Greed In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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.
At first, the family viewed the insurance money as a distant entity, much like the dreams of Beneatha and Walter. Beneatha, the independent sister of the family, had dreams of becoming a doctor one day. She felt as though being a doctor “was truly being God” (133). To her, as a doctor, she would not only miraculously cure people and save lives like God, but she would also finally reach a level of divine respect. Much like God has control over all living beings, Beneatha viewed her medical degree as the key to having complete control over her own life. Once she had obtained her degree, her life would take an abrupt turn for the better. Without her degree, Beneatha feels as

though no one gave any weight to her decisions.
While her Mama does respect her decisions enough to pay for medical school, other members of the family, such as her brother, Walter Lee, view Beneatha with quite some contempt. During an argument, Walter Lee scornfully tells her if she feels “so crazy ‘bout messing ‘round with sick people,” she should “go be a nurse like other women — or just get married and be quiet” (38). Walter sees the world through a small tunnel in which change simply does not happen. He can not accept that the women around him can be independent people. If by some chance a woman gained this independence, she certainly can not become a doctor. Only men become doctors! Beneatha, on the other hand, views the world around her as an opportunity, ready to grab anything in her path, embrace her culture, and learn everything she can.
The check causes her older brother, Walter Lee, to display an obsessive personality.

Walter decided he wanted all the money from his dead father’s insurance money in order to start up a liquor store, selling alcohol. In his mind, the money not only meant the means to survive, but rather, as a way to have power. Just like Beneatha thought becoming a doctor would earn her respect, Walter felt as though getting extremely rich would earn him all the respect in the world. With his current job, he states all he does is “open and close car doors all day long. [He] drive[s] a man around in his limousine and [he] say[s], ‘Yes; sir; no sir; very good sir; shall I take the Drive, sir?’” He adamantly states that “that ain’t no kind of job… that ain’t nothing at all” (73). Walter feels as though his job as a chauffeur makes him inferior to the white man, so he doesn’t even consider being a chauffeur as a job. In his mind, being a chauffeur possibly can be as horrible and undermining as being a slave would have been for his

ancestors.
Getting lots of money, and thus, no longer having to work, he would finally earn the respect he has craved since a young age. Walter’s dreams consumes his every thought until he no longer cares about anything else. Even his wife’s thoughts about aborting his baby do not matter as long as he gets the artificial pride and respect he wants and feels like he needs. This dream of owning a liquor, of investing his money, of becoming rich, had the same implications as the check did on the family as a whole. His dreams seemed just around the corner while he kept talking to his business partners.. He could almost feel the success of his business even though he had not even done anything yet.
Once the check had finally arrived, the family’s dreams had all become tangible. Everything they had hoped for had suddenly been placed right in front of them; but none of them realized that check meant absolutely nothing unless they did something with the money. While the money could help everyone accomplish their goals, that’s the only function this insurance money had. Unless someone took the action, this check was nothing more than a piece of paper with letters and numbers.Although she attended college, Beneatha would never become a female African American doctor unless she worked hard. Her dream mattered so much to her, but she never thought about the difficulty to be a female in the medical field as a doctor. No one would take her seriously and everyone would merely expect her to be a nurse. All the doctors would scorn her like her brother had done to her in the past. She had idealized her dream and only saw the positives. Walter also had the same mistake. While investing in a store could help someone earn lots of money, so much work had to be put into a business. He would have to deal with all the ups and downs that came with business, and the losses that a business could often get. The way Walter idealized his liquor store, he naively believed that the business to be a magical genie, multiplying his money as per his wish. This faulty mindset causes him to lose all his money. Neither Beneatha nor Walter suspected their dreams being crushed soon much as no one realized all the check money being lost.