The play “A Raisin In The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry is about a poor African American family on the Southside of Chicago. The story is about how everyone in the family has a dream, but none of them have actually lived that dream. In order for any one of their dreams to come true, they need money to facilitate it. When there is a death in the family, they get a $10,000 life insurance payment which leads the family into a big fight for the money. Walter Lee, one of the central family characters, demonstrates the downside of excessive avarice when he thinks that money is the definition of happiness but ultimately remembers to focus more on important things in life like family.
The negative side effects that come from excess avarice are greed and
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In the play, the Youngers buy a house in a white neighborhood using the life insurance money of Big Walter. In this time, which was the 1950’s, racism was still well and alive even in the North. The people of the neighborhood sent a representative, named Mr. Lindner, to try and persuade the Youngers into selling the house back to the neighborhood for more than they bought it for. When he first comes to talk to them, Walter and Beneatha declined the offer which lead to Mr. Lindner giving them his card and leaving. After Walter Lee finds out he got scammed, he calls the number on the card and asks Mr. Lindner to come back for negotiations. He believed they only had one choice and that was to sell the house. When Lindner actually gets there, Walter realizes what he is about to do and acts differently, “ WALTER: Yeah. Well- what I mean is that we come from people who had a lot of pride… And we have decided to move into our house because my father- my father- he earned it for us brick by brick” (148). He finally understands what pride is. Instead of taking money over the happiness of his family, he finally grasped how important family was. In the end, Walter comprehends the importance of family over everything else.
The way Walter acts throughout the play epitomizes the negative side effects of pleonexia and how people can realize their initial perspective was wrong and change in
Lorraine Hansberry, in her play A Raisin in the Sun, tells the story of the Youngers, a poverty-stricken family of five. The author uses a large sum of inherited life insurance money to symbolize the downfall of two of the characters, Beneatha and Walter, due to their dreams.
In life there are always going to be ups and downs, good and bad times, because families go through extensive amounts of arguments. Within the play A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, there are a few complications that the Younger family face. Moreover, the main complications occur between Lena Younger (Mama) and Walter Lee Younger (the son of Mama). Throughout the play, the biggest complication they face is how to spend Walter Lee Senior’s life insurance money. The Younger family goes through several challenging times; however, the family shows that no matter what, everyone should stick together.
The day they move into their new house a guy named Mr. Linder from the Clybourne Park community came and talks to them about how the neighborhood members would like them to not move in because they are not comfortable with blacks in the white area. Walter confidently states, “And we have decided to move into our house because my father- my father - he earned it for us brick by brick....We don’t want your money” (P.148). Walter wants everyone to know that his father got them to where they are right now. He is more confident about himself, he shows that during the moving of the house. During the end of the play he realizes his family is way more important than the other things in his life. Additionally, during the talk with Mr. Linder Walter is frustrated with the racism around them and just wants to live a happy life in a great neighborhood that does not care about what color their neighbors are. Walter angrily shouts, “... You got any more to say ‘bout how people ought to sit down and talk to each other? . . . Get out of my house man”(P. 118). He is very angry because he does not want to move just because some white people want them to leave their place. Walter is very confident and stands up for his family and what they want. He has changes significantly throughout the whole play, he changes into a great man for his
When offered a bribe to not move his African American family into an all white neighborhood, Walter declines the money, proving his development of courage. As a limousine driver for wealthy, white businessmen, Walter is ashamed of his life and desires a change. In order to achieve the lifestyle he wants, Walter must develop the courage to pursue his dreams. Throughout the play, Walter Younger and his family begin to see a shift in opportunity and believe that they can build themselves a life to be proud of. Their newfound hope continues to grow until Walter loses the insurance money, diminishing all opportunities for a better life. At this moment in the play, Walter hits rock bottom and is prepared to accept the bribe from the white neighbors. If he takes this bribe, Walter is submitting himself to the white community and degrading his race, as a whole. Despite his desperation, Walter realizes that he must make an example to his son, Travis, and prove his courage. In order to do this, Walter declines the offer and defies segregation. By
In the Play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry there are two main character’s that many people debate upon to be the protagonist of the play. Those two characters are Mama and Walter. The story is about an African American family living in Chicago in the 1950’s. During this time period race was a large issue in that area. The family consists of three generations, Mama being the mother and grandmother has a lot of responsibilities as what I see her to be as the families anchor. The next generation is Walter his wife Ruth and his sister Beneatha. Walter and Ruth have a song Travis who is ten years old at the time of this play. Mama is the moral supporter of the family and believes that everything has a purpose and that things should be done by design. One of the main events in this play is the life insurance settlement check for ten thousand dollars that Mama receives. This being a large amount of money during that time period creates many arguments between the families about what to do with the money. Walter is the type of guy that believes his family shouldn’t settle like everyone else and believes that they shouldn’t be held back just because they are an African American family living in what is referred to as a “white man’s world”. I believe that Walter is the protagonist of the play for two main reasons, he isn’t a selfish man, he doesn’t feel the family should be limited because they are African American and he has distinct options or plans for the future of his family.
