Pride In A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

In the play, Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the insurance check first symbolises the greed within Mama’s children Walter and Beneatha, but then develops to help bring out the overall message of pride within their family over their own impractical dreams. The check also brings out the importance of how the persistence of dreams can break family pride.
Walter and Beneatha are the two main character who interact with the symbol of the check throughout the play. Beneatha wants the check to be used for her medical school so that she can pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, but also believes that the check should be for Mama to decide how it is used. For example Hansberry writes, “ That money belongs to Mama, Walter, and its for her

to decide how she wants to use it” (pg 36). This quote shows how Beneatha truly feels that Mama is the person to make the decisions with the money, and that no one should tell her what she should do with it. Although, Beneatha knows that part of the check is going to be used to help pay for her medical school. Walter relates to the check by insisting that Mama should give the money to him, so that he could pursue his dream of investing in a liquor store. Hansberry states, “ Yeah you see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand dollars, and that would be ten thousand each” (pg 33). This quote tells us how Walter is trying to convince them so that he could get the money for him and his friends to buy a liquor store.
The check in the beginning of the play first symbolizes and brings out the greed within the family and how each of them wants the money to pursue their own dream. For example when Hansberry writes, “ So what you need from me to say it's alright for? (Bitterly, to hurt her as deeply as he knows is possible) So you butchered up a dream of mine- you- who always talking ‘bout your children's dreams” (pg95). This quote expresses how the check is symbolizing greed within Walter. It shows how he was so greedy for the money to be his, that he doesn’t even care what what Mama did with it, he wants Mama to feel bad for not giving it all for him to use to pursue his dream. Later in the story the symbols meaning expands to show pride within the family other than greed. Hansberry writes again, “ I want you to take this money and take three thousand dollars and put it in a savings account for beneatha’s medical school. The rest you put in a checking account-- with your name on it. Im telling you to be the head of the family now like you supposed to be” (pg.107). This quote from Mama shows the check had become a symbol of pride for Walter because now that Mama can trust him with all the money, and for him to make the decisions for his family instead of hers.
The check connects to overall message of theme of the play which is the persistence of dreams and pride as a central virtue Throughout the entire play, people have had many dreams that have taken over their lives for instance Hanberry says, “ Mama I never went to the bank at all.-- You mean… your sister school money… you used that to (Not wanting to believe him) Walter?-- Yessss!

All of it… It’s all gone... (Pg 129). This portrays how Walter’s dream of having his own liquor store took over his life. He had never thought of anything else for his family, nor did he think about any bad outcomes that could of happened, like one of his friends taking all the money and running. This connects to the message of how Walter's persistence of his dream kept him from having pride or thought in his family. At the end Hansberry writes, “ Yeah what I mean is that we come from people who had a lot of pride. And we have decided to still move into our house because my father--my father--he earned it for us brick by brick.( Mama has her eyes close and rocking back and forth as if she were in church, with her head nodding mean yes) (pg 149). This last quote explains how walter overcame his dream and even though he lost all the money, he didn’t sell the house Mama had bought because his family pride within the check prevailed throughout

him.
The checks symbolism had a powerful message of how family pride overcame the greed in the Younger family. Even though all of them didn’t achieve their dreams that they onced wanted to, they always will have pride. I think that they play Raisin in The Sun should still be read and taught to students because it has very interesting symbols and themes that are not only still relevant to our world today, but will still be relevant for a long time.