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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

1023 Words5 Pages

According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, the American Dream is defined as a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, the characters all strive to achieve the American Dream even while having completely different dreams and aspirations. Throughout the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry develops the theme of the American Dream through the eyes of Walter, Beneatha, and Mama.
Throughout the play, the American Dream is developed through the aspirations of Walter, who’s American Dream is financial success through business. Walter and his family live in a small apartment in Chicago. …show more content…

Mama wants the best for her kids: Walter and Beneatha. She wants them to live in a nice house instead of their little apartment. To change this she went looking for houses one day and decided to buy one in Clybourne Park with most of the money from the check. When she went home and told Walter the news, he wasn’t so happy. Mama states, “Son—I just tried to find the nicest place for the least amount of money for my family” (Pg 93). Walter isn’t happy with the news because he wanted to use the money for his liquor business. Mama thinks it’s the best decision at the moment and hopes that Walter will come around and be grateful. However, Mama trusts Walter and feels bad that Walter isn’t happy with her purchase of the house. She then decides to offer Walter the rest of the money from the check. She tells Walter, “I want you to take this money and take three thousand dollars and put it in a savings account for Beneatha’s medical schooling. The rest you put in a checking account—with your name on it” (pg 107). Mama wants to make sure both her kids have a successful future, so she wants the rest of the check to go towards Beneatha’s college fund to become a doctor and for Walter to save for his future. Overall, Mama is a very selfless person and her American Dream is for her kids to succeed in

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Walter was attempting to talk to Ruth about expanding his horizons by opening a liquor store. However, she was neither interested nor listening and repeatedly told Walter to have his eggs. Ruth 's lack of support frustrated Walter, which caused him to say this. Beneatha is a 20-year-old female and also the sister of the main character, Walter Lee. Mama was receiving a cheque for $10,000 because of her late husband’s life insurance policy.

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She showed this throughout the book by buying a house which allowed them to have more space for themselves and she also did Travis's chores in the beginning. In the beginning, she had her own ways of loving the family and the family disliked her ways, so they kept ignoring the fact that she loves them and Walter even used it against her by saying that she "butchered" his dreams. However, Mama didn't give in until the middle. In the middle, she started to become weaker and feels like she was not giving enough love to her children after seeing that Beneatha did not like her life and Walter did not like his life. She forced herself to contort to believing that loving her family meant following her family's wishes even if she had to go against herself.

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When they received their check, they were all flabbergasted with the reaction of “Travis! Is that the right amount of zeros?”(Hansberry 69). They couldn’t believe that they were holding ten thousand dollars. For a family that is poor and has a dream of becoming rich and successful, this was the heat for them. Mama had to make the hard decisions and split where that money was going since one wanted to invest and the other wanted it for school.

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They mention a “check” a few times and walter is upset that ruth does not support him in his wanting to invest in liquor stores. After being told no repeatedly by his mother Travis gets fifty cents for school from his father who gives him it seemingly to spite Ruth. Walter is obviously bitter with Beneatha who enters, she wants to study medicine and he think it’s a waste of the money that is coming to mama. The following day (in scene 2) the family all takes part in cleaning the apartment and they wait for the mail and the check to arrive. Beneatha’s friend from school calls and comes over.

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In the story, Mama puts Walter in charge of handling the Life Insurance which turns out to be a big mistake. This action makes Beneatha very unhappy, and although Mama expresses anger at Walter, she can be blamed for not handling the situation herself. The negative effect of this decision is shown through the character of Beneatha, who cries and complains to her boyfriend Asagai. “Too many things --” she says, “too many things have happened today. I must sit down and think.”

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, But are consistently being differed. Lena Younger, otherwise known as, “Mama” is Walter and Beneatha’s mother and the head of the household. With her deceased husbands ten thousand dollar insurance check Lena bought a three thousand-dollar house with a garden where her family would be happy and hopes to save the rest of the money for Beneatha’s medical school. Lena’s dream, “ Festers like a sore” and is the only dream that somewhat comes true.

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The house Mama bought was $3,500 leaving $6,500. Mama asks Walter to take the money to the bank and put $3,000 away in a savings account for Benetha's medical school. Mama made a smaller decision to give Walter $500 more than Benetha. She felt as though, with the new baby coming, Walter and Ruth may need the money more than Benetha. The remaining $3,500 was for Walter and his family.

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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.

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