His position in life can be regarded as symbolic of every black male struggling to provide for his family by any means necessary. Although Walter has a job, it seems inadequate for his survival. As a result, he has become frustrated and lacks good judgement. Throughout this play, Walter searches for the key ingredient that will make his life blissful. His frustrations stem from him not being able to act as a man and provide for his family and grasp hold of his ideals to watch them manifest into a positive situation.
The dominant theme in A Raisin in the Sun is the quest for home ownership. The play is about a black family living in the Southside of Chicago-a poverty-stricken, African Ame...
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The primary focus of the play is the American Dream. The American Dream is one’s conception of a better life. Each of the main characters in the play has their own idea of what they consider to be a better life. A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes the importance of dreams regardless of the various oppressive struggles of life.
Where money is but an illusion and all it brings are nothing but dreams, one family struggles to discover that wealth can be found in other forms. In the play "A Raisin in the Sun," Lorraine Hansberry uses the indirect characterization of the Younger family through their acquaintances to reveal that money and materialism alone are worthless.
Walter, however, was taken advantage of due to his naive nature of believing as a black man that he could become rich. Walter has the ideal life planned out for his family because he has the dream of being able to provide for them and become rich, for example sending Travis off to any college of his choosing. One of these dreams aso includes being able to live in the house that Mama plans on having the family move into. The Younger family believed that they were going to get the house, but a man of the name Mr. Lindner attempts to stop the family from moving in and crush their dreams by not wanting them to move into the new neighborhood. This was solely due to the Youngers race and was very oppressive for Walter and all of his dreams that he had planned out. Mr. Lindner explains to the family that, “It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities” (Hansberry 100). Since the neighborhood doesn’t want the Younger family based on their race, they are making Walter realize his American Dream for his family very difficult to be obtained since he has imagined so many good things to happen. This oppressive and racist views from Mr. Lindner and the new community emphasize the setback
Lorraine Hansberry herself clarified it when she spoke about the play. She states, “We cannot…very well succumb to monetary values and know the survival of certain aspects of man which must remain if we are loom larger than other creatures on the planet….Our people fight daily and magnificently for a more comfortable material base for their lives; they sacrifice for clean homes, decent foods, and personal and group dignity”. (Lester 417). Hansberry used Walter Lee to stand for that exact representation. Many African American men in the 1950’s and the 1960’s suffered pride and personal crisis issues because of the incapability to support and provide his family with the minimum of their basic needs. Walter Lee incriminated himself and his family for what he sees as his personal failure. (Lester 417). During the meeting with Mr. Linder the family, with the exclusion of Mama and Travis, stated that they was not interested in the offer of selling the house back to the welcoming committee of the neighborhood. This showed that the family stood firm for their moral values (dignity) that they share as a collective unit. Then something switch; Walter recklessly invested the family insurance money on a shaky liquor business startup. Feeling that all hope is lost and that his way of changing the family way of life is out of reach, he despairingly call Mr. Linder and
In the beginning of the play, Walter is foolish and quarrelsome, with his heart set on becoming affluent. As he grasps how hard work his father worked and how hard his family works, he reasons that living by his standards is more important than gaining wealth, and he stops feeling resentful towards them. This play highlights how many members of society focus more on making money than living by their ethical
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down barriers to become an African American female doctor. Lastly, is Walter Lee Younger, son of Mama and husband of Ruth. Walter dreams of economic prosperity and desires to become a flourishing businessman. Over the course of Walter's life many things contributed to his desire to become a businessman. First and foremost, Walter's father had a philosophy that no man should have to do labor for another man. Being that Walter Lee was a chauffeur, Big Walter?s philosophy is completely contradicted. Also, in Walter?s past, he had the opportunity to go into the Laundromat business which he chose against. In the long run, he saw this choice was fiscally irresponsible this choice was. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee's dreams, which are his sole focus, lead to impaired judgement and a means to mend his shattered life.
The late 1950s was filled with racial discriminations. There was still sections living as well as public signs of Colored and Whites. Blacks and Whites were not for any change or at least not yet. A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Vivian Hansberry, tells a story of a black family that is struggling to gain a middle class acceptance in Chicago. The family of five, one child and four adults live in a tiny apartment that is located in a very poor area. Dreams of owning a business and having money to accomplish goals is two key parts played out throughout the whole play. Walter Younger is determined to have his own business and he will go to ends met to see that dream come true. Financial bridges are crossed and obstacles arise when Walter makes a bad decision regarding money that could have help the family and not only himself, if he would have thought smarter. His pride and dignity are tested throughout the story and he is forced to setup for his family. The Raisin in the Sun helps readers to understand history of racial discrimination and how racial discrimination has an effect on the people in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well as how that has an effect on the characters within the play.
For several of Hansberry’s characters, money is a promise of salvation, a gift to be stored up and fought for whenever possible. But as the story unfolds, the Younger family must repeatedly weigh their wish for material wealth against their wish for freedom. Beneatha, Walter, and the others, ultimately choose abstract ideals, education, dignity, love over easy alternatives that hold out the promise of more money. In the play,”A Raisin in the Sun” Walter young is a snobby adult against his family for money because, he thinks money is all about life, has no care of a new way to live with his family, and thinks he can take anything that blocks his way.