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Raisin in the sun beneatha character analysis
Underlying intentions of the characters in Raisin in the Sun
Raisin in the sun beneatha character analysis
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Lauren Oliver once said, “I guess that’s just part of loving people: You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up” (Good Reads). This quote connects very well to the play, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry. The quote conveys the message that if one loves someone, one must give things up. A Raisin in the Sun is about an African-American family living in the south side of Chicago in the 1950s. The Younger family is a lower-class family that has been struggling to make their dreams come true. One of the character’s in the play named Walter Lee has been struggling to make his dreams come true. Walter’s changes that are shown tie to the quote written by Lauren Oliver. The changes that are seen in Walter Lee throughout the book, A Raisin in the Sun, reflects the theme that one must sacrifice something for the love and happiness of one’s family.
To start off, Walter’s obsession with money is going to cost him a lot since it is the only thing he cares about. In the beginning, Walter starts out by only caring only about himself, but towards the end, he starts to care for everyone else as well. This shows that Walter is a selfish person. As Walter Lee states to Ruth, “Yeah. You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see” is the dream that Walter Lee has for himself (Hansberry 33). Walter wants the money that the Younger family is getting from the insurance company to buy the liquor store. He thinks that the liquor store will make them rich and the family would not have to struggle anymore. At the end, Walter changes his whole point of view towards the insurance money. Walter declares to Mr....
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... love and happiness of one’s family. Walter changes from being self-centered to self-less. He gives up his dream of having a liquor store when Willy Harris runs away with the money. Walter does that so the Younger family can fill their lives with joy and do not have to struggle anymore. This is the biggest sacrifice that Walter makes for the family. This theme also applies to everyday life. Many people sacrifice their wishes and dreams that they have, so they could help their family through tough times and always keep a smile on their faces. Love, sacrifice, and happiness is a part of everyday life.
Work Cited Page
Chandler, Otis. ""Quotes About Sacrifice"." Good Reads. N.p.. Web. 12 Nov 2013. .
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage, 1994. Print.
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.
“A Raisin in the Sun” is set at in an area where racism was still occurring. Blacks were no longer separated but they were still facing many racial problems. The black Younger family faced these problems throughout the play. The entire family was affected in their own way. The family has big dreams and hope to make more of their poor lives. Walter, the main character, is forced to deal with most of the issues himself. Ruth, his wife, and Travis, his ten-year-old son, really don’t have say in matters that he sets his mind to. Beneatha, his sister tries to get her word in but is often ignored. Lena (Mama) is Walter’s mother and is very concerned about her family. She tries to keep things held together despite all of the happenings. Mama’s husband had just recently died so times seemed to be even harder. They all live in a small apartment when living space is very confined (Hansberry 1731). They all have dreams in which they are trying to obtain, but other members of the family seem to hold back each other from obtaining them (Decker).
In Act 1, Scene 1, Walter talks about his dreams and appears to have the best plan to support his family. ...
In order to achieve this, he plans to invest in opening a liquor store with a ten thousand dollar cheque delivered after his father had passed. The money that will originate from this business would go towards his family and himself. “I have been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room –(very, very quietly)– and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live…” The Youngers’ apartment is described as weary and swallowed by darkness. It is obvious that the household is struggling to make ends meet as fifty cents is considered a sacrifice. Walter’s dream to care for his family and have leisure money originates with good reason. “Do you know what this money means to me? Do you know what this money can do for us? Mama—Mama—I want so many things.” However, he becomes so dedicated to this dream that it takes over him. Money becomes his
Walter is Mama’s oldest son. His dreams are to be wealth but at the same time wanting to provide for his family. His own personal dream is to open liquor store with his money he receives from Mama.
...the deeds done for your family. Instead of choosing to give up the home his mother purchased for the family Walter stands up and chooses not only a better home for his family but also a better life. He chooses to keep a place his mother purchased that went against his dreams to provide his son with a real home and in doing so he finally and truly understood what it was to have his manhood restored.
