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How Money Affects Characters In A Raisin In The Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

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How Money Affects the Characters in A Raisin in the Sun In the 1950s, America's economy was booming; people were buying houses, making money, and caring for their families, and it seemed almost perfect. However, the reality is quite different. African American families were prevented from joining this new development of wealth, and anytime they tried, they faced a significant backlash from the surrounding communities. In Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, she explores how people react to the benefits and burdens of money, through the characters: Walter, Ruth, and Mama, to convey how money may be essential to get through life, but not how people live their lives. In the opening scene of the play, Hansberry introduces the reader …show more content…

There you are. Man say to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman say: Eat your eggs. Man say: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work. Man say: I got to change my life, I’m choking to death, baby! And his woman say – Your eggs is getting cold!” (Hansberry 33-34). This immediately allows the reader to understand where Walter’s need for success and money stems from. The reader can see how desperate he is to, in his view, do something with his life that can live up to his father. This makes him believe the best way to do that is to make lots of money. Walter wants to become one of those influential business owners that don't have to worry about making or losing money. He wants to flaunt himself and his family with the wealth that he has gained. Consequently, this desire causes Walter to take every chance he can to become a businessman, even if it's at the cost of his family or his morals. These decisions result in him being at odds with the rest of his family, especially when money is the topic. Ultimately, Walter's desperation for wealth and the validation of being wealthy puts him in situations that greatly affect his family's lives, and end up causing conflicts between his family and himself. Despite being family, Walter's mom, Mama, has an entirely different view on money compared to her

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In a very calm manner (which is rare for Walter), he holds his own ground and lets Lindner know that money can't buy out their dreams or change their decision. Which proves amazing character development because earlier in the story, all Walter wants and cares about is money, and is the reason for being scammed out of $6500. The family knows their worth and they know that this world favors the opposite race, but they aren't going to let it stop them and they will not stop their dreams because of

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By comparison, they will do anything to be able to fulfill their American Dream. Without a doubt, Walter would give up anything for wealth, since money runs the world. While Walter was having a conversation with his mother she says, “So now its life. Money. Money is life.

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A final way Hansberry the audience recognizes the terrible impact of greed on people is through Lena’s response to Walter’s constant begging for money. Lena, a sapient woman, says to Walter, “... so now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life -- now it’s money”

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600 Words | 3 Pages

He wants to be a businessman and own a liquor store. He wants to be able to provide for his family and give them what they have never had. Walter also wants to take his mother’s position as the head of the house and make the financial decisions for the family. Walter can be seen as selfish as instead of putting the money for him and his sister in the bank he uses it all and loses it trying to fulfill his own dreams with no regard to his sister’s dreams or the rest of the family’s.

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Walter feels his job is more than unsatisfying, and can not make Mama understand, since her simplistic views are just like Ruths. In spite of his personal inadequacies with his job fulfillment, Walter shines in the end of the story with understanding and growth of his own fathers not so wonderful job. Walter seems to be reflecting on his own status as a

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905 Words | 4 Pages

He says “...I’ll come home and I’ll be pretty tired, you know what I mean, after a day of conferences...an executive’s life is hell, man-” (Hansberry 108). Walter continues to dream about working in an “executive‘s” position once his investment towards the liquor store brings in the bank. He will become the breadwinner of this family making it so that his family can rely on his sole income. With this Walter takes his role as the “man” of the family.

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1240 Words | 5 Pages

He thinks that if he can own a business it will show everyone that he is successful and he will be respected and treated like a man. Walter’s mother receives a $10,000.00 life insurance payment for the death of her husband, Walter tries to convince her to give him all of the money to invest in a liquor store. Mama wants to use the money to make a down payment on a new house in a white neighborhood. Mama puts some of the money towards the new house and Walter continues to harass Mama until eventually he wears her down. Mama decides to give him $6,500.00.

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1500 Words | 6 Pages

This shows the family such as Mama and Ruth that they can’t trust Walter with anything now because he lost all of the portion of the money. He is looked down upon for not becoming the “Man” of the house and taking full responsibility when he is supposed to. Another traditional gender role that I see Hansberry challenging is Beneatha in the middle of the book. Beneatha explains how she has started taking guitar lessons Mama and Ruth laugh out loud making fun of her and asking why she wants to play the guitar. All of sudden she gets upset when Mama and Ruth don’t take it seriously “How come you done taken it in your mind to learn to play the guitar?”

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Money is what makes the world go round; it's so important that day-to-day things like eating healthy and sleeping comfortably wouldn’t happen without it. To some, money is so important they would put it before their family. This issue can come from many things, but issues that plague society like the wealth gap and racial inequity can push these issues further. The play A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry analyzes ideas of race, money, and gender through the Younger family, a black family living in Chicago during the 1950s. In A Raisin in the sun, Lorraine Hansberry discusses how being selfish with money can cause turmoil in relationships through Walter Younger and his turmoil in his relationships with his wife, sister, and mother.

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When Walter desperately attempts to save the family from exasperated times, Mama reassures him, “Son—I come from five generations of people who were slaves and sharecroppers—but ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money.” That was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor. We ain’t never been that—dead inside” (Hansberry

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1585 Words | 7 Pages

From the start of the play he is more than determined to invest the insurance money in opening a bar with his business “friends” and is positive it is only going to benefit the Younger’s. A narcissistic attitude comes through more and more as Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha demolish his dream. They don’t view the money the same way he does. Walter believes that “[money is] life!’ (74) and thinks very little of the true meaning of what it is meant for, what his father did to ensure that money for the entire Younger family’s well-being and future.

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826 Words | 4 Pages

The way that Walter thinks is that if he had lots of money he would be better and act different, but sometimes people with too much don’t really act like they enjoy and also money never solves big problems but walter thinks it will. I believe that if you have too much money you think that everything is going so well at the moment and you don't care about spending money, but one day something could occur and you will lose all of so this just shows that no one should rely on money. In life you need to make sacrifices that could be should i spend money on an investment that could be helpful and help out my family in the future or if that I should buy something so I could help out my family instead of later. I believe that you should always help out the family when they are in need because something could happen and it could all go away. Having money should never define the person you are because you could be rich you could just be rude and not help anyone and be selfish and if you are wealthy you could have the nicest heart and be very helpful to people that are in need.

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809 Words | 4 Pages

Being the man of the household, Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and plans on using Lena’s money to do so. Walter is always after money and believes that the only way to succeed in life is with money. For example, when Walter is talking about the check, he says, “Mama, sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking about things, turning deals worth millions of dollars, sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me” (992).This shows how Walter wanted something more out of life and not just be a poor black man. Everyone in this family had dreams but no one supported each other dreams.

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1664 Words | 7 Pages

Walter wants to be free from the family’s low income lifestyle, and becoming rich is Walter’s extrinsic motivation to live. Mama said to Walter, “Son-how come you talk so much ‘bout money?” Walter responded with immense passion, “Because it is life, Mama!” Walter looks at life, and like a bride sees through her wedding vail, Walter sees through money lenses. He sees his father’s money as a possibility in a world that revolves around a minimal supply of money.

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950 Words | 4 Pages

Walter was introduced as a man who cared about nothing other than his business. He had sacrificed his sister’s dream of becoming a doctor, and held the power to wipe out Mama’s dream for a better home. Walter sees the gender roles as boundaries keeping him from loosening up to his family. He is given the insight that men must be powerful, wealthy, and demanding for them to truly be the head of the household. However, Walter sees past these gender roles, and not only challenges these rigid roles, but he also regains his family’s trust along the

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