A Raisin in the Sun was created based off a play called “A Dream Deferred.” This play ask question about what dreams may do. For instances, “does dreams dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore And then run” (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1996)? In A Raisin in the Sun, it is clear all the main characters have dreams whether it is to give have a nice life, buy a house, make money, or become a doctor. Each character is able to realize the importance of having a dream while still loving and caring for their family. This symbolizes so much in life because we can often be blinded by our dream that we forget about the main picture. Finally, our dream causes us to be simple minded and quick to call upon self wants and needs. In this play the main character, Walter, has a dream of being a successful business man. He tries so hard to argue his case for receiving his mother’s insurance money of ten thousand dollars. No matter how hard he tries he does not feel like he can ever get what he want and he decides to take out his frustrations on his family. Walter wants to open a liquor store with two partners BoBo and Willy (Booth, and Mays, 2011). Though he thought the idea of running this business was legit and can bring in money, they were just get quick schemes that may cause more harm than good. Walter is like many today, they are quick to find ways to make a buck or two but the end results do not always add up. Walter wants so badly to be like the successful white people that he forgets to think about the consequences of his actions. Walter is like most men they feel as though, “it makes a difference in a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him” (Booth, and Mays, 2011). So, he tries so hard... ... middle of paper ... ... understand what is truly important, but if this has to take place it will be a lesson we will never forget. Dreams are not bad; I believe they become bad when we lose sight of what is really going on in our lives and what we are doing to accomplish the dream. If we have a dream but strive to make it come true by quick schemes, we may find that may not be the best option in life. Nothing in life can be handed to us, unless we are willing to work hard and take control of the outcome. Works Cited Booth, Alison, and Kelly J. Mays. "Reading More Drama." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York, New York, London: W.W. Norton & Co, 2011. 951-1959. Print. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. "A Dream Deferred (by Langston Hughes)." Home - Welcome to CenturyLink. N.p., 1996. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. .
Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Pearson-Prentice, 2010. 40-49. Print.
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....
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.
Walter has long dreamed of making his family’s condition better, of giving them wealth that his low-paying job is unable to do. Nature appears to be against Walter and his family, for they are living in a poorly maintained tenement apartment while surrounded with racism. Walter understands this situation, so he decides to use the $10,000 check for an investment in order to exceed his primitive state. In mid-morning, he excitedly asks his family about the check’s arrival, “Check coming today?” (Hansberry I.i.868). The check is one of the few reasons that forces Walter to get up each morning, so he will eventually be able to obtain success and self pride. Walter views the check as the only solution to all of his problems, so once Mama receives it, Walter confronts her and begs for her “financial” support. Walter exemplifies his sudden, new-found confidence to Travis when Mama unexpectedly entrusts him with the remaining $6,500, “…your daddy’s gonna make a transaction . . . a business transaction that’s going to change our lives” (II.ii.885). Walter is finally ready to realize his dream, and he has all the possible confidence he can acquire. He foresees the significant change that awaits his family when the money is invested. Unfortunately, nature has different plans for the Youngers. Whe...
Walter has a steady, but low paying job and wishes that he could do more for his family. The money he makes hardly provides enough for his family to survive. He is constantly thinking about get rich quick schemes to insure a better life. He doesn’t want to be a poor back man all of his life and wishes that he could fit in with rich whites. He doesn’t realize that people won’t give him the same opportunities, as they would if he were white (Decker). Walter feels that he needs to provide more for his family and starts to ask around on how to make some money. He gets the idea of opening up a liquor store and has his heart set on it. Because he wants to please everybody he loses his better judgment and acts without thinking of the long-term effects. He is ready for a change and feels the store will bring his family a better life (Hyzak). “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his Limousine and 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” ( Hansberry 1755).
A Raisin in the Sun is a play telling the story of an African-American tragedy. The play is about the Younger family near the end of the 1950s. The Younger family lives in the ghetto and is at a crossroads after the father’s death. Mother Lena Younger and her grown up children Walter Lee and Beneatha share a cramped apartment in a poor district of Chicago, in which she and Walter Lee's wife Ruth and son Travis barely fit together inside.
