Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The raisin in the sun essay
Character analysis in a raisin in the sun
The raisin in the sun essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The raisin in the sun essay
In A Raisin in the Sun Hansberry’s narrative is a very touching story. The use of each character and how she takes you through their lives is incredible. I think that Hansberry’s life as a child had a great influence on this piece of literature. One online source stated that when Lorraine was just a little girl she personally had experience of moving into a white neighborhood, just like her story. (Chicago Public Library) I think she wrote this narrative with her personal experiences and also of people around her. She uses themes throughout her narrative to help guide the reader throughout the story. However, in my opinion the strongest theme throughout Hansberry’s narrative is family. In the beginning of her narrative, it starts out by …show more content…
Walter is stubborn and pigheaded and spent the rest of the money. It ends up backfiring at him and all the money is stolen by a friend. At this climax of the story it shows the family being under a lot of stress and hardship because of Walter’s actions. However because they are a family they were able to overcome this hardship. When Beneatha is ranting negatively about Walter, Mama comes out and says “There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and for the family ‘cause we lost the money. I mean for him; what he been through and what it don’t to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most; when they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning-because that ain’t the time at all….” (528) Here at the climax of the story Mama is clearly bringing back the theme of family. Mama even though Walter made a huge mistake and it was extremely selfish, she still supports him. Mama is still teaching her family on how to be a family through such hard times. The family is what is holding all of them together. Moreover, after family as a theme is evident in the rising action it is also displayed in the …show more content…
At the end when Walter thinks he has no choice but to sell the house back to the white man, family prevails! Walter says to Lindner “What I am telling you is that we called you over here to tell you that we are very proud and that this is-this is my son, who makes the sixth generation of our family in this country, and that we have all thought about your offer and we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it. We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes-but we will try to be good neighbors.” (529) At the very last second he changes his mind because he realizes how important family is. Walter finally becomes the man that Mama wanted him to be, one who knows that family prevails everything else. Walter lives up to his expectations, of being proud of his family. He lets his own selfish dreams go and finally views his life as not just one person, but of everyone together as a family. Mama on page 530 says “He finally come into his manhood today, didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after rain…” Mama here is stating how proud she is of her son finally. This is also a reflection of Lorraine’s personal life. “Hansberry 's father worked with the NAACP and the Urban League to challenge segregation, and he ran for Congress through his attempt to break down the barriers of racism continued in the political arena when he ran for Congress.” (African American Registry)
“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 (
Ruth was being prevented from having a baby because of money problems, Walter was bringing him self down by trying to make the liquor store idea work. Once Mama decided to buy the house with the money she had received, Walter figured that he should further go on with the liquor store idea. Then, when Walter lost the money, he lost his dignity and tried to get some money from the “welcome party” of Cylborne Park. Mama forced him to realize how far he went by making him show himself to his son how low he would go. But he showed that he wasn’t susceptible to the ways the racism created.
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:
Hansberry presented a family that were in different stages of life, whom were motivated by different things due to the difference in generations, but still remained strong and courageous as a family unit. Hansberry does just a she wanted in writing the play A Raisin In The Sun. Hansberry provides an insight into the life of an African American family, which played on the values of life. The play presented the struggles
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...
In the story. A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many characteristics that make each character unique in their own role towards the story. This story shows racism, dignity, and individuality. African-American life testify to the
Todays generations of kids and adults all come from a widely diverse community. Generations may evolve over times, but the same problems that people experience in the past continue on through everyone living today. Much like Mama in "A Raisin in the Sun", she was raised in an era where respect meant using manners, treating elders and authority with respect was second hand and growing up and becoming a man or women was a crucial part of life. Walter doesn’t have a grasp on what "growing up" and becoming an adult is. Two contradicting people create a soulful story through the growth and development of Mama and Walters’s relationship.
Mama asks for Walter's approval, Walter says, "What you need me to say you done right for? You 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 me to say all right for? So you butchered up a dream of mine-you-who always talking 'bout your children's dreams'..."(537). Walter is further emasculated by Mama's decision to buy the house, without Walter's opinion or thoughts on the matter.Walter's manhood is jeopardized by Mama's mindset of him as a child and her decision to make such a large decision on her own for the
In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, "A Raisin in the Sun,” she uses the youngers family as individuals to portray different aspects of black culture, social dynamics and the importance of community.
