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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

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Recommended: Discuss the theme of dreams in a raisin in the sun

A Raisin in The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a drama that relates to almost everyone because of the element of dreams and family. A Raisin in the sun shows a struggling family who gets a check from a dead member of their family to try’s and achieve their dreams. The drama touches a lot of different themes. The theme that is most important to this drama is the theme of family. Family is the most important theme in the drama because the drama is focused around the sacrifices a family makes. One example of these scarifies were how Ruth is a stay at home mom. Ruth is a stay at home mom knowing that her family is never going to go anywhere until the check comes. Even then when the money was coming she didn’t even know Momma was going to buy them a house. Ruth was willing to be a stay at home mom her whole life for her family. She was willing to sacrifice her dream of a house just so her husband can work and they can live in a small apartment. Obviously this changed when Momma bought the house but Ruth is willing to slave away her life either way. Momma has made sacrifices for her family by letting Beneatha do whatever she wants and spend money on Guitar lessons and …show more content…

She spends some money for the family on a house but gives the rest to Walter and tells him to put some away for Beneatha for college. Momma gave away the money to Walter even though she knew what he wanted to do with it. She wanted to help the family by helping her son become a man. Momma has faith that her son will do well for the family. She gives all of her husband’s money away to her son in hopes of a better life for all of them but instead he loses all of it and this is the price Momma pays. Beneatha who doesn’t sacrifice anything believes that the money was hers and this causes a trouble for Walter as she doesn’t stop attacking

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730 Words | 3 Pages

In the book The Raisin and the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Mama would not have stopped Walter Lee when he decided to accept Mr. Lindner’s offer to trade their new house for money because she gave Walter control over the family and the power to make decisions, that would impact his family. She loves him and will always trust him, but she wants to make sure that Walter understands his plan and how it will impact him and his family. Mama saw, before Walter lost the insurance money, that Walter Lee was struggling with what his place was in the family. Mama made her last decision, as the head of the family, and bought a house with some of the insurance money. She then gave the rest of the money to Walter.

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534 Words | 3 Pages

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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700 Words | 3 Pages

Beneatha’s money too?” (29) after she finds out he just blew all of the money. This quote emphasises the discomfort and pure shock and disappointment of Mama at losing all of the money. Mama also cries in the play, "You mean your sister 's school money, you used that too?" (29) revealing her discomfort and despair in this quote shows just how upset that she is that Walter has gone and blown all of Beneatha’s money that was going to be her future on his little gamble.

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732 Words | 3 Pages

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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1089 Words | 5 Pages

This is seen by the actions she takes to get to her goal, statements she makes towards her family members, and how she responds to her family when they are troubled. Mama has lived in her apartment for a long time with her family and is about to get enough money to change that. An example of Mama’s motivation to achieve her goal is shown when Ruth, her daughter-in-law and Mama are talking about what Mama would do with the insurance money. Mama states, “Been thinking that we maybe could meet the notes on a little old two-story somewhere, with a yard where Travis could play in the summertime, if we use part of the insurance for a down payment and everybody kind of pitch in” (563). Mama is suggesting to Ruth of what could be a better future for her son and their family.

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410 Words | 2 Pages

Son, I gave you sixty-five hundred dollars [...] Beneatha’s money too? Mama … I never … went to the bank at all”. Mama had given Walter the insurance money, this money had gotten them out of their poverty problem. Walter had betrayed the family by investing the money, thinking that

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451 Words | 2 Pages

Mama watches over her family every day. In the play, when Ruth finds out that she is pregnant, Mama helps her. Mama doesn’t make Ruth panic, Mama just cares for her. In Act I, Travis needs 50 cents for school. Ruth tells him no, but Walter gives it to him along with another 50 cents for school.

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866 Words | 4 Pages

Beneatha wants to study to become a doctor, but instead Walter Lee wants to spend his family’s insurance money so he can open a liquor store with Willy and Bobo his friends and be a man. Since Walter Lee and his family were in a bad position and were very poor it was Walter Younger’s responsibility to keep the family together and he saw this a very big responsibility. He frequently complained about being a chauffeur and ridding rich people, every day when he woke up in the morning. He would always fight with his wife Ruth, Mama and his sister Beneatha. For instance (Hansberry 32-34) he says to Ruth his wife “You tired, ain’t you?

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801 Words | 4 Pages

Walter It wasn’t my fault; it was that backstabbing Willy who took the money. Beneatha It was your fault for trusting that crook in the first place.

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702 Words | 3 Pages

Reader Response: 3 “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, is a play about a black families experience in 1950s South Side Chicago. The story revolves around what happens to the family when Lena Younger, the matriarch of the family, receives a ten thousand dollar life insurance check upon the death of her husband. Everyone from the family has different plans for what they want to do with the money. Lena Younger serves as the head of the family. She is Walter and Beneatha’s caring mother so they and Ruth call her Mama.

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944 Words | 4 Pages

We can see this social shift in the way that Mamas' children, Beneatha and Walter, strongly hinge their identities on their monetary success and place in society. Walter seems to view money as the only means of measuring success in life and even goes so far as to say He later states that he is nothing without money and that his is unable to call himself a man if he can't that she so desperately deserves. However Walter does not realize that his wife does not want pearls. Instead she simply wants to know that he loves her and supports her through tough times. Walter's sister, Beneatha, has a much more entitled view of money than her brother as shown through her series of frivolous pursuits.

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963 Words | 4 Pages

Family is important to everyone in some way because family sticks together no matter what. The play A Raisin in the Sun is about a black family named the Youngers and the hardships they face together as a family. In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Ruth Younger is motivated by her family. This is shown by Ruth wanting to make her family happy, her working even though she is tired, and later when Ruth finds out there is going to be another mouth to feed. Ruth Younger is constantly worrying about her family’s well being and happiness for them.

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793 Words | 4 Pages

Trusting Walter, her son, she mistakenly gave him the money. Mama specifically told Walter to put away some money away for Beneatha Walter's sister. Like Walter Beneatha has big dreams. She wants to go to medical school

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816 Words | 4 Pages

A Raisin in the Sun addresses major social issues such as racism and feminism which were common in the twentieth century. The author, Lorraine Hansberry, was the first playwright to produce a play that portrayed problematic social issues. Racism and gender equality are heavily addressed throughout the play. Even though we still have these issues today, in the 1950’s and 60’s the issues had a greater part in society. Racism and gender have always been an issue in society, A Raisin in the Sun is an important piece of American history during that time period.

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779 Words | 4 Pages

The family starts to tear apart as Walter decides to sell the house to Mr. Lindner and take the check. Mama and Beneatha try to explain to Walter that their family, through generations, would have never thought about taking money in hard times. Beneatha then begins saying that their dream of moving to a new house is now dead, which Walter replies, “What’s the matter with you all! I didn’t make this world. It was give to me this way!

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