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. The one who cares about the family more than anyone else in the play is Mama. Throughout most of the book she is …show more content…
the main head of the household and is the one who keeps the family from completely falling apart. Her goals are more for her family than just herself. She just wants the family to be able to live a better life and see them succeed. In the play after she goes out and spends part of the insurance money she says something that makes you realize how much she really cares. What she says is “... I just seen my family falling apart today...just falling to pieces in front of my eyes… We couldn't of gone on like we was today…”. This is just one of the quotes from her throughout the book that help you to really see how much she cares about her family. Another thing she said that stood out to me was “There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don't mean for yourself and the family ‘cause we lost the money. I mean for him; what he been through and what it done to him.”. The reason this quote stood out to me was because of the way it's said and the context that it is said in. When she says this her son has just lost almost all of the insurance money and she still feels like it hurts him the most and that surprised me. I would think that she would be angry at him but she feels the opposite and feels bad for him and how he feels. This shows that she is worried more about the wellbeing of her family than any amount of money they have. If everyone else in this play was also like Mama everything would be much different and they would also get along much better as a family. At one point she says “Sometimes you just got to know when to give up some things…and hold on to what you got…”. She gives up and postpones some of her own dreams to help her family and do what's best for them. That's what real family should be like instead of being selfish and wanting only what's best for themselves. Walter on the other hand seems to be very different than mama through most of the book until he finally had a change of heart as you got near the end of the play. The conversation that sums up his initial feeling is this one between him and mama. Mama: “Son, how come you talk so much ‘bout money?” Walter: “Because, it is life, Mama!” Mama: “Oh—so now it's life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom use to be life—now its money. I guess the world really do change…” Walter: “No—it was always money, Mama. We just didn’t know about it.”. At this point it's obvious that he cares about one thing, the insurance money. He seems to care only about himself and achieving his dream of getting a liquor store instead of caring about the rest of his family. Throughout the story, this seems to gradually change. He goes from seeming to only care about himself and money at the beginning to eventually standing up for his family instead of taking money in the end of the story. “And we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick. We don't want to make not trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try and be good neighbors. And that's all we got to say about that. We don't want your money.” It was at this point that he realized his family needed to get out of the situation that they were in and get a new start in order to pursue their dreams as a family. Beneatha in many ways is similar to Walter in her mindset about her own dreams.
She seems to be worried about herself instead of her family. This is one of the few things that she has in common with her brother Walter and they do not get along well all throughout the book because he does not agree with her dream of being a doctor and he is being sexist about it. He says she is a woman so she just needs to be a nurse and not worry about the extra school to become a doctor because he wants the money to himself for his own dream not hers. He makes her so mad about this to the point where she finally just says “What do you want from me, brother-that I just quit school or just drop, which”. It's crazy that he would be so selfish to the point that he would try to convince his sister to stop pursuing her dream. All through the play it seems like her and the rest of the family seem to get along less and less. After Walter goes out and loses the money with the deal he tries to make she is furious. She says things like “He made an investment! With a man even Travis wouldn't have trusted with his most worn out marbles.” when she was talking to Asagai and when she is talking directly to Walter she says to him “...I look at you and see the final triumph of stupidity in the
world!”
Mama talks to Walter about her fears of the family falling apart. This is the reason she bought the house and she wants him to understand. Walter doesn't understand and gets angry. "What you need me to say you done right for? You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it. So what you need for me to say it was all right for? So you butchered up a dream of mine - you - who always talking 'bout your children's dreams..." Walter is so obsessive over money that he yells at his mom for not giving him all of it. He doesn't know that what his mom is doing is for the family. He thinks that having money will make the family happy, when in reality the family doesn't need anymore than what they have to be happy.
Family is a story about slaves, masters of the land, and the interconnectedness of what it means to be “family”. Loretta is the daughter of the Master of the Land and as a child spends time with Sun even teaching him to read. She was going against the law in doing this and she helped him to escape. Loretta was not a mean person; she risked a lot for Sun and truly cared about him. She knew he was her half-brother and treated him with respect. When Sun left he promised he would send for her, but he never did. He sent letters asking how his sisters were and she became jealous. Loretta had power over the slaves because she was the white daughter of the master and as she grew more jealous and learned the ranks in society she changed. She took out her anger and jealousy out on Peach, Plum, and Always. She became evil and all the goodness in her heart was gone. Due to the experiences in her life, she adapted to accommodate for her jealousy and to take on the role of Mistress of the Land. Under different circumstances in a different time period this might not have been the outcome. As a chil...
