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Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

499 Words2 Pages

Every hero has a some short of hard work in his or her success. In the story, “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, Len Younger (Mama) is down to earth, hardworking black woman who does not suffer fools. She had dedicated her life to her children and struggles to install her values in them. Throughout the play, Mama struggles to connect with her grandchildren, Beneatha and Walter. Mama’s faith was put to the test near the end of the play when she entrusts Walter with the $6,500 that is left from the insurance check. At first, it seems like her trust was totally misplaced when Walter loses all the money. However, her faith is redeemed when her son refuses to accept the bribe from Mr. Linder. In the last movements of the play, Mama taking …show more content…

Some ways she is like a typical housewife of the 1950s. She makes breakfast, cleans the house, supports her husband, and keeps her own desires to herself. Not only she struggled to maintain her own household, but she goes out to work in the households of rich white people as well. The younger’s financial difficulties make it impossible for Ruth to just work in her own home. Financial strees is proving to be big trouble for Ruth’s marriage. Her husband Walter is incredibly dissatisfied with her life, and he constantly takes it out on her. Ruth is far from a doormat and tell her husband off when he starts acting like a jerk. When she finds out she is pregnant and considers an abortion due to having lack of financial and living area. But when Mama said to her that, “When the world gets ugly enough, a woman will do anything for her family”. She hated the idea of aborting her child. Even though she knew future financial needs will be increasing. She was all most close to abortion her child but she didn’t due to the gratitude of being a hero she had. Complete family has in need of money and living area still she was going to give to a new born child and willing to work more hard in future. Even though Walter was not much concern about his child. She made strong decision based on her observation and experiences and without knowing the future, her

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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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It was your money and you did what you wanted to do with it”. Walters words and actions in this scene is very melodramatic, he is thinking of himself and how it only affects him with what the money was used for. Mama was very saddened by what Walter had said to her; it ended the scene with Mama saying, “Walter Lee”. The stage directions put Mama sitting alone in the house with no one around. Walters’s words affected Mama greatly, making her

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Walter thought that everything was well although something had gone horribly wrong. One of his partners he was working with for the liquor store named Willy Harrison had taken the money and ran off with it. He betrayed the trust Walter Lee and Bobo had for him “What’s the matter with you, Walter! When a cat take off with your money he don’t leave you no road maps!”(Hansberry 128). When Mama finds out her son had used Beneatha’s schooling fund and lost the rest of the insurance money she becomes angry with Walter “ You mean… your sister’s school money… you used that too… Walter?”(Hansberry 129).

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Her most famous work was A Raisin in the Sun which was “set against a backdrop of overt racism and pervasive housing discrimination in the 1950s (#8 59). In this work, a black family has just lost their patriarch, Big Walter Younger, and is trying to decide what to do with the ten-thousand dollar life insurance policy that they have been awarded. The story line focuses on each member of the family’s different opinion of what should be done with the money. While Lena Younger, the late Big Walter’s wife, would like to invest the money in buying a home in a better neighborhood so that her family can enjoy the kind of home that they deserve, Walter Lee, her son, believes that he should be allowed to use the money as an investment in a liquor store so that he can support the family and have some of the nicer things that life offers. His wife, Ruth, says that she would rather have more space for her their son, Travis, and her unborn child than anything else.

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Mama gives him money left from the purchase To add to Beneathea's bank account for her call studies and takes some for himself. Walter ignores the instruction and instead invests the money left in the liquor store. However, Lorraine Hansberry unexpectedly reveals “ ‘ Man... I trusted you, man I put my life in your hands.. man, why did you run away with that money ’ ” (128).

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Family members such as Mama don't want Walter to start his business as she doesn't "want that on [her] ledger this late in life"(42). Even though Walter wants to start a business that provides for his family, Mama strongly disagrees with his idea as selling liquor to people is against her beliefs. Due to this decision, there are continuous arguments between Mama and Walter regarding the liquor store. Eventually, Mama agrees with Walter and lets him put the money "in a checking account with [his] name on it"(107). Mama trusts Walter to spend the money wisely and she thinks he is capable of becoming the "head of this family from now on like [he's] supposed to be"(107).

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Mama continuously shows her dedication towards God by going to church and making her children go to church as well. Mama states that it was a trouble to get her kids to school every Sunday but that didn't deter her from wanting to go. She pushed passed the difficulties and made going the to church a weekly routine for the family. Lena also goes on to say, "Well-whether they drinks it or not ain't none of my business. But whether I go into business selling it to ‘em is, and I don't want that on my ledger this late in life."

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In the story "Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, an African American family the younger's family lives in a crowded apartment in a lower income community. The family struggles to live a happy life because of the living situation which is making them feel sad and depress. Due to the circumstances, the three women in the house mama (Lena), Ruth, and Beneath plays an important role in demonstrating the struggles, sacrifices, and determination they make for a better life. Beneatha is a college student with big dreams, Ruth is a mother and works in the kitchen of other people’s home to help support the family, and Mama is close to the age of retirement but continues to work because she is the head of the household. Although, the three women in the story are different from each other, they all play a strong role in the family.

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1127 Words | 5 Pages

(Act 1, Scene 1). Through the quote, it suggests that women should be ignorant about the world, and calling “baby” instead of her name shows the inferiority of the women to men. In addition, Walter is expected to be the head of the family; Mama says, “It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting it in your hands. I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be” (Act 2, Scene 2).

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914 Words | 4 Pages

Walter wanted his family to have nice things like when he says, “You wouldn’t understand yet, son, but your daddy’s gonna make a transaction… a business transaction that’s going to change our lives” (Lorraine Hansberry 108). Mama however wanted them to use the money to buy a house. They currently live in

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This could be for a variety of reason such as the way walter acted once mama received the money. He was always upset about not being the complete “breadwinner” and he technically wasn't the head of the house because mama was. Walter tries to make more money by investing in the liquor store. He loses the money because the man runs off with and mama warned him before so of course she becomes disappointed. “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER’S FLESH!”

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She is also upset because Walter is giving in to racial tension and calling Mr. Lindner back to negotiate taking money in exchange for not moving into the white neighborhood. Lena immediately snaps back and calls out Beneatha for not learning to care for her brother. In this scene Lena’s maternal instinct really shines through. Even though she is disappointed in Walters foolishness and lack of pride, she knows that Walter is at his lowest point and that persecution and ridicule will not help the situation in any way. She also understands that his pursuit of money wasn't for self interest but to make things better for the whole family.

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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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Today I read a couple pages of a Raisin in the Sun. These pages focused more on Ruth, Mama, and Mama’s late husband. During my reading, Ruth and Mama discussed what to do with the money that was being sent to them. Ruth tried to get Mama to invest into Walter’s liquor store because Ruth feels their marriage isn’t doing too well, however Mama wants to use the money to fulfill a long-time dream of getting a house. After thinking long about what to do with the money, Mama decides that she is going to put some of the money towards Beneatha’s education and the rest will go towards the down payment of a two-story house.

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