Everyday people, feel the push and pull struggle of morality. However, it is up to the individual to decide what to do with it. In Arthur Miller’s The Death of a Salesman and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, two moral characters stand up for human dignity. Charley and Mama help guide many people to the right decisions, help people in need, and act as a moral compass to the characters and playgoers. In Miller’s play, Charley is a strong and influential portrayal of morality. His constant logical and ethical stances serve as a guideline throughout the play’s twisted plot. As soon as he enters the play one can sense his care and compassion for others. Overhearing the Lomans families argument, Charley enters inquisitively seeking to …show more content…
Her constant moral guidance stands as a marker for all in the play. Unlike Charley, Mama enforces her beliefs with an iron fist. As soon as the play starts one can see Mama is a person of character. Hansberry portrays her as a person of faith and deep devotion for God. (Quote from page 35). Mama’s refusal to let Beneatha abandon God shows how deeply rooted her faith is in her character. Believing in God is take moral fortitude, but it takes a deep profound love to influence others into one's own morality. When checking wind of Walter's plan to open a liquor store Mama becomes infuriated stating “I don’t low no yellin’ in this house, Walter Lee and you know it. And there ain’t going to be no investing in no liquor stores… I don't aim to speak on that again” (Hansberry 54-55). As Walter becomes more and more angry, he begins to verbally abuse his wife, Ruth. Walter believes that he as the male of the household should be in charge of the spending of the check. Intervening, Mama laws down the law of her household. Hansberry writes “Ain’t nobody said you wasn’t grown. But you still in my house and my presence. And as long as you are- you’ll talk to your wife civil” (55). Refusing to allow Walter to demean and degrade his shows Mama is a women of powerful stature and moral leadership. However, not all of Mama’s acts are ones of aggressive enforcement. As the play progresses Mama has a change of heart towards Walter saying, “I want you to take this money and take 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” (Hansberry 91). Through all Walters failures and hardships, Mama still loves him and trusts him enough to give him the remaining money from the insurance check. Mamas act of forgiving Walter re enforces the fact that she truly is a character of high integrity and morals. Forgiveness is the most often
“Mama (To Walter) Son- (She goes to him, bends down to him, talks to his bent head) Son… Is it gone? Son, I gave you sixty-five hundred dollars. Is it gone? All of it? Beneatha’s money too?”(Act 2 Scene 3 Pg. 129). Mama told him that she did not want her late husband’s hard earned money to go into a liquor store. Walter did not listen; therefore, he was held responsible and Mama punished him by beating him( pg.129). She further makes him face the consequences by telling him that he got them into this mess, and as head of the family he needs to get the family out of this situation but not at the cost of the families pride (
Walter, distraught after Mama had denounced his ambition to run a liquor store, had skipped work for three days, borrowing Willy Harris's car to drive around the city. Mama, seeing Walter so defeated, decided to entrust the remaining 6,500 dollars of her 10,000 dollar check to him, saying, "It ain't much, but it's all I got in the world and I'm putting it in your hands." (Hansberry,) Having incessantly denied Walter's dream,
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.
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.
Walter and Beneatha’s relationship is very complex. The spiraling tension between the two siblings causes confrontation to form and creep into the Younger household. Walter needs his family to respect him as the man of the family, but his sister is constantly belittling him in front of his mother, wife, and son. This denigrating treatment taints Walter’s view of himself as a man, which carries into his decisions and actions. Beneatha also subconsciously deals with the dysfunctional relationship with her brother. She desires to have her brother’s support for her dream of becoming a doctor, yet Walter tends to taunt her aspiration and condemns her for having such a selfish dream. Mama as the head of the family is heartbroken by the juvenile hostility of her adult children, so in hopes to keep her family together she makes the brave move of purchasing a house. Mama’s reasoning for the bold purchase was,“ I—I just seen my family falling apart….just falling to pieces in front of my eyes…We couldn’t have gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forw...
Living in a society where the fulfillment of dreams is based upon material wealth, the Younger family strives to overcome their hardships as they search for happiness. As money has never been a way of life for the family, the insurance check's arrival brings each person to see the chance that their own dreams can become reality. Whether in taking a risk through buying a "little liquor store" as Walter wishes to do or in -"[wanting] to cure" as Beneatha dreams, the desires of the family depend upon the fate of Mama's check. In the mind of Walter Lee Younger, the check is the pinnacle of all, dominating his thoughts, as he does not wait a second before "asking about money "without" a Christian greeting." He cannot see beyond the fact that he "[wants] so many things" and that only their recently acquired money can bring them about. The idea of money and being able to hold it "in [his] hands" blinds him from the evils of society, as he cannot see that the Willy Harris's of the world will steal a person's "life" without a word to anyone. When money becomes nothing but an illusion, Walter is forced to rethink his values and his family's future, realizing that there is more to living that possessing material riches.
