Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

Everybody has a family that they want to help or keep happy. In A Raisin in the Sun, it is centered around one family who all love each other and are very close. Most of them are not just living for themselves, but are trying to help others who are older or younger then they are. However, Some characters show this more than others. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Mama demonstrates the theme that we do not simply live for ourselves, but for those who came before and will come after us.

Throughout Act 1, Mama shows examples of how she is either living for past generations or the ones that follow her. In Act 1, Mama is either trying to help and live for her children and grandchildren or she is trying to live in the memory of Big

She is showing it by first, buying a house for Travis when he grows up, and also the reason why she bought the house shows the theme. A time when Mama demonstrates the theme in Act 2 is when she is talking to Travis about what she spent her insurance money on. The example from the play is, “(Putting her finger on his nose for emphasis) She went out and she brought you a house! (The explosion comes from Walter at the end of the revelation and he jumps up and turns away from all of them in a fury. MAMA continues to TRAVIS) You glad about the house? It’s going to be yours when you get to be a man” (2.1.91). This quote explains how Mama wants Travis to live in a better house and grow up in a better house. This also shows how Mama is living for those who come after her by buying him a house. She used the money she got from when her husband died so that Travis can live a better life. Mama also shows the theme when she is talking to Walter about why she bought the house and why she decided to go out and spend the insurance money she got from when Big Walter died on a house for the family. The quote from the play is, “I--I just seen my family falling apart today...just falling into pieces in front of my eyes...We couldn’t of gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forwards--talking ‘bout killing babies and wishing each other was dead...When it gets like that in life--you just got to do something different,

Mama shows the theme in Act 3 by honoring the people who came before her by not letting anyone tell her what to do, and also by teaching her daughter the right things to do. An example of when Mama demonstrated the theme is when she was talking to Walter about how her family was never bothered by other people which means that he shouldn’t be either. The example from the play is, “Son- I come from five generations of people who was 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” (3.1.143). The quote shows that Mama is living for those who came before her by not letting anyone tell her what she can or can’t do. All the generations who came before her didn’t let people pay them to not live in a certain area, so she is living for them by not taking Mr. Linder’s money to get them to not move. A last example of when Mama shows the theme is when she is talking to Beneatha about how she should still love her brother even though he lost all the money. The example from the play is, “Yes-I taught you that. Me and your daddy. But I thought I taught you something else too...I thought I taught you to love him” (3.1.145). This quote explains that Mama and Big Walter are living for those who come after them by teaching their children important lessons.