Lorraine Hansberry’s play “A Raisin in the Sun” invokes the idea of “anger” and early feminism by expressing the struggles of grasping the American dream during the late 1950s. Characters like Walter Lee and Beneatha Younger symbolize these themes throughout the play. Walter, a husband, and a businessman is struggling to grasp that idea of the American Dream by conveying his authority in the household. However, characters like Beneatha expresses her ideas of becoming a doctor by providing her role of being self-orientated and independent. In many ways, this play initially reads off as an “angry” deposit of the working class family that is struggling to make it in Southside Chicago. Walter often shows what it's like to overcome class inequality, his character is often positioned as an “angry”
When given the news that Ruth (his wife) was considering aborting their baby, Walter proceeded to his favorite place of self pity, the Green Hat Bar. There he carelessly blows money, that should be used to help his family create a better life. Sadly Walter does not think so realistily about money, as portrayed when his families insurance check arrived. Mama not only didn’t give walter the money like he wanted, but she went out and spent it on a new home for everyone in a nice neighborhood. Lena took actions she felt would best benefit and take care of her family, decisions Walter couldn't make. Lena, wanting to give her son another chance decided to give him the rest of the insurance money in hopes he would build it up and create a better future for his family. Instead, in an effort to advance the money he foolishly entrusted it to a man who disappeared with what was left of his deceased father's
Also, Walter’s purpose in this story is to be the protagonist, and throughout the story shows us the readers change in his character. But Walter in the future is going to go back to his old ways. If he sees an opportunity to improve his life and his families, then he is going to take that opportunity and try to do it. Even if it’s wrong, he will still do it. Although, Walter has his misjudgements, he shows that he is just like everybody else, he is a human being. Rightly so he makes mistakes and he does make the right decision at the end. This shows how he is the protagonist of the story, and shows that he is also a dynamic
Walter Lee Younger is the protagonist of the play. He aspires to become rich; when the family receives the $10,000 check from the insurance company, his first thought is to open a liquor store. He believes money will solve all of the family's problems, but is not
Walter Younger, husband, father, and son, all around just a man who struggles to continue living the poverty stricken life he has become so accustomed to, and who seeks to change the future of he and his family for the better. Though while his intentions may be in the right place, his means of achieving these goals are less than reputable. His desire for wealth more than often clouds his judgement causing his selfish behavior and rash decisions, which only leads to the opposite of what he is trying to accomplish. He believes his actions will go according to plan and all he has thought out will come to fruition, however, his high hopes and overconfidence in himself are what will inevitably bring him down. Walter is a selfish man who is persistent in his goal of obtaining money in hopes to have a better life and this persistence impairs his ability to be a good son, husband, and father. Once he learns to appreciate family, he can change as a person.
He wants to own a liquor store. He wants to give his family what he never had. His dream is deferred when the money that his mother gave to him is stolen by his friend willie, a potential partner in the business. At first Walter is completely devastated. This is a hard time because the money is part of an insurance settlement his mother received at the death of her husband. Even though all of the money is gone, Walter ends up calling Mr. Lindner and moving the family into the new house anyway.
Hansberry got the title of “A Raisin in the Sun” from a line in Langston Hughes’s famous 1951 poem “Harlem: A Dream Deferred”. The title of the play references a conjecture in a poem about dreams that were forgotten or put off. Hansberry’s reference to this poem in her title spotlights the importance of dreams in this play. It also brings to light the struggle that each character faces to realize their individual dreams. In the play, the main characters struggle to deal with the oppressive circumstances that rule their lives. A struggle inextricably tied to the underlying black dream of equality in America.
The key theme in “A Raisin in the Sun” is to keep dreaming for something better even when everything around you is deferring or destroying your dreams. Throughout the whole play we get to know the characters and their aspirations in life, and I’ll use their some of their cases to support my point.
He invests and loses a large sum of money in a liquor store investment, much to the despair of his family. Walter imagined his investment rocketing him to the top and resulting in endless wealth. He was wrong of course, and his plans did not result in wealth or happiness. Following the loss of the money and amidst their financial woes Walter considers giving up his families recently purchased house. The issue that had arisen was that the new house was in a white neighborhood whose residents wanted nothing to do with them. They offered Walter a way out, financial compensation, quick and easy money in exchange for the house. Walter then had to make a decision, he wanted so desperately to have the money and to redeem himself as well. Walter ultimately makes a wise decision. Walter’s family was very objective to the idea of giving up their new house and their hopes of moving into a better place. So Walter decides not to take the offer and moves into the house against the wishes of their white neighbors. Walter realizes that his original dream and instinct was not the one to be following. Walter finds that by making his family happy, he too is happy and content which is what he thought that wealth could bring him. Walter’s decision shows that he made this realization and instead of taking the quick money and trying to rocket to the top yet again he chooses his