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The theme of racism in a raisin in the sun
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A Raisin In The Sun In life some have it all, and some also have nothing, but what truly matters is what you do with what you have. In Lorraine Hansberry’s story, “ A Raisin In The Sun”, She guides us through the trials and tribulations of an African American family of 5 in Chicago during the 60’s. This story truly shows that with family, faith, and hard work anything is possible. Although the story was based on a family of color in the 60’s, life lessons learned within the story still pertain to todays society. The story begins with Langston Hughes poem titled “Harlem”, this Poem helps readers understand the overall setting before the first scene, leaving the audience wondering where it will lead them next. It seems as if Walter Lee is …show more content…
The mother who was receiving the check for her laid husband was against her son Walter’s decision for owning a liquor store. Walter truly showed his desperation for success by saying, “I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy…Mama – look at me”. (1.2.222), by him pitching his business plan to his mom shows how desperate a man who has little to nothing to call his own can be. Because his mom has faith in his decision to invest his money she decided to go ahead and let him have it. His risky decision to invest his money in his business lost not only all of the money for himself his mother had given him, but he also lost the money that was supposed to be saved for his sisters college tuition. I was able to relate to this point in the story because I have made the same mistake before with my financial aid money. Although the loss of losing something so dear to you can be hard to overcome mentally, those who recover always come out …show more content…
Although this plant did not receive much sunlight and seemed to cease from growing, it remained strong in the end. The problems for the plant ended up mirroring the action of the family because all it needed was sunlight to progress, yet the family felt as they need money. When the plant did not receive sunlight it did not weaken and die, but its roots stayed strong and fought for its life. Although in the end, the family may not have been as wealthy as when they began, they did have a house of their own with enough space and most importantly they still had each other. They had proven they were in things together good times or bad. This story shows how a family stuck together in hard times with faith and hard work that they would get through it. Sometimes people may have the same opportunities, but it is very likely all will have different outcomes. The risky nature of Walter may have put the family in a bind with his investment falling through, but what they did still have was each other. At least now, Walter especially, has the opportunity to learn from his
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.
Poverty is also the sole reason behind Walter’s irrational decisions. All Walter wishes to acquire as an individual is happiness for his family, especially his son Travis. The opportunities missed by Walter were all due to poverty, but now that there is a possibility for money and change.” In fact, here’s another fifty cents…Buy yourself some fruit today – or take a taxicab to school or something! (1.1.59) Walter tries every little thing to not let his son feel the poverty that the family is going through. For Walter the only way out of poverty is the dream he has for the liquor store and for that very dream he is willing to go to any measure. Hurdles come along the way; bribery is an issue that Walter must resort to. And without thinking it out through and sensibly his passion takes the best off him and the availability of money seems best fit. “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...
The A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry takes place in the Southern-side of Chicago between the time of World War II and present. The main conflict surrounding the Younger family’s head of the house, Mr. Younger, life insurance and trying to figure out what to do with the money. The family consists of Mama Younger, her son, Walter Younger, her daughter, Beneatha Younger, Walter’s wife, Ruth Younger, and Walter’s and Ruth’s son, Travis Younger. The focus of this essay will be on two of the main characters, Ruth Younger and Beneatha Younger. Ruth Younger and Beneatha Younger are different in several social aspects by means of the patriarchal society that surrounds them as well as the social constructivism and their misogynistic family
When finalizing your dream and you know what you want to pursue in life, you will need a kick-start to get the momentum for your dream. Beneatha has dreams of becoming a doctor, but because of Walter, she is unable to final her goal of becoming a doctor. “He made an investment! With a man even Travis wouldn’t have trusted with his most worn-out marbles” (132). When Mama receives her check for ten thousand dollars, she buys a house with it and gives the remainder of the money to Walter to pay for Beneatha's medical school tuition and to open an account at the bank under his name. Consequently, Walter decides to invest all the money Mama gave him in a bar he opened with Willie Nelson and Bobo. After the transaction is completed, Walter finds out that Willie Nelson ran away with the money, leaving Walter and Bobo to suffer. When Walter tells Beneatha and Mama the news, they are upheld and
In Lorraine Hansberry’s play “A Raisin in the Sun,” the reader is pulled back in time to an era where segregation was still raging. Named after a line in Langston Hughes poem “A Dream Deferred,” the play focuses on the dreams of the Younger family. Each family member dreams of a better life, otherwise known as the American dream. Although each family member wanted a better life, his or her idea of a better life was all different. The matriarch of the family, Mama dreamt of being a homeowner in a better neighborhood and providing for her family.
The book, “A Raisin in the Sun,” was written by Lorraine Hansberry, and tells the story of an African American family living in impoverished, predominantly African American area of Chicago’s Southside, in the 1950s. The Youngers family had five members: Mama, Walter, Ruth, Beneatha, and Travis, and they all lived together in a crowded one bedroom apartment. The story is based on individual conversations with each family member and revolves around the question of what to do with ten thousand dollars insurance money, which was left as inheritance by Big Walter. Each character in the story has its own opinion on how to use the money, but all their thoughts depicted problems and issues which related to family, assimilation, racism, and American dream. Under Lorraine Hansberry’s writing, all four of main characters were somehow indicated as examples for each issue.
