Lust In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry; the theme of the play is when people are in poverty, lust increases. The play is about the Youngers, who are a family that just got an insurance check for the death of Mr. Younger for $10,000. Since they have this money, each family member has something they want to use the money for. They could not spend too much on anything and they were spending very little money in order to save it. They had to be very resourceful of where they placed their money.

Ruth says, “Get carfare and milk money.” They don’t have to save money for little things. Mama wants to fulfill a dream that her and her husband had. Their dream was to buy a house in which Mama could have a full front yard for her garden. Walter

Lee wants the money to invest into a liquor store. He believes that if he puts money into the store, they will be out of money for a little while, but once the store picks up, the family will be getting a solid source of income. He says, “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. That be ten thousand each. Course, there’s a couple of hundred you got to pay so’s you don’t spend your life just waiting for them clowns to let your license get approved.” Walter is a 35 year old man married to Ruth and he drives a limousine for a living. Walter hates his job but does it because it provides just enough money to get the family by. They are living so conservative that when their son, Travis, asks for fifty cents for his teacher, Ruth responds with “Well, I ain’t got no fifty cents this morning…I don’t care what teacher say. I ain’t got it. Eat your breakfast, Travis.” As much as she wants to give him the fifty cents, she can't because they can't afford it. When Walter has a bad day at work, he resorts to the bottles at The Green Hat. He comes home drunk and starts to yell at his family, mainly his wife Ruth.

Ruth, Walter and Mama work at menial jobs, serving rich white people. They are further pressed into their poverty by performing such unfulfilling low skilled tasks. All of this takes a toll on them as they come home daily to a reminder of their poverty, an apartment that offers them nothing more than darkness and dreariness, a place where neither dreams nor people can survive. Their apartment is a setback but they are very proud and thankful of what they have in the moment. Dreams begin to fade away, but they latch onto any sign of hope. They hold on to the thought that even though they live in a depressing lifestyle, they will find success and accomplishment. But their dreams stop fading and start to turn into reality when then receive the news about Mr.Younger's insurance policy. They now can make their dreams come true with the $10,000 they have just received.

As the play progresses, the Youngers dreams keep on colliding.

Ruth discovers that she is pregnant but fears that the child won't bring no good into the family. All the child will do is put more financial pressure on her family members. Beneatha even goes as far as saying, “...where is he going to live, on the roof?”. When Walter says nothing to Ruth’s admission that she is considering abortion, Mama puts a down payment on a house for the whole family from the insurance money. She believes that a bigger, brighter dwelling will help them all. The house is perfect, however it's in Clybourne Park. A complete white neighborhood. When the Youngers’ future neighbors find out that the Youngers are moving in, they send Mr. Lindner, from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. Mr. Linder proposes an offer to the Youngers saying that he will pay them double the money they put in the house if they don't move in. In the meantime, Beneatha rejects her admirer, George Murchison, whom she believes to be blind to the problems of race and does not care about having deep conversations with Beneatha. She then receives a marriage proposal from her Nigerian love interest, Joseph Asagai, who wants Beneatha to get a medical degree and move to Africa with him. Since Walter has always been saying things like, “Have we figured out yet just exactly how much medical school is going to cost?”, she figured why not. Beneatha wholeheartedly agrees; but only after discussion with the

family.
The Youngers eventually move out of the apartment, fulfilling the family’s long-held dream. No one can predict the future but that doesn't stop the Youngers from getting what they desire.Their future seems uncertain and slightly dangerous, but they are optimistic and determined to live a better life. They believe that as a family, they can get through anything. When the family is broken up by different dreams colliding, the family is set back and weak. They realize that they can succeed if they stick together as a family. Living in a white neighborhood doesn't scare they anymore.