In A Raisin In the Sun Lorraine Hansberry uses everyday objects-a plant, money, and a home to symbolize a family's struggle to deal with racism and oppression in their everyday lives, as well as to exemplify their dreams. She begins with a vivid description of the family's weary, small, and dark apartment in Chicago's ghetto Southside during the 1950s. The Youngers are an indigent African-American family who has few choices in their white society. Each individual of the Younger family has a separate dream-Beneatha wants to become a doctor, Walter wants to open a liquor store, and Ruth and Mama want a new and better home. The Youngers struggle to accomplish these dreams throughout the play, and a major aspect of their happiness and depression is directly linked to their achievement, or failure to achieve their dreams.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry portrays a struggling family, made up of individuals with very different and important dreams, to show the role of dreams in life. Each character makes most of their decisions with their goal in mind, constantly finding ways to get closer to their goals. The numerous dreams within their household and each members’ desire for their respective goal, prevented most of the primary characters from living out their dreams. This left multiple dreams still out there, unachieved, and providing the major theme of the play. The title, A Raisin in the Sun, comes from the poem, Dream Deferred, and serves as an allusion to Dream Deferred.
Both the 1961 and 1989 film versions of “A Raisin in the Sun” had their highs and lows, but the 1961 version, I believe, was the worst of the two. The 1989 version of the film followed the play almost word for word, while the 1961 version either adds or leaves things out from the play. For example, in the 1961 version of the play they added humor, such as in the scene in which Walter ran to use the bathroom before Mr. Johnson could (Petrie). The play version of the scene reads, “Daddy, come on!” (Hansberry 28). Another issue with the film was that Ruth was downright awful in scenes where her character felt great emotion. In act two, when Travis finally came home Ruth did not look or sound mad. In the book, however, she made it sounds like she
“‘...A job? I open doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine...Mama, that ain’t no kind of job...that ain’t nothing at all’” (477). Walter wants to take the insurance check and put it towards the liquor store and start up a business with Willy Harris. However, Mama feels that going into a liquor business is not a good idea, Walter drinks regularly, they are not business people and she does not want her money going towards the business (461). Walter wants to pursue his dream, but when Mama gives him the money to put into the bank for him and Beneatha, Bobo and him give it to Willy Harris, ripping them off he runs off with the money. Walter and Bobo are devastated, their hopes for the business gone. Furious, Mama prays for strength and strikes Walter for his mistake (507). Beneatha realizes that she is no longer going to be able to pay for her tuition and gets mad at her brother as well (508). All of their dreams are gone and have no hope due to one selfish choice Walter
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.
In the play, the Youngers buy a house in a white neighborhood using the life insurance money of Big Walter. In this time, which was the 1950’s, racism was still well and alive even in the North. The people of the neighborhood sent a representative, named Mr. Lindner, to try and persuade the Youngers into selling the house back to the neighborhood for more than they bought it for. When he first comes to talk to them, Walter and Beneatha declined the offer which lead to Mr. Lindner giving them his card and leaving. After Walter Lee finds out he got scammed, he calls the number on the card and asks Mr. Lindner to come back for negotiations. He believed they only had one choice and that was to sell the house. When Lindner actually gets there, Walter realizes what he is about to do and acts differently, “ WALTER: Yeah. Well- what I mean is that we come from people who had a lot of pride… And we have decided to move into our house because my father- my father- he earned it for us brick by brick” (148). He finally understands what pride is. Instead of taking money over the happiness of his family, he finally grasped how important family was. In the end, Walter comprehends the importance of family over everything else.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry tells the story of the Youngers, a family of lower class blacks who are trying to move up in the world. They are given an opportunity to do so when the grandfather’s inheritance is the sent in the mail. However, each family member has a separate agenda for the money they will receive. The play gets its title from the poem “A Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes. In the poem, Hughes asks what happens to a dream deferred and one of the theories he proposes says, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”. Each of the similes detailed in the poem correlate with a character from the play. Ruth is the wife of Walter Lee, the son of the man who died, and represents the simile which states, “Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.” This description is most clearly
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
Gainor, J. Ellen., Stanton B. Garner, and Martin Puchner. The Norton Anthology of Drama, Shorter Edition. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2010. Print.