Walter Sr. was Walter and Beneathas father he died and his wife mama received ten thousand dollar for life insurance. Walter wants the whole ten thousand dollars for himself and put it down on the liquor store. But Beneatha wants to go to medical school and be a doctor. Walter thinks that it is selfish of Beneatha that she wants to attend medical school because he then wouldn't get all of the money for the liquor store. Beneatha "that money belongs to Mama, Walter, and its for her to decide how she wants to use it. I don't care if she wants to buy a house or a rocket ship or just nail it up somewhere and look at it. It's hers. Not ours hers." Mamas getting all the money and it is up to her if she wants the money for herself give it to Beneatha for school or give it to Walter for the liquor store. Now that it is getting closer to the date in which the money will arrive. Walter is acting more and more desperate for that money.
Even though south side chicago had a low amount of hope, the characters of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Walter, Beneatha, and Mama found a way to dream big. It led them to doing what they thought was right, eventually molding Walter into a greedy man during most of the play, Beneatha into an aspiring woman that demands respect, and Mama into an improvising woman who loves her
Mama is usually seen as an affable and nurturing character, but when she discovers Walter’s use of the money her husband works so hard for her patience towards him snaps, “(... Mama stops and looks at her son without recognition and then, quite without thinking about it, starts to beat him senselessly in the face.)” (Hansberry 129). Most would be appalled to see a mother beat her own son; however, her anger had taken her conscience at this point. One will also see an interaction between Walter and his sister Beneatha as she says to Mama: “That is not a man. That is nothing but a toothless rat.” (Hansberry 144) The siblings have mild scuttles before he gives away the money, but nothing quite at the audacity of this specific
Mama only spent $3,500 out of the $10,000 from the insurance check, she decides to give Walter the leftover money, so he could “be the head of this family from now on” (107). Walter takes this matter upon himself and decides to “make a transaction” (108) that will “change our lives” (108). Walter then, takes all the money he is given by Mama and “never went to the bank at all” (129), he then gives all of the $6,500 to Willy Harris, who was trusted by both men, left with all of Walter and Bobo’s money. Mama, who is very upset by this, hits Walter for giving all the money away. Mama then turns to God for “strength” (130). Mama is a Christian woman and, despite her struggles, remains faithful.
The conflict that involves Walter and Mama superficially concerns Mama's receiving an insurance check for ten thousand dollars, which she hasn't yet decided what to do with. Walter has hopes for using the money to invest in a liquor store, with the profits providing him and his family a better quality of life than what they have endured in the past. What really is at stake here, though, is more than money. Mama and Walter have different visions of what happiness is and what life is all about. For Mama, the best thing to do with the money is to make a down payment on a house. This house is to be situated within an all-white neighborhood, and represents assimilation. This is Mama's dream, and the dream ...
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.
I found myself relating to Mama throughout the plot because I have the same values as she does. Mama wants the best for her family and believes she knows what’s best for her beloved family. Sometimes, though, what she thinks is the best actually is the best, but she’s lets her family convince her otherwise. After Mama bought the house in Clybourne Park, Walter convinced her to trust the rest of the money in him. Mama told him to put a portion of what’s left of the insurance money in a bank account for Beneatha’s medical schooling, and the rest of it was for Walter to invest in a liquor store, which Mama was strongly against.
In Lorraine Hansberry's inspirational play A Raisin in the Sun, a working class African American family's life is turned upside down when death comes for their father. In this play, the main characters: Walter, Benetha, Ruth, and Mama(Lena), all dream of having a better life. Despite the living conditions that rule their lives, they each try to pursue the "American Dream." Although the "American Dream," is different for each character, by the end of the play and through many trials and tribulations; the Younger's come to realize who's dream is the most important.
Mama is a powerful, strong witted person. She has a lot of control in this play and dominates as a woman character. This is unusual because this is usually a male’s position in life. She is a woman, “who has adjusted to many things in life and overcome many more, her face is full of strength”. In this play she is illustrated as taking over for the head of the family and controls the lives of everyone in her house. Rules are followed to Mama’s extent. She controls what is said and done in her house. After Walter yells, “WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE LISTEN TO ME TODAY!” (70). Mama responds in a strong tone of voice saying, “I don’t ‘low no yellin’ in this house, Walter Lee, a...