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The award-winning play A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry focuses on characters that are challenged by the reality of their dreams and the harsh society around them. Walter Lee Younger, a working man with a small family, is someone who has high hopes for his future, but, during the book, he repeatedly had doubts about the outcome of his goals. As the play progressed, Walter’s dream plays a large role in his character development because he starts off as a man who felt as if all of his family members neglected his dreams, and transitioned into a person who is willing to do whatever it takes for his family’s dreams to flourish, instead of purely his own. At the beginning of the play, Walter’s dream and the lack of its guarantee …show more content…
Travis needed money for school, which Ruth wasn’t able to give it to him, but Walter immediately shot back with a glare. As soon as Travis left, the couple began to argue about the arriving insurance money. Ruth, tired and frustrated, put her head on the table, further angering Walter, and he says, “You tired, ain’t you? Tired of everything. Me, the boy, the way we live - this beat up hole - everything. Ain’t you?” Ruth does not look up or seem to acknowledge what he was saying, yet Walter continues, “So tired - moaning and groaning all the time, but you wouldn’t do nothing to help, would you?” (pg. 32). This specific scene of the play is a prime example of how Walter’s hopes impacts his family, because, in order to achieve it, Walter needs Mama’s money, however, Ruth does not allow it, which causes her husband to release his frustration at her negligence. Walter, not only angry and lost, also feels alone in his struggles, causing more disagreements with everyone in his family, …show more content…
To start, moving day has left the family in a fairly happy mood, specifically Walter and Ruth, who the night before, went out together, in a way that they haven’t in a long time. Still feeling the heat of the moment, and what it means for their relationship, Ruth describes her evening to Beneatha, who listens intently. The author writes, “Lord, that man - done changed so ‘roung here. You know - you know what we did last night? Me and Walter Lee?... The picture wasn’t too good, but that didn’t seem to matter. We went - and we held hands” (pg. 111-112). As has been observed in the beginning of the play, Walter and Ruth’s relationship almost seemed forced due to Walter’s disinterest in doing anything else, but at this point in the book, Walther’s new and positive attitude not only changed his way of life, but Ruth’s as well. Although this occurred before Willy’s betrayal, one can see how far Walter has gone. Furthermore, as the Younger’s continue to pack up, Karl Lindner, an official of their new neighborhood, arrives to offer the family a deal - move into a segregated community and they will provide full compensation of the new home, or, live where they are not wanted. Walter reacts with, “We don’t want to hear no exact terms of no arrangements. I want to know if you got any more to tell us ‘bout getting together?... Never mind how I feel - you got
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.
Ruth was being prevented from having a baby because of money problems, Walter was bringing him self down by trying to make the liquor store idea work. Once Mama decided to buy the house with the money she had received, Walter figured that he should further go on with the liquor store idea. Then, when Walter lost the money, he lost his dignity and tried to get some money from the “welcome party” of Cylborne Park. Mama forced him to realize how far he went by making him show himself to his son how low he would go. But he showed that he wasn’t susceptible to the ways the racism created.
In a conversation between Walter and Travis, Walter tells his son about his dream for his son and his own success, which focused on Walter working in offices and making a lot of money for his family. Walter says, “After what your daddy’s gonna do tonight, there’s going to be offices, a whole lot a offices” (P. 108). Walter really wants to make his family happy and by he thinks they way to do this is with money. From the beginning of the play Walter has matured and realized that he needs to be there and help his family. Similarly, Walter wants to show his son that he will do anything for him and he would give him the world. Walter says to Travis, “You just name it, son ... and I hand you the world!” (P. 109) He wants to give Travis the world because he wants to show him how much he loves him. Throughout the whole play Walter has been focusing on money and he never gives any attention to his family so he wants to let his son know how much he loves him and how much he cares about
Walter is confronted by the event of having another child when his wife, Ruth, shares the information about what has happened and what her plans are to resolve and continue the scenario. Walter brings to topic of his importance to the scenario, and decides to break away from the event and think of his answer towards his wife’s information and response. He later is shown the understanding of his wife by the reaction of his mother, who questions his standing on how his father would have reacted. This brings Walter to think of why he should change and not walk out on times of importance. Walter discovers that his turmoil of drinking and appearance on the topic could lose the life of his newly developing child.
Ruth’s dream is to have a happy and loving family. Ruth’s dream is revealed in act 2, scene 3, when she is ecstatic because she went to the movies with Walter and they held hands (111). This exposes Ruth’s dream because her greatest moments are when she is with someone in her family and they are happy to be together. Walter stands in the way of this dream because money is his first priority. In act 1, scene 2, Walter declares that money is life (74). This demonstrates Walter’s obsession with money because he informs Mama that money means everything to him. In act 2, scene 2, Mama tells Walter that she would do anything for him and gives him a lot of money; after Mama gives her heartfelt speech, Walter just stares at the money (106). This shows money is more important than family to Walter because his mother just told him she would do anything for him, but Walter only cares about the money in front of him. However,
The dreams of Walter, Beneatha, and Mama in Lorraine Hansberry’s "A Raisin in the Sun", may take longer than expected, change form, or fade. Even if dreams seem to never get closer, one should never give up. Without something to work towards, society would just dry up, like a grape in the sun.
