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A Raisin In The Sun Theme Essay

916 Words4 Pages

The world stereotypes rich people as rude, stuck up and selfish. Ever wonder why? Studies from Yale, The New York Times, TED and more have concluded, money changes everything. Whether it’s attitude, morals or values, money can affect and change all aspects of someone’s life. The play, A Raisin in the Sun, has a theme showing this claim clearly. The author, Lorraine Hansberry, puts in different characters to help display these themes and the correlation between money and how it affects people. In A Raisin in the Sun, there is a connection between pride and money with more than one character. She puts these specific characters in to display the themes clearly. Lorraine Hansberry puts Walter in the beginning of the story as very pride driven, never wanting to show his son or family their financial struggles. He is a hard worker, but being a chauffeur for a rich white man is difficult for him and his pride and further into the play takes a toll on his attitude, ambitions and family’s future. Hansberry’s character Beneatha, or Bennie, also experiences a similar link between pride and money too. Throughout the play, Bennie is seen dating 2 different men. One, George Murchison, is a very rich man. He’s shallow too, Beneatha mentions. She could easily be attracted to this man for his money. But her marrying a man for his money and relying on someone else isn’t what she wants in life. …show more content…

money. Mama, Walter’s mother and the head of the house, is put in the play to display family is greater than money. When the plot takes a direction change and the family receives insurance money from Mama’s dead husband, the attitude in the household shifts. Always being a family oriented woman, Mama, even with ten thousand dollars is still sad that her husband isn’t there to share the great fortune with him. This clearly displays Mama’s core values and why Lorraine Hansberry put her in the play to show these

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