The play depicts the feelings and thoughts of the people of their time. Their feelings are different then what we see today in our lives. The family had to deal with poverty and racism. Not having enough money and always being put down because of the color of their skin held them back from having a lot of self-respect and dignity. I think that Mama was the one who had the most pride and held the family together.
Mama is a good example of an extremely optimistic character in the play. She always sees the best of every situation. At times the situation may seem completely hopeless to the audience. Yet, she never gives up. Mama has always dreamed of owning a house, she has always wanted to move her family out of the “ghetto”. Finally, she gets the chance to do so; she gets an important amount of money from the insurance company. She decides to use that money to make a down payment on a house. But her dreams are rapidly crushed; her son, Walter, has lost all of the money in an investment. Although she is extremely angry at first she does not give up. She decides that perhaps they can clean up the place they currently live in. They can add new furniture and perhaps even new curtains. The following quote perfectly illustrative Mama’s optimism: “I sees things differently now. Been thinking ‘bout some things we could do to fix this place up some. […] Why this place be looking fine. Cheer us all up so that we forget trouble ever come… […] Sometimes you just got to know when to give up some things… and hold on to what you got …” (p140) Mama is a really strong and important character in the play. Due to her hopefulness she is able to hold her family together till the end.
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.
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.
1. Walter - His dreams of owning a licquor store conflict religiously with Mama's value system. The conflict between Mama and Walter is amplified by the fact that it is Mama's apartment in which the family lives and Walter is unable/unwilling to make decisions because Mama is so domineering. Ironically, it is the one decision that she eventually lets Walter make which nearly destroys the family.
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.
The Raisin in the Sun is a prime example of two barriers that the Younger family has to deal with. The family deals with economic and social barriers that make it hard for them to accomplish their american dream. Walter can’t achieve his american dream because of economic barriers with him getting a well paying job. Walter won’t get hired like all the young white men who sit outside having lunch doing million dollar deals because of his skin color (
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.
In America, every citizen is guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although each person is given these rights, it is how each person uses them that defines how successful they will be in America. There are several obstacles that some Americans face on their pursuit of happiness. In this country’s past, Americans lived by a very specific set of beliefs that valued the importance of hard work, faith, and family. As time progressed and America began to evolve as a nation, this capitalistic society no longer devoted itself to family and faith but rather success, and the pursuit of prosperity. The shift from dependence on tradition towards a society that values success and how people struggle to b successful when society makes it difficult marks a common theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. Two of the main characters in this story Lena Younger (Mama) and her son Walter Lee directly reflect the shift from tradition to a focus on success and capital and the struggles they face in regards to racism. Mama and Walter Lee’s contrasting values about the American dream and the way in which they pursue their own dreams while facing racism exemplifies the shift from valuing tradition like in previous generations in America, to valuing success and prosperity like in more current generations.
The grandmother shows throughout the short story that she is concerned for herself only. From the beginning, when she tries to make the family go up to Tennessee because she wanted to, until the end when she only stands up for herself against The Misfit. The grandmother, because she considered herself to be a lady, and few others to be good, saw herself above those around her. She saw something special in herself, which was why she insisted to The Misfit that, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady” (14). Even as her son is taken back into the woods to be shot, she remains still. This combined with the authority that she feels comes with her age and position in the family vault her importance far above that of her family that she is with. Her self-elevation, in turn, affects her morals, as she sees the flaws in others but not in herself, and views it as selfish when others get what they want. The grandmother’s narrow-minded egocentric behavior that she exhibits, along with he...
Selfish. Hard-headed. These are words that could be used to describe something who only thinks of themselves and doesn’t value the importance of family. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Walter is an unsatisfied family man who wants to provide the best he can for his family, and learns a very difficult lesson about hardships and family. Walter thinks he is doing what is best for his family, but it is actually ruining his family. He is upset at the fact that he cannot chase his dreams because he is an African American man living in the 1950s. Even though his actions don’t show it he is trying to have the best life for his family that he can provide.
Mama has dreams for her family to rise from poverty and live in a better and bigger place and also for them to continue to grow together as a family. Mama has a plant that she also cares for. She takes care of this plant as if it was one of her own children. Mama's children also have their own dreams and their own plans on how to attain those dreams. The family's competing dreams are emphasized by Hansberry's recurring use of the motif--Mama's plant.
The play ‘night, Mother by Marsha Norman contains two characters who are both fairly important to the play and develop in significant ways. The most changed character throughout would be her mama, Thelma. Jessie has epilepsy and is battling the decision of killing herself throughout the play. She decides to tell her mama the plan, so it does not come as a surprise and she is truly heartbroken by her decision. During the play, Norman presents the connection between the two and how they change individually.