The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, is about a poor African-American family living in a run-down section of Chicago in the 1950’s. The passage above is spoken by Lena Younger, also known as Mama, the matriarch of the family, to her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Lena’s son Walter, is feels emasculated due to his inability to be the “man in the family.” Walter equates manhood with his inability to provide financially for his impoverished family. However, Mama although a traditionalist, equates manhood with honor, and not with money as does her son Walter. Hansberry in the passage above, stresses the importance of obtaining self esteem from integrity or character, rather than from material wealth.
Walter Younger accepts conventional social norms about the role of the “man” in the family. By identifying with these norms, Walter allows himself to be demeaned due to his inability to provide financially for his extended family. Seeing her son getting increasingly depressed, Mama decides to give Walter a portion of the life insurance proceeds she receives from the death of
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When Walter rejects Mr. Linsner’s bribe, he regains his self-esteem by establishing himself as an equal with Mr. Linsner. Walter gives up his misguided impression that his status as a man comes from material wealth and gains his family’s respect by choosing dignity for the Youngers. Thus, the author Hansberry informs that reader that despite her society’s racist and sexist tendencies, choosing between right and wrong is ultimately what defines