Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, is one of the most prolific American plays ever written. Centering around an African American family in the 1950s, the play showcases the dreams that each character has for themselves and how it will change the rest of their families lives. Throughout most of the play the family is concerned about a check that has come in the mail. This is a Life Insurance check that is made out for $10,000, due to Lena Younger’s husband dying. For a family in this time period, not to mention a family that is also African American, this money could be the opportunity to start fresh, to do something they’ve always dreamed of, or to fix their problems in the past. This insurance check that the family receives

Ruth is so tired of the house she lives in. There are bugs, the walls are cracking, and so little space. The thought of a new house in a better neighborhood is a thrilling thought to her. In the first act, when Lena tells her that she is hoping to buy a new house for the family, Ruth is absolutely stunned: “(Struck senseless with the news, in its various degrees of goodness and trouble, she sits a moment, her fists propping her chin in thought, and then she starts to rise, bringing her fists down with vigor, the radiance spreading from cheek to cheek again) Well— well!—All I can say is—if this is my time in life—MY TIME —to say good-bye—(And she builds with momentum as she starts to circle the room with an exuberant, almost tearfully happy release)—to these goddamned cracking walls!—(She pounds the walls)—and these marching roaches!—(She wipes at an imaginary army of marching roaches)—and this cramped little closet which ain’t now or never was no kitchen! … then I say it loud and good, HALLELUJAH! AND GOOD-BYE MISERY … I DONT NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR UGLY FACE AGAIN! (She laughs joyously, having practically destroyed the apartment, and flings her arms up and lets them come down happily, slowly, reflectively, over her abdomen, aware for the first time perhaps that the life therein pulses with happiness and not despair)” (Hansberry 95). In Ruth’s mind at this moment, she already believes that they have the new house and she won’t be living at their current home for much longer. She has never been so excited and she is already impatiently awaiting this new home. In all the excitement over the idea of the new home, Ruth begins to go overboard and not think about what she is doing or how this may not be what she expects it to be. In the second act, her excitement gets the