After Walter’s decision to invest in all the money Mama gave him, all the dreams came crashing down, as well as his own. Beneatha’s dream to become a doctor and embrace her culture, Ruth’s dream to have a happy family without worrying about financial issues, and Mama who dreamed to live happily in a house with a garden with her children besides her. Even Walter’s dream to own his own business to support his family with his own achievements; it all went downhill when Walter made a terrible mistake of trusting Willy with the money.
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.
In the south side of chicago in the 1950s the younger family are a poor family that are living in an apartment that they have been living in for years. The family members are mama, walter, beneatha and ruth. Beneatha’s lovers are George Murchison and Asagai and they both share different aspects of their life to her. Throughout, A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry displays characters Mama, Beneatha, and Ruth as archetypal characters, in order to demonstrate the different gender roles african american women had affected by society during the 1950s.
Walter was left money from his fathers insurance. Wanting to invest his fathers’ money into a liquor store Mama opposed saying, “I don't want that on my ledger this late in life" (Hughes, Pg. 16). Her better half eventually gave Walter some of the inheritance money to Walter and foolishly, Walter loses it. Living in his mothers’ house with his Wife and Son, Walter wants to be "The man of the house". Add poverty and being treated like a child as a man, can ruin a persons life, ability to adapt, overcome and to better themselves and
Walter, a selfish man and alcoholic, wants to be the dominant force in the household as he believe it is his way or no way at all. Problems he faces are blamed on other people, mostly black women. Walter has the dream of opening a liquor store with his friends, Willy and Bobo. Obtaining the funds from Mama, he puts all of it towards his business instead of splitting it with Beneatha. However, Willy Harris steals all of Walter’s money and leaving him a broken man whose dream has been crushed. Bobo comes to tell Walter what happened with Willy and Walter claims, “... Man, I put my life in your hands… THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER’S FLESH-... It’s all gone…” (Hansberry 128-129). The aftermath of Walter’s selfishness results in his dream being deferred because of his mentality of his way or no way. Losing the money from his father’s life insurance means not only his dreams but his family’s are destroyed. Consequently, Walter’s dream affects everyone around him negatively. Hughes questions, “Or fester like a sore-/ And then run?” (Hughes 4-5). This means that your dead dream will infect those around you. When Walter loses the money, all his family has worked towards will not come true. Especially, Beneatha’s dream because Walter took her funds for medical school. The Younger’s lives are greatly changed due to the loss of this money as Walter’s dream is
After the death of Walter Younger, his family receives a life insurance check of ten thousand dollars. Mama is practical about the way she wants to use the money, but Walter Lee has a much different idea; he wants to use the money to invest in a liquor store. However, Mama does not agree with this because they are not business people and she does not feel comfortable having a liquor store. Walter is unhappy that he cannot achieve this dream, so Mama who loves her childeren so much, gives Walter what he desires, money and tells him, “The rest you put in a checking account--- with your name on it. And from now on any penny that come out of it or go in it is for you to look after, For you to decide.” (Hansberry 107). This shows how much Mama trusts her son with the money she is giving him.
In Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun, the author reveals a hard-working, honest African-American family struggling to make their dreams come true. Langston Hughes' poem, "Harlem," illustrates what could happen if those dreams never came to fruition. Together, both Hansberry and Hughes show the effects on human beings when a long-awaited dream is thwarted by economic and social hardships.
Mama wanted a new house, Walter wanted to follow his dreams and open a liquor store, Beneatha wanted it to pay for her college, and Ruth wanted it to a way out of her present situation and take care of her family. All the members of the family believed that their motivations for spending the money were just and that made it more difficult for the family to decide. Mama took initiative and used $3500 to make a down payment on a house because it was a dream of hers ever since she first got married and she knew that raising their standard of living would, in turn, inspire the family to begin the process of moving up in society. Walter viewed the family’s socioeconomic status as a weakness and his rash decision to give all of his leftover money to Willy despite Ruth’s warning not to trust him to cost the family $6500 and all the money that they would have made with the liquor store. His impulse decision to give up the money failed because he did not follow Mama, the matriarch’s, orders. She was trying to give him some power back, but he went on his own and tried to decide for himself and not for his
She shows that in her comments and actions. Mama has to remind Beneatha that she is no better than her, Walter, and Ruth. When walter lost the rest of the money, due to a poor decision, she disowned him as her brother. Not angry but disappointed at Beneatha, Mama says: “There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and for the family ‘cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him…” She explains to Beneatha; just because her brother made a bad choice and made things a little harder, that he is still her brother and she should show some remorse towards him. Mama wants her children to know that even when they make a mistake that family will still be there and love them.