Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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Recommended: Theme of American dream in the Raisin in the sun

The above passage taken from the play A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry between Mama and her son Walter shows how the author can address many themes of the play in one scene or even just a few lines; She addresses such themes as dreams, prejudice, and family. Mama is the head of the household where she lives with her son Walter and wife Ruth with their son Travis along with Walter’s sister Beneatha or Bennie as some like to call her. The passage tells the reader that Mama went out and did something to destroy one of Walter’s dreams. Mama explains that she did what she did to save her family from falling apart which she thought it was because everyone was yelling at each other and saying how much they hated each other wishing they were dead.

One of the major themes of the play A Raisin In The Sun is dreams and dreams deferred. Each member of the Younger family had each of their own dreams when the family received ten thousand dollars in the mail. The money was from Mama’s husband who had passed away a few years before. Everyone wanted the money to be for themselves and nobody else. Walter wanted the money to help him open a Liquor Store when Beneatha wanted the money to pay for her Medical School tuition. Travis just wanted fifty cents that his teacher told him he needed for class that day, and Mama wanted to use the money to move her family out of their tiny apartment and into a nice house where they could all live happily. One morning...

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