Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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The American Dream includes wealth, a house, children, education, all of which require money. In the fifties, when A Raisin in the Sun takes place, blacks were still unequal in the eyes of society. The Younger family including Mama, her two children, Walter and Beneatha, Walter’s pregnant wife, Ruth, and their son Travis live in a small apartment in the South side of Chicago. In the beginning of the play, there is a tense and sorrowful ambiance. They are a hard working, ambitious family with little reward. Mama’s husband passed away recently and they are awaiting a ten thousand dollar check in the mail. This check brings a new hope to the Younger family. They are reaching for an almost infeasible dream, the American Dream. Lorraine Hansberry …show more content…

He feels worthless and trapped, working as a butler all day everyday and coming back to his small apartment and never moving forward in life. Mama tries encouraging Walter, telling him that he has a job, a wife, and a son; to which he responds, “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say, ‘Yes, sir; no, sir; very good, sir; shall I take the Drive, sir?’ Mama, that ain’t no kind of job… that ain’t nothing at all” (Hansberry 73). Because of his dissatisfaction with his life, Walter neglects his responsibilities in order to get intoxicated. Ruth says to Walter after answering the phone, “That was Mrs. Arnold... She said if you don’t come in tomorrow that they are getting a new man” (Hansberry 104). Walter replies indifferently, “Ain't that sad” (Hansberry 104). Mama asks where he has been instead of work the last three days to which he responds, “I borrowed Willy Harris’ car and I went for a drive... I sat and looked at the steel mills all day long” and he does the same the next two days (Hansberry 105). Not only does Walter neglect his work, he also neglects his relationships with his family members. He takes out his anger and disgust on his wife very frequently. “ (Violently flinging the coat after her)...That was my biggest mistake---” referring to Ruth (Hansberry 72). Walter can not stop talking about money and Ruth just …show more content…

Walter and his friends, Bobo and Willy, have been talking about ways to make more money and they have decided the simplest and easiest way would be to buy a liquor store between the three of them. Walter wants to use the check to make his portion of the downpayment for the liquor store; however, Mama is a conservative Christian who believes that her family and her money should not be even associated with alcohol. Walter feels like he knows how to give his family the American dream and they just will not listen; he feels like he can give his whole family their dreams and he is being denied the opportunity. After receiving the check, Mama says to Walter, “It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands. I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be” (Hansberry 107). She asks him to put “three thousand dollars and put it in a savings account for Beneatha’s medical schooling. The rest you put in a checking account ---with your name on it... For you to decide” (Hansberry 107). Walter feels a step closer to accomplishing his dream, and freedom from being oppressed by his own family. Because Walter’s condition at the time feels good to him, he tells his son that night “Daddy ain’t going to never be drunk again” (Hansberry 107). But, he abuses his newfound money. He goes against his mother and uses all of

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