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Now and then character analysis
Now and then character analysis
Now and then character analysis
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In life there are always going to be ups and downs, good and bad times, because families go through extensive amounts of arguments. Within the play A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, there are a few complications that the Younger family face. Moreover, the main complications occur between Lena Younger (Mama) and Walter Lee Younger (the son of Mama). Throughout the play, the biggest complication they face is how to spend Walter Lee Senior’s life insurance money. The Younger family goes through several challenging times; however, the family shows that no matter what, everyone should stick together. The main reason the insurance check is a source of conflict is thanks to Walter Lee wanting to invest in a liquor store. Mama thinks …show more content…
Mama only spent $3,500 out of the $10,000 from the insurance check, she decides to give Walter the leftover money, so he could “be the head of this family from now on” (107). Walter takes this matter upon himself and decides to “make a transaction” (108) that will “change our lives” (108). Walter then, takes all the money he is given by Mama and “never went to the bank at all” (129), he then gives all of the $6,500 to Willy Harris, who was trusted by both men, left with all of Walter and Bobo’s money. Mama, who is very upset by this, hits Walter for giving all the money away. Mama then turns to God for “strength” (130). Mama is a Christian woman and, despite her struggles, remains faithful. In life, there are always going to be ups and downs, but the best should always be made out of it. No matter how many conflicts a parent and child go through, they should always stick by one another. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family, especially Mama and Walter, show that times get tough but with a little faith and trust anyone can overcome the
“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 (
... buy the family a new house so that Travis would have a better place to grow up. Mama could have spent that money on something she wanted, but instead bought something that would make the whole family happy. After she buys their new house, Mama gives Beneatha $3000 dollars towards college and gives Walter $3500 dollars to better his future. Mama has given all of the insurance money to the people she cares about, and kept none of it for herself. She thought about her children’s future and decided to invest the money towards a better life for them. This is a very unselfish act on Mama’s part, a perfect example of putting family before oneself.
Walter plans to invest in his own liquor store, which he will run alongside his good friend Willy, and plans to do so with his portion of his mother’s insurance check; did I mention that the check was for $10,000! Mama puts down money for a house—a house, in an all-white neighborhood, with a lawn, that her grandson will be able to play on. This has always been a dream of her and her husband, and now that he is gone, she only wants it more. I noticed a few major symbols throughout the scenes in this play. For example, Mama’s plant; this plant never fails to be watered and taken care of by Mama, and this represents not only her caring and compassionate attitude towards a plant but her attitude towards her family as well.
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.
A Raisin in the Sun is about the Younger family, they are facing its own war against racism in Chicago. America’s complicated history of racial tension between black Americans and white Americans is ingrained into the Youngers’ everyday lives. Mother (and grandmother) Lena Younger, her daughter Beneatha, and her son Walter, Walter’s wife Ruth and their son Travis, squeeze into a small two-bedroom apartment.
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...
Many modern families need things; they are hard pressed to make ends meet. Fathers and mothers want to be able to provide a comfortable and privileged life for their children. Just as in real life, Hansberry portrayed the family interactions within the play A Raisin in the Sun with this in mind. The younger family represents any lower-class family in America, not just those of colored descent.
The idea of family is a central theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in her play to magnify “the value of having a home and family”(Ardolino 181). The Younger family faces hardships that in the moment seem to tear them apart from one another, but through everything, they stick together. The importance of family is amplified by the choices of Walter and Beneatha because they appear to initiate fatal cracks in the Younger family’s foundation, but Mama is the cement who encourages her family to pull together as one unit. The hardships of the family help develop a sense of unity for the Younger household.
Walter Sr. was Walter and Beneathas father he died and his wife mama received ten thousand dollar for life insurance. Walter wants the whole ten thousand dollars for himself and put it down on the liquor store. But Beneatha wants to go to medical school and be a doctor. Walter thinks that it is selfish of Beneatha that she wants to attend medical school because he then wouldn't get all of the money for the liquor store. Beneatha "that money belongs to Mama, Walter, and its for her to decide how she wants to use it. I don't care if she wants to buy a house or a rocket ship or just nail it up somewhere and look at it. It's hers. Not ours hers." Mamas getting all the money and it is up to her if she wants the money for herself give it to Beneatha for school or give it to Walter for the liquor store. Now that it is getting closer to the date in which the money will arrive. Walter is acting more and more desperate for that money.
Differences in generations can cause people to have different viewpoints in life. A Raisin In The Sun is a play set in the 1950s written by Lorraine Hansberry. The Youngers are a black family who lives in a cramped apartment in the South Side of Chicago. When Mama receives a check of insurance money, members of the family are divided in their own hopes of what it will be used for. Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha are the three women of the Younger household and their generational differences clearly show through their actions. The difference between generations is why Mama is the most devout, Ruth is an agreeable person, and Beneatha is outspoken and has modern views.
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 ...
At the beginning of the play, Walter is a self centered character. In a conversation with Mama, Walter wants to make sure she does not spend all the money. Walter states, “Where were you, mama? Mama, You didn’t go do something with that insurance money, something crazy” (P. 90). It is revealed that Walter is desperate for money and achieving his big idea of owning a liquor store. It’s important to know that this money is Mama’s and not Walters to spend. Instead of being the man of the house
Many people let the conflicts they have take over their relationships with their loved ones. In the plays A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, the readers are introduced to the conflicts between each of the families. The Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun, face conflict when Lena Younger’s husband has passed and has left them ten thousand dollars in his will. The Kowalski family in A Streetcar Named Desire are faced with conflict when Stella’s sister Blanche Dubois comes to town. Most particularly, both plays have each faced challenging hurdles and fatalities during their lives. Although both families come from tremendously diverse backgrounds, they share the same conflicts that occur
In Lorraine Hansberry's inspirational play A Raisin in the Sun, a working class African American family's life is turned upside down when death comes for their father. In this play, the main characters: Walter, Benetha, Ruth, and Mama(Lena), all dream of having a better life. Despite the living conditions that rule their lives, they each try to pursue the "American Dream." Although the "American Dream," is different for each character, by the end of the play and through many trials and tribulations; the Younger's come to realize who's dream is the most important.
In the play “A Raisin in the Sun” it is a common theme throughout the book that it is expressed that it is very important to have a close family when working towards achieving The American Dream because it's very hard to achieve alone. Even though all through the book they might not be on the best of terms you can tell that family is very important to three characters specifically. These characters are Mama, Ruth, and Walter. Although these characters all have different individual dreams at the end they all want what will be best for the family in the long run even though it takes them almost the whole story to realize that.