Walter is seen as struggling to become the head of the family throughout the book and this comes to a head at the end of the story when he gets to his lowest point. Felder goes over the male characters in each sitcom and analyzes how they all have the same roles acting as head of the family, in charge and in control. The women were expected to be soothing and calming, as Felder writes “It was her husband, Jim, who ultimately solved the many problems concerning the couple’s three children… often appeared overly authoritarian and frequently lost his temper with his sons… these negative “masculine” character traits were countered by the soothing “feminine” presence of his wife” (Felder 156). As Walter loses control of his life after he lost the money, the women of the family ridicule him for not taking control like he is expected to. Beneatha and Mama have a conversation about the way Beneatha was treating her brother and adds this: “That’s what I thought you said. You feeling like you better than he is today?... Yes? What you tell him a minute ago? That he wasn't a man? Yes? You give him up for me? You done wrote his epitaph too- like the rest of the world? Well who give you the privilege?” (Hansberry 108-109). Beneatha ridicules her brother because he wasn’t able to take the role he was expected to. He wasn’t able to control the family or handle the problems like he was expected to even though that is what every man of the family ‘needs’ to do. The influence of these gender roles is so prevalent as Mama stops Beneatha from ridiculing her brother, Walter’s inability to take the role that is expected of him completely breaks him down and pushes him to his
Mama is usually seen as an affable and nurturing character, but when she discovers Walter’s use of the money her husband works so hard for her patience towards him snaps, “(... Mama stops and looks at her son without recognition and then, quite without thinking about it, starts to beat him senselessly in the face.)” (Hansberry 129). Most would be appalled to see a mother beat her own son; however, her anger had taken her conscience at this point. One will also see an interaction between Walter and his sister Beneatha as she says to Mama: “That is not a man. That is nothing but a toothless rat.” (Hansberry 144) The siblings have mild scuttles before he gives away the money, but nothing quite at the audacity of this specific
When he says “I’m thirty-five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room --- and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live”(Hansberry 34), he shows that he is ashamed that he cannot provide for his son and give him something more. Walter despises the rich white people because they have money that he does not and he believes money “is life”(Hansberry 74). “Although he denounces wealthy people who consider themselves superior [he] is willing to use flattery to make the wealthy assist him, and he wants to give his son a better life,” (Sova) showing that Walter is willing to do anything he can, despite his beliefs, to become the provider for his family and give his son a better life. When he first attempts to take control and become the head of his family, he plans to act like a stereotypical crazy black man that is portrayed in movies to get money by selling their newly obtained house to back to the white neighborhood that did not want them to move in in the first place. Although selling the new house would bring an income to his family, it would stip them of their dignity as they would succumb to the white people’s racist ideals as they did not want black people living in their neighborhood. Even Mama questions Walter’s choice of losing his dignity by stating, “You won’t have nothing left then, Walter Lee” (Hansberry 144). Although selling the house back to the white neighborhood would strip Walter of his dignity, he believes that receiving money and selling the house, in turn losing his dignity, is the only way he can become a provider for his
The conflict that involves Walter and Mama superficially concerns Mama's receiving an insurance check for ten thousand dollars, which she hasn't yet decided what to do with. Walter has hopes for using the money to invest in a liquor store, with the profits providing him and his family a better quality of life than what they have endured in the past. What really is at stake here, though, is more than money. Mama and Walter have different visions of what happiness is and what life is all about. For Mama, the best thing to do with the money is to make a down payment on a house. This house is to be situated within an all-white neighborhood, and represents assimilation. This is Mama's dream, and the dream ...
Lauren Oliver once said, “I guess that’s just part of loving people: You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up” (Good Reads). This quote connects very well to the play, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry. The quote conveys the message that if one loves someone, one must give things up. A Raisin in the Sun is about an African-American family living in the south side of Chicago in the 1950s. The Younger family is a lower-class family that has been struggling to make their dreams come true. One of the character’s in the play named Walter Lee has been struggling to make his dreams come true. Walter’s changes that are shown tie to the quote written by Lauren Oliver. The changes that are seen in Walter Lee throughout the book, A Raisin in the Sun, reflects the theme that one must sacrifice something for the love and happiness of one’s family.
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.