Where money is but an illusion and all it brings are nothing but dreams, one family struggles to discover that wealth can be found in other forms. In the play "A Raisin in the Sun," Lorraine Hansberry uses the indirect characterization of the Younger family through their acquaintances to reveal that money and materialism alone are worthless.
Ruth needs her husband especially when she finds out she is expecting another child. Though a child is a blessing and should always be a happy situation it is expected to bring on more hard times within the Younger family. The family of five are already struggling to making it from what Walter brings home from driving so adding another mouth to feed and body to dress is not what the family needs at the moment. Beneatha even goes as far as saying “It is my business—where is he going to live on the roof?” (Hansberry___). Ruth tries to tell Walter she needs to talk to him, but the fact he is so angry about mama not wanting to help he doesn’t want to listen to her. Walter once again is only worried about his emotions and needs. He doesn’t even know his wife is pregnant and is considering an abortion. He leaves the scene to go
Ruth Younger is a caring mother who feels internal conflicts when she feels strongly about something her husband does not agree with. Ruth lives in a small apartment with her extended family. She tries to be a good wife, supportive of her husband's decisions but she also longs for a better life for her family. Gladys Washington, literary reviewer, points out that Ruth, "seems to hold fairly traditional ideas about motherhood, but she finds herself, without the counsel of her husband, considering abortion as an alternative to bringing another child into the world" (Washington screen 3). She would sacrifice the life growing inside her to ensure her current family had a place to sleep. When her mother-in-law presents them with the opportunity to move from their small run down apartment to a home of their own Ruth is overjoyed, but sees that Walter is furious with his mother for spending so much money on a home in a white neighborhood. Ruth wants so badly to be excited that she urges her husband to see the good that would come from moving. She says, "Please, honey -- let me be glad... you be glad too"(Hansberry 998). She tells him they should, "say goodbye to these Goddamned cracking walls!--and these marching roaches!--and this cramped little closet which ain't now or never was no kitchen!"(Hansberry 999). After being offered money by their white neighbors not to move in, Walter decides to take the money and keep his family in their cramped apartment. Ruth is being torn to pieces at the thought of losing the home she dreamed of but she has done enough pleading. She had already rebelled and let her husband know how she felt about the new home. Finally right before Walter signs the papers to accept the white community's money, his wife and mother's pleas get through to him. He turns down the white man's money and Ruth finally gets a better life for her family.
In ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, Lorraine Hansberry describes each of the family’s dreams and how they are deferred. In the beginning of the play Lorraine Hansberry chose Langston Hughes’s poem to try describe what the play is about and how, in life, dreams can sometimes be deferred.
In the play it was really hard for the Younger family to achieve their dreams because of the struggle they had with money. For example Travis wanted money but, Walter Lee wouldn't give him any because they don't have a lot to go to waste. Hasberry writes, "No! And I want you to stop asking your grandmother for money, you hear me?" (6). This quote shows that the younger family
This scene shows the importance of money to Walter Lee. Here he is trying to guilt his mother into giving him the money by pointing out things that the family has to settle with. For example, he tells Lena that she will have to tell that to his son he is pointing out that Travis sleeps on the couch and does not have an actual bed of his own. He talks about how his wife Ruth has to watch someone else’s kids for money instea...
Walter’s desire to open his own liquor store is schismatic in some instances, but it also inspires Mama’s magnanimity. Mama is motivated to financially assist Walter for his own dream. When giving the money to Walter, Mama says: ““It ain't much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands.” (Hansberry 107). The fact that Mama gave up much of her money to help her son shows her genuine motivation and desire to want to help her children reach their goals. This can be supported with a claim from critic Marie Louise Anderson. According to Anderson, “Mama would like to spend [the money] for a new house, [but] she realizes that by ignoring her son Walter's plea for money to invest in a liquor store venture, she has "butchered up his dreams"3 and has contributed to his emasculation”. Once again, this shows the motivation for generosity behind Mama giving the money to Walter, because she doesn't want to deprive her son of his own ideals and beliefs. However, when the money is lost, the family is once again torn apart. The devastation is felt by many members of the family, especially Beneatha, since her hope of garnering an upstanding education is seemingly squandered. Due to this occurrence, Beneatha blatantly and emotionally says to Mama about Walter: “Love him? There is nothing left to love.” (Hansberry 145). Beneatha claims that she no longer loves Walter because his dream lead to a terrible incident. Walter’s selfishness in giving all of the money to put into an account is what causes Beneatha’s melancholy. The fact that Beneatha says she no longer loves him shows that their relationship is being divided due to Walter’s selfish actions. So overall, Walter’s ambition to open his own liquor store gives way to both generosity and selfishness throughout the Younger
While Walter rejects Ruth’s command to Travis to not carry groceries and refusal to give him money, he shows Travis how to disrespect a woman in his physical actions. Walter stares at Ruth while reaching for money and as Hansberry specifies with “defiance”. In Act II, Scene II of the play, Walter is intoxicated and initiates a conversation with Travis about manhood and his future plans. Travis asks his father what he wants to talk about and Walter responds saying, “Oh, about a lot of things. About you and what kind of man you going to be when you grow
He had a family who counted on him to be the provider and family man. Ruth and Mama wanted Walter to be the man of the house just like his father was. Walter wanted a business that would make him rich, so that he could be the man his family wanted. Ruth was tired of giving up on her husband as she mentions to mama, “I don’t know what it is-but he needs something-something I can’t give him anymore. He needs this chance, Lena”