People can argue that money is the root of all evil, but some claim money unlocks joy. The truth about money is that an object can’t be moral or immoral. Money depends solely on how people tend to use it. People may use money to pursue their dreams and goals, some people have a dream of being wealthy, and this can ultimately lead to greed. Money is also helpful in aiding and supporting people's loved ones. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry expresses the individual attitudes towards money shown by Walter, Beneatha, and Ruth in order to reveal how money is used by different people for different motives, ultimately concluding that money can be used for positive or careless reasons. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Walter's selfish …show more content…
In this quote, Walter takes an interest in investing in a liquor store. This quote shows that Walter is selfish and wants to take Big Walter’s money for himself. Walter also proves his greed when he says, “Mama.I never.went to the bank at all.” (Hansberry 129). This confirms Walter's selfishness; he never put Beneatha’s money into the bank. Instead, he decides to put the money in an investment, and he loses the money that doesn’t fully belong to him in the first place. He wanted to invest their money for his own selfish reasons, ultimately ignoring how his family would feel for trusting him with such a big task. In a different way, Beneatha is the complete opposite of Walter. Beneatha replies to Walter talking about the check with, “That money belongs to Mama, Walter, and it's for her to decide how she wants to use it” (Hansberry 36). In this response from Beneatha, it is evident that she is standing up for Mama against Walter, displaying how Beneatha is far from selfish. In another quote, Beneatha says”the insurance money belongs to mama”. Picking on me is not gonna make her give it to you to invest in any liquor stores” (Hansberry …show more content…
Beneatha also has plans on being a doctor, “I’m gonna be a doctor and everybody around here better understands that” (Hansberry 50). Beneatha desires to go to school to become a doctor, yet she still doesn’t want to take the money for herself, and she remains defending her fathers money from Walter. On the other hand, Ruth is a mixture of both Beneatha and Walter. Ruth is selfish in her own way, while still providing and caring for her family. In the play Ruth says to Lena, “You should take yourself on a trip somewhere” (Hansberry 43). It shows that Ruth doesn’t know what Lena wants to do with the money, so instead she recommended what she thought would be enjoyable. After saying that she mentions it again, “I’m serious, just pack up and leave, go on away and enjoy yourself some” (Hansberry 43). Ruth suggesting to Lena that she should go on vacation away from the family is actually showing what Ruth's dream is. In conclusion, money isn’t always the root of all evil. Money is just an object, it can’t make you evil. It’s the greedy people who use money for immoral
Lorraine Hansberry, in her play A Raisin in the Sun, tells the story of the Youngers, a poverty-stricken family of five. The author uses a large sum of inherited life insurance money to symbolize the downfall of two of the characters, Beneatha and Walter, due to their dreams.
“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 (
Greed also influenced many of the decisions that characters have formulated throughout the book. For example, Jerry Cruncher chose to become a grave digger for the profit gotten from it, which caused many problems in his family. When Jerry Jr. follows his father into the night he witnesses his father committing a horrifying crime that he, “Knew very well knew what it would be; but, when he saw it, and saw his honoured parent about to wrench it open, he was so frightened, being new to the sight, that he made off again, and never stopped until he had run a mile or more” (Dickens 184). Had Jerry not been so acquisitive, he would most likely have chosen not to go into that profession. This would prevent Jerry Jr. from being scarred by his father's bad decisions and possibly decrease Jerry’s drinking due to guilt he has after grave digging. Additionally, when C.J. Stryver proposes to Lucie, his motive for it blossoms from greed. While explaining to Carton why he has decided to do this, Stryver admits, "I don't care about fortune: she is a charming creature, and I have made up my mind to please myself: on the whole, I think I can afford to please myself. She will have in me a man already pretty well off, and a
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."
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.
