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Now and then character analysis
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Now and then character analysis
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Riya Patel Pureterrah Witcher ENGL 1102 12 April 2016 Drama Essay: “A Raisin in the Sun” “A Raisin in the Sun,” by Lorraine Hansberry, is a play about an African American family, who struggles finically, but finally comes across some money. The insurance company sent a ten thousand dollar check for the death of Mr. Younger. Everyone has a different idea on what to they would like to do with the money. Mama, the head of the house, wants to buy a new home for the family. The new house would benefit the entire family, because the family is running out of room in their old house. Walter wants the money for a business investment. Beneatha wants the money for the money for medical school. Everyone wants something, but Mama is the only one thinking about everyone. Many things can tear a family apart, but Hansberry teaches us what is really important in life. Hansberry wrote this play with three very important themes. One of the themes of Hansberry’s play is the value and purpose of dreams. The …show more content…
title of the play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” references Langston Hughes poem, “Harlem (A Dream Deferred)”. Hughes wrote about dreams and how they were forgotten or were uncompleted. He wonders if those dreams were dry, “like a raisin in the sun.” Every member of the Younger family has an individual dream. For example, Beneatha wants to become a doctor, and Walter wants to have money so that he can afford things for his family. The Youngers struggle to make the dreams a reality. Mama has a dream of the family living in a new home. The members of the Younger family want to use the money to fulfill their dreams. Walter, being selfish, wants all the money. Mama and Walter have a talk at the dinner, where she talks about helping her kids purse their dreams and helping the family move forward in life. Mama tells Walter, “There ani’t nothing more precious to me than my kids’ dreams, and this money isn’t worth nothing if it destroys my boy.” She gives up $6,500 for her kids’ dreams to come true. She shows that money isn’t worth anything compared to her kids’ dreams. Another theme is racial discrimination, which is unavoidable for the Youngers.
Mr. Linder is sent by The Clybourne Park Improvement to keep the Younger family out of their new home. Clybourne Park is an all-white neighborhood, and they are trying to keep it that way. Mr. Linder and the people who he represents only notice the color of the Youngers’ skin. He offers to bride the Younger family to keep them out of Clybourne Park. The bride jeopardizes the family and their values. They respond to Mr.Linder by moving into the neighborhood anyway. They fought with strength. The play strongly demonstrates that you should deal with discrimination by standing up for yourself and keep your dignity rather than allowing it to eat you up and spit you out. Walter showed this by calling Mr. Linder back to tell him he was giving in, but he stood up for himself and his family. This showed how strongly he felt about his family values and how it’s not worth losing their values and his
dignity. Throughout the entire play the family struggles socially and financially but still stays united in the end. The importance of family is another theme in this play. Mama is passionate about the importance of family. She teaches the values of family as she also tries to keep the family together. Both Walther and Beneatha learn the importance of family towards the end of the play. Walter learns it when he loses the insurance money, and Beneatha denies Walter as her brother after she finds out what happened to the money. After the situation of the money being gone, the family comes together to reject Mr. Linder’s bride. The siblings realize that the most important thing is to stick together as a family because family is all we have at the end of the day. Walter acted like a baby when his mother didn’t give him the money. Something like money shouldn’t tear a family apart, and everyone realizes that in the end when they keep their new home. The play teaches us that sticking together as a family and treasuring our values is what makes us a family. Sometimes you have to do what’s right for the entire family and not just for us.
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.
In the Play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry there are two main character’s that many people debate upon to be the protagonist of the play. Those two characters are Mama and Walter. The story is about an African American family living in Chicago in the 1950’s. During this time period race was a large issue in that area. The family consists of three generations, Mama being the mother and grandmother has a lot of responsibilities as what I see her to be as the families anchor. The next generation is Walter his wife Ruth and his sister Beneatha. Walter and Ruth have a song Travis who is ten years old at the time of this play. Mama is the moral supporter of the family and believes that everything has a purpose and that things should be done by design. One of the main events in this play is the life insurance settlement check for ten thousand dollars that Mama receives. This being a large amount of money during that time period creates many arguments between the families about what to do with the money. Walter is the type of guy that believes his family shouldn’t settle like everyone else and believes that they shouldn’t be held back just because they are an African American family living in what is referred to as a “white man’s world”. I believe that Walter is the protagonist of the play for two main reasons, he isn’t a selfish man, he doesn’t feel the family should be limited because they are African American and he has distinct options or plans for the future of his family.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a dramatic play written in 1959. The play is about an African American family that lives in the Chicago South Side in the 1950’s. Hansberry shows the struggles and difficulties that the family encounters due to discrimination. Inspired by her personal experience with discrimination, she uses the characters of the play, A Raisin In The Sun, to show how this issue affects families.
