Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun

Does money really bring happiness? This questions has been asked over and over throughout history yet there is no real answer for it. The only way to know is to learn from experiences. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun the characters are caught up in caring too much about money, and it effects them all in many different decisions that they make such as Ruth wanting to get an abortion, Mama buying them a house, and Walter investing in the liquor store.

Ruth wanting to get an abortion shows that money has a big influence the character’s actions in the story. She is a woman of about thirty who has given up on life, but she is a kind woman who cares a lot about her family. She is described as “a pretty girl, but now it is apparent that life ahs been little that she expected, and disappointment has already begun to hang in her face (Raisin in the Sun, p. 610).” Ruth knows that the family does not have enough money , and that they are cramped into a little house. When she learns that she is pregnant, she decides she is going to have an abortion because she feels they just don’t have any money to support another child. Her husband, Walter, does not believe she actually thinks of doing this, and tells his mother that Ruth would never do that. Ruth then comes into the room and tells him he is wrong and that she has already put down a down payment on the abortion (p.639).

Another way that money is an influence to the characters in the story is when Mama receives the insurance check and buys a house for the family. At the beginning of the story all anyone can talk about is if Mama has received her check in the mail. Everyone just keeps asking each other about it. Whether it is Walter asking or even his son, Travis, it is the only thing everyone in the house can think about. The check that Mama is getting is an insurance check from the death of her husband. When the check finally does come all anyone can talk about is what she is going to do with the money. The money is not that important to Mama and she even says, “I spec if it wasn’t for you all… I would just put that money away or give it to the church or something, (p.