Beneatha is a college student and is the best educated member in the family. Her education is very important to her and she hopes to one day become a doctor. Beneatha believes that education is a means to understanding and self-fulfillment. It was unheard of at this time for a poor well-educated black woman to have such high ambitions and dreams. Beneatha took a lot pride in this fact and often waved her intelligence around in her families faces. Mama, knowing how much her education meant to her, told Walter to save $3000 for Beneatha's medical schooling. When it was discovered that Walter had invested the money in his liquor store scheme and Willy had run off with all the money, Beneatha was devastated. She had lost all hope and even though her spirits may have been lifted after her talk with Asagai in act III and the chance to move into a new house, it seems that Beneatha will never realize this
After all of this argument that they had, George finally left from Beneatha house and meets up with Mama. When Mama entered, she asked Beneatha “... What’s the matter?”then Beneatha responds, “Mama, George is a fool honest.”(Hansberry1495).Also, Beneatha ended the relationship with George to continue with her schooling on the medical field to become a doctor. This all demonstrates that Beneatha was going out to have fun and being prideful. Beneatha also has a restless personality trait because Beneatha is trying to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor and her brother Walter doesn’t support her instead he tells her to become a nurse. To demonstrate that Beneatha is restless is that after an argument that Beneatha and Walter had about how the insurance money is going to be spent, Beneatha told Walter…”What do you want from me, Brother- that I quit school or just drop dead, which!” (Hansberry1465). Then after a couple of more argument about Walter and Beneatha discussing how Beneatha is not supporting the family, Walter tells her “…If you are so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people- then go be a nurse…or just get married and be
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.
In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry; the theme of the play is when people are in poverty, lust increases. The play is about the Youngers, who are a family that just got an insurance check for the death of Mr. Younger for $10,000. Since they have this money, each family member has something they want to use the money for. They could not spend too much on anything and they were spending very little money in order to save it. They had to be very resourceful of where they placed their money.
Have you ever found money coming between you and your family and disrupting love and life? Money can destroy families and change them for the worse. In the Raisin in the Sun, the author Lorraine Hansberry, uses events of her life to relate and explain how the Younger family, of Chicago's South side, struggles and improves throughout the book. One main cause for their family's problems is because of money and how it causes anger to control the family. The play deals with situations in which the family is dealing with unhappiness from money. Walter, the man of the house in the Younger family, tries impressing Travis, his son, too much with money instead of teaching him the more important lessons of life. Walter also dreams to invest in a liquor store and make a lot of money and becomes overwhelmed and badly caught up in his dream. Lastly, the Younger family is much too dependent on the check their Mama is receiving. The family has lost the fact that their mama tries to tell them, before, freedom was life but now money seems to have the controlling factor in life. When money becomes an obsession for a family, problems occur.
He is an ambitious character whose main goal is “to invest in any liquor store” (38). This is a dream that is highlighted throughout the play as he frequently talks about this dream. This dream is not achieved because of a sly and shady character named Willy running away with all of the cash. Taking about the money, he left the family with no more insurance cash. Walter says, “All of it… it’s all gone” (129). This dream is badly wanted by Walter. He wants it badly enough to put that dream about his family. He disobeys Mama and “never [goes] to the bank at all” to put away savings for Beneatha’s schooling (129). Walter, sadly, prioritizes this dream too highly in his life.
	During the course of the play, conflicts between Beneath and her brother Walter are revealed. Walter thinks that his sister should be a mainstream woman and not have great dreams and ambitions for her life. "Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people - then go be a nurse like other women - or just get married an be quiet" (38). This passage shows that Walter is clearly a chauvinist, and does not believe in his sister’s desire to be a doctor. Similarly, Beneatha does not believe in Walters aspirations of becoming a rich entrepreneur, and thinks he is rather...
Someone who is selfish tends to only care about what they want and will not stop until there goal is accomplished. Walter us he is willing to use another person like a pawn on a chess board to get what he wants. In the very first scene before Walter even gets a chance to brush his teeth and was his face he asks his wife “check coming today” (Hansberry 1438). The way Ruth answers lets us know that Walter has asked this question more than once. Ruth seems bothered by how many times Walter Lee has inquired about the money Mama is about to relieves. Walter is very determine to change the way Mama feels about giving him the money to invest in a
Always be careful who you trust. In the play A Raisin in the sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger family has a difficult time achieving the most out of their lives. There are many obstacles that keep them from the best future possible. One of the biggest obstacles is the moment when Walter Lee finds out that Willy Harris, a business partner, has scammed Walter and has stolen $6,500, which is supposed to be invested in a liquor business. This unfortunate event affects everyone in the family; consequently, they lose hope about having a better life. They must overcome this crisis and make the most of what they still have.
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