her for having such a selfish dream. Mama as the head of the family is heartbroken by the juvenile hostility of her adult children, so in hopes to keep her family together she makes the brave move of purchasing a house. Mama’s reasoning for the bold purchase was,“ I—I just seen my family falling apart….just falling to pieces in front of my eyes…We couldn’t have gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forw...
When Walter loses his "sister's school money," the consequences are widespread and Beneatha sees that dream diminish before her eyes. She sees her slipping through Walter's fingers and finds her lifelong goals changing. From the days of her childhood, she has longed "to be a doctor" and "fix up the sick." While her family and friends do not understand Beneatha's dream, she continues longing for the education she needs to create a successful life she desires rather than one where she is waiting "to get married.
Poverty doesn't have to effect the people's personalities that I consumes like most of the Youngers. Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha did not let being poor make them envy any one who had money. Walter on the other hand was sick of the way he and his family had to live. He was fed-up and was desperate to make money any way he could think of for his family.
Beneatha believes that education is the way to understanding and self-fulfillment through knowledge and wisdom. It was rare at this time to find a poor well-educated black woman with such high ambitions. Her Mama knowing how much her education meant to her, told Walter to save $3000 for Beneatha's medical school. When they discovered that Walter had invested the money in his liquor store scheme and Willy had run off with all the money, Beneatha was devastated. Her dream according to Langston Hughes poem Harlem”Or does it explode?” She had lost all hope and even though her spirits may have been lifted after her talk with Asagai and the chance to move into a new house, it seems that Beneatha will never realize her
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
that a discontented individual is often unable to take ownership of his life until he realizes that he must set a good example for his children. Walter is a protagonist who seems to only care about himself. He is really dependent on his mama's huge insurance check. Walter wants his mama's check so he and Willy Harris can open up a bar. This character continues to go down the wrong path until something tragic happens.
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.
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.
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.
His position in life can be regarded as symbolic of every black male struggling to provide for his family by any means necessary. Although Walter has a job, it seems inadequate for his survival. As a result, he has become frustrated and lacks good judgement. Throughout this play, Walter searches for the key ingredient that will make his life blissful. His frustrations stem from him not being able to act as a man and provide for his family and grasp hold of his ideals to watch them manifest into a positive situation.
Walter attempts to reinvent himself through his work and relationships to try and provide for his wife and family. Walter is fighting a battle within his household because he believes that Ruth, his wife, “couldn’t be on [his] side that long for nothing,” even though she is just trying to do what is best for everyone involved (Hansberry 32). Walter cannot see past his dream to realize the impact it would have on everyone else if it failed, so he drowns his sorrows in alcohol. Although “he knows the possibility of failure is also a vital part of the American success story” Walter is not just risking his own future, he is risking his child’s, mother’s and sister’s and without a second thought to his personal relationships, he blindly makes an investment on the chance of having the wealth and house he desires for everyone (Washington 98). Walter is so focused on reinventing his work life and having money that he loses sight of his family’s values and ideas. He does not care about Ruth being pregnant and the possibility of aborting their child as long as he can achieve his goals. Walter is living in a dream where he believes that “anyone can become anything he wants to be,” and that is not true in his case with the social and racial standards that are set against him (Washington 95). Walter sees wealth as ensuring happiness and having everything he desires, which is why he is pushing his family so hard for the money, causing issues. Even though all the odds are set against him in this time period, Walter cannot see past being able to provide for his family and having the American Dream that he most
She is determined to find her fullness as an individual and to not be defined by the man she marries. Walter constantly criticizes Beneatha’s dream of being a doctor. He treats it as though his dream is no longer feasible. He’s portrayed by Hansberry as being fairly pathetic and helpless. It seems like he needs women to help him move into manhood.