Lauren Oliver once said, “I guess that’s just part of loving people: You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up” (Good Reads). This quote connects very well to the play, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry. The quote conveys the message that if one loves someone, one must give things up. A Raisin in the Sun is about an African-American family living in the south side of Chicago in the 1950s. The Younger family is a lower-class family that has been struggling to make their dreams come true. One of the character’s in the play named Walter Lee has been struggling to make his dreams come true. Walter’s changes that are shown tie to the quote written by Lauren Oliver. The changes that are seen in Walter Lee throughout the book, A Raisin in the Sun, reflects the theme that one must sacrifice something for the love and happiness of one’s family.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The primary focus of the play is the American Dream. The American Dream is one’s conception of a better life. Each of the main characters in the play has their own idea of what they consider to be a better life. A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes the importance of dreams regardless of the various oppressive struggles of life.
Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, centers on an African American family in the late 1950s. Hansberry directs her work towards specifically the struggles faced by African Americans during the late 1950s. Through the dialogue and actions of her characters, she encourages not only a sense of pride in heritage, but a national and self-pride in African Americans as well.
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.
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 play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry illustrates an African American family receiving money from a deceased family member at the beginning of the play. When the Young family accepted this large amount of money, they moved into a house in an all white community in Chicago around 1950s. During this time period there were many social issues that were uprising. Some of these social issues are the following: racism, gender identity, and roles of women. These social issues are the ones which were explored in the play “A Raisin in the Sun”.
In the words of Jim Cocola and Ross Douthat, Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun to mimic how she grew up in the 1930s. Her purpose was to tell how life was for a black family living during the pre-civil rights era when segregation was still legal (spark notes). Hansberry introduces us to the Youngers’, a black family living in Chicago’s Southside during the 1950s pre-civil rights movement. The Younger family consists of Mama, who is the head of the household, Walter and Beneatha, who are Mama’s children, Ruth, who is Walter’s wife, and Travis, who is Walter and Ruth’s son. Throughout the play the Youngers’ address poverty, discrimination, marital problems, and abortion. Mama is waiting on a check from the insurance company because of the recent passing of her husband. Throughout the play Walter tries to convince Mama to let him invest the money in a liquor store. Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor while embracing her African heritage, and Ruth just found out that she is pregnant and is struggling to keep her marriage going. The Youngers’ live in a very small apartment that is falling apart because of the wear and tear that the place has endured over the years. Mama dreams of having her own house and ends up using part of the insurance money for a down payment on a house in an up-scale neighborhood. The Youngers’ meet Mr. Lindner, who is the head of the welcoming committee. Mr. Lindner voices the community’s concerns of the Youngers’ moving into their neighborhood. Is the play A Raisin in the Sun focused on racial or universal issues?
An Analysis of A Raisin In the Sun & nbsp; "A Raisin In The Sun" is a play written by an African-American playwright - Lorraine Hansberry. It was first produced in 1959. Lorraine Hansberry's work is about a black family in the Chicago South Side. the Second World War. The family consisted of Mama(Lena Younger), Walter.
In Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” a constant theme of money,morality and hoping for a better and a new life kept coming into play. Everybody in this play wanted a better life and were dreaming about different but big things. In my opinion this theme is best shown through Walter. Walter Lee Younger is an African American man working as a chauffeur, but is not very happy with that job. His mom is getting a check for 10,000 dollars and the whole family has different plans to do with it.
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down barriers to become an African American female doctor. Lastly, is Walter Lee Younger, son of Mama and husband of Ruth. Walter dreams of economic prosperity and desires to become a flourishing businessman. Over the course of Walter's life many things contributed to his desire to become a businessman. First and foremost, Walter's father had a philosophy that no man should have to do labor for another man. Being that Walter Lee was a chauffeur, Big Walter?s philosophy is completely contradicted. Also, in Walter?s past, he had the opportunity to go into the Laundromat business which he chose against. In the long run, he saw this choice was fiscally irresponsible this choice was. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee's dreams, which are his sole focus, lead to impaired judgement and a means to mend his shattered life.
Dreams of owning a business and having money to accomplish goals are two key parts played out throughout the whole process. Walter Younger is determined to have his own business and he will go to ends meet to see that dream come true. Financial bridges are crossed and obstacles arise when Walter makes a bad decision regarding money that could have helped the family and not only himself, if he had thought smarter. His pride and dignity are tested throughout the story and he is forced to set up for his family. The Raisin in the Sun helps readers to understand the history of racial discrimination and how racial discrimination has an effect on the people in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well as how that has an effect on the characters within the play.
“A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry focuses strongly on the idea of segregation and racism in America during the 1950s. Lorraine Hansberry even uses situations from her own life in order to help depict what life was like for a middle-class African American family in Chicago at the time. “A Raisin in the Sun” was written during the 1950s as well, which gives it a lot of background and ties it into the racial problems of the time. The historical factors of the time the play was written go a long way towards shaping the understanding of “A Raisin in the Sun”. In the play, “A Raisin in the Sun” Lorraine Hansberry introduces the Younger family, an African American middle-class family that lives in Chicago.