A Raisin In The Sun Sacrifice Essay

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The Sacrifice and Legacy of Walter and Prometheus in A Raisin in the Sun. Everyone has a desire for something. Sometimes it’s knowledge, sometimes it’s power, sometimes it’s money, and sometimes it entirely consumes a person. Throughout the history of literature, there has been character after character that has always wanted more. This can be seen as far back as the Greek empire to the 20th century. In the play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry presents desire, action, and punishment in order to convey Walter’s similarities to the Greek hero, Prometheus, ultimately illustrating that one’s passion and obsession can be their downfall. Initially, both Walter and Prometheus had a desire for something, but that quickly turned into an obsession. …show more content…

Walter is sitting at their table when he says, “Yeah. You see, this little liquor store we [have] in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment in the place [would] be [about] thirty thousand, see. That’d be ten thousand each. Course, there's a couple of hundred you [have] to pay [so] you don't spend your life just waiting for them clowns to let your license get approved” (Hansberry 33). At first glance, this does not seem harmful or obsessive, but as the play progresses Walter starts to show his true colors. Walter's intense desire for the insurance money entirely consumes him, the liquor store is all he can talk about throughout the text. Similar to Prometheus, who had a bit of an obsession with humans, wanting to give them the fire of the gods. Following this, both figures acted in some way. They tested their luck, which led to something much worse. After Bobo leaves, Mama asks Walter, “Son. Son... Is [the money] gone? Son, I gave you sixty-five hundred …show more content…

Walter previously yells, “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER'S FLESH” towards the sky while sobbing in a way that seems like he’s asking God why this would happen (Hansberry 127). Walter sees his mistake too late, just like Prometheus did. He saw Zeus’s anger after stealing the fire, and he was unable to correct it. Both did not think of the consequences that would follow, Walter didn’t know that Willy Harris was going to run, and Prometheus didn’t know that Zeus was going to curse him. They ended up unknowingly gambling away part or most of their lives. However, Walter and Prometheus both thought they were doing it for a good reason. Therefore, the pair must face some sort of punishment. Walter’s punishment was more of a self-given one. He lays on his bed, thinking about what he did for about an hour before doing something completely unexpected. Walter makes a phone call to Lindner and then he’s telling his family about it. Beneatha says “Oh, God! Where is the bottom? Where is the real honest-to-God bottom so he can't go any farther!” (Hansberry 142). In this scene, Walter is pushing his mistake onto his family and Beneatha is begging him to notice that he can’t fix

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