Comparing Kitchenette Building And A Raisin In The Sun

Balancing our various needs has been a major struggle for humans since the beginning of time. This is especially true for people who live in poverty, people like the Younger family. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a novel about a poverty-stricken family who lives in a kitchenette building, which is a small apartment complex that only meets a family’s very basic needs. The poem Kitchenette Building, by Gwendolyn Brooks, explains the struggle of living in these buildings, and how dreams must be put off to deal with the daily struggles they face. Both of these stories are prime examples of people being held back by poverty, unable to accomplish their dreams. This is explained very well by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, because they need to satisfy the lower needs in the

He often steps over his family’s needs in order to meet his own. Early in the book, when the Younger family is about to receive a large check for life insurance, Walter starts to talk about how he wants to use a chunk of the money to open his liquor store. Mama doesn’t even give him the time of day to explain and brush him off. In protest, Walter yells, ”WILL SOMEONE PLEASE LISTEN TO ME TODAY” (Hansberry 39). Just by saying it with so much anger, we get an idea of how Walter has been feeling. He feels as if no one in his family supports him or even “listens” to him. But Walter is missing more than just love and support, he’s missing his security. Walter and his family are in poverty, and need money. Walter feels as if his family still doesn’t understand this and tries to explain how “it was always money, Mama”. We just didn’t know about it yet” (Hansberry 41). Walter stresses the importance of money and says it has “always” been about money. This is reinforced by Maslow’s theory that financial security is an important piece in the lower part of the