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A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

706 Words3 Pages

Power and authority play significant roles in the storytelling of the play A Raisin in the Sun. The family's housing arrangements, finances, and way of life depend on whoever makes those decisions for everyone else. Throughout the narrative, Hansberry demonstrates how power and authority change hands due to financial status, gender, and familial bonds. At the beginning of the play and for a large chunk of the play's duration, Mama Lena holds authority in the household. Lena displays this authority in the first scene when Beneatha expresses a viewpoint regarding religion she disagrees with. As a religious woman, Lena is distraught with Beneatha's disrespect towards God and insists that she stop speaking, but Beneatha instead doubles down. After …show more content…

Due to the family's financial circumstances, Ruth considers aborting it to the displeasure of Lena. In this turbulent time for the family, Lena, the authority figure at the time, declares to Walter, "I'm waiting to hear how you be your father's son. Be the man he was..." (Hansberry 75). She gives him a window to take charge and be a proper man in the household. With the heavy themes of gender in this play, this is a pivotal moment for Walter and his becoming an authority figure. However, this shift in authority does not come to fruition until the end of the play. Lena gives Walter a hefty amount of the insurance money to put away for Beneatha's education and for him to do as he pleases. Instead of finally getting to do what he wants, Walter gets scammed more than anything. Only after Walter loses his one shot at achieving his dream liquor store, a chance to make a man of himself and achieve economic freedom for his family, does Walter take authority. When faced with having to sell their new house to make back the money Walter lost, he instead chooses to stay firm and keep the home, promptly telling off the racist white neighborhood people: "And we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick" (Hansberry 148). Lena even notes "He finally came into his manhood today, didn't he?" The 'Hansberry 151' is a 'Hansberry 151'. Walter has

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She is also upset because Walter is giving in to racial tension and calling Mr. Lindner back to negotiate taking money in exchange for not moving into the white neighborhood. Lena immediately snaps back and calls out Beneatha for not learning to care for her brother. In this scene Lena’s maternal instinct really shines through. Even though she is disappointed in Walters foolishness and lack of pride, she knows that Walter is at his lowest point and that persecution and ridicule will not help the situation in any way. She also understands that his pursuit of money wasn't for self interest but to make things better for the whole family.

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