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Raisin In The Sun Moral Beliefs

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In the play, A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry, the conflicting moral beliefs between the characters prevents the Younger family from achieving the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that nothing is impossible to achieve, because anything is possible in America. Yet this play is set in the 1950s, so there are many conflicting moral beliefs on pressing issues, such as religion, women’s roles in society, and even racial equality. As a result, the Younger family faces many obstacles while trying to achieve their individual American Dreams because of clashing core values in society at this time. A critical factor that keeps the Younger family from achieving their American Dreams, are the conflicting moral beliefs between …show more content…

Willy Harris was a friend of Walter’s, and they agreed to start a liquor store together. Walter believed Willy Harris to be a friend of his, as he states “I been out talking with people who understand me. People who care about the things I got on my mind” (66). Ruth follows this by asking if he is talking about Willy Harris, which Walter confirms. Walter sees Willy as a friend, as someone who understands him and his dreams. However, Willy does not see Walter the same way, as he betrays Walter and runs off with his money. This is a prime example of Walter being kept from his American Dream, because his investment was taken away. Walter whimpers “Man … I trusted you … Man, I put my life in your hands …” (101). Walter gave all he had for this dream, Willy Harris took all Walter’s money for his own; therefore Willy Hariss took Walter's American Dream. Walter did not just invest his own money, but he also invested his sister’s colleague fund money. Beneatha is distraught by this news, as she cries out, “I sound like a human being who just had their life taken right out of her hands!” Beneatha’s money that was supposed to go toward her following her American Dream was taken too. Walter and Beneatha become unequipped to follow their American Dreams because Willy Harris had much different moral standards, and ran away with their

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452 Words | 2 Pages

It’s all gone . . . (page 102)” This quote perfectly explains why Walter is rude to his family because when he got the money he was suppose to give some to beneatha and put some in the bank. Instead he gave all the money to Willy Harris. Then Willy took the money and bought the liquor store without asking or even telling Walter, Now you have a more reasons to show why Walter is very very rude and ignorant to his family.

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252 Words | 2 Pages

The American Dream is a byproduct of pride that is shown in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, and in the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In A Raisin in the Sun, the play follows a black family’s struggle to achieve their American Dreams to fruition. Walter Lee Jr. is the head

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576 Words | 3 Pages

This is proven when he tells his son Travis, “You wouldn’t understand it yet, son, but your daddy's gonna make a transaction ...a business transaction that’s going to change our lives...” (Hansberry 108.) This leads to Walter being betrayed by his business partner, Willy Harris, who takes off with all the investment money. The family was already living in cramped conditions and struggling to make ends meet, so the loss of $6,500 left them in a dire situation. Walter's dream of investing in a liquor store seemed like the answer to their financial woes, but it turned out to be a fraud, leaving the family with

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810 Words | 4 Pages

Lorraine wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun to describe how dreams must be fought for to come true. She writes about an African American family and each member has a different dream. One of the family members, Walter, has a dream of owning a business. “this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be 'bout thirty thousand, see. That be ten thousand each.

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632 Words | 3 Pages

Walter Younger, a hard working dream chaser who wants to provide for his family, learns a difficult lesson on his road to success. Walter is looking to Achieve the american dream. During the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry shows how one man tries to achieve the american dream. This dream for many is to make money so they can provide for their family.

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811 Words | 4 Pages

It shows this because Walter diminishes his sisters Beneatha’s dream of becoming a doctor by making a misogynist comment in which insinuates on her settling on being a nurse due to a doctor clearly being an often male dominant profession. Furthermore, Walter is deluded by greed on opening a liquor store which causes him to have no regard for the feelings or desires of others. Clearly, the central idea of the text is that in trying to achieve a dream it can bring out a person selfish tendency because people tend to disparage others dreams in order to attain theirs. The author 's use of conflict is important to the developing the central idea that oneself can become selfish when trying to obtain the American dream because it creates tension.

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676 Words | 3 Pages

When Walter's father died, his family was going to receive a check from a life insurance policy. Walter planned to use the insurance money to open a liquor store and financially prosper. His mother though, would not let him do this though because it was unholy and an immoral way to make money. Walter, who was already bitter because he was a chauffeur, felt deprived. He saw an opportunity to make money and grew increasingly resentful because his family would not allow him to pursue those avenues, instead his family wanted to buy a home they could call their own.

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1175 Words | 5 Pages

His dream is to be better than anyone before. Walter thinks by his instinct, his knowing everything, by his determination he will succeed. Walter dream gets deferred because he thinks no one is in his corner because they will not let it be his way. Walter yells “Willy! … Willy… don’t do it …

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1414 Words | 6 Pages

Walter goes into immediate denial, making excuses for where Willy, their second business partner, could be with the money. He continues on until he realizes “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY [HIS] FATHER’S FLESH-” (128) and he had lost it all; he felt he lost his chance of pursuing a better life now that he had even lost his father’s support. His false pride is severely injured up until he is struck with an idea which he believes could save the family. He abruptly calls Mr.Lindner, who he had originally turned away, and tells him to come by because he wants to take his offer of being paid to not move into the new house.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

(114-115) By giving up the money, Walter is shown to be spontaneous and quick to trust. He made a quick decision about giving Willy the money, without even thinking about the consequences, which shows his spontaneity and trust issues. He also didn’t even think to put any money away for Beneatha and he just trusted Willy to get the license before actually getting to know him. The play A Raisin in the Sun, shows how Walter settles on a brisk choice to give his Mamas insurance money to the character Willy Harris so he could purchase an alcohol store. Thus, his choice accounts Willy Harris to steal the cash which causes an apathetic temperament in the story and makes lost expectation in the family.

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866 Words | 4 Pages

Both characters try to reach their dreams by moving their families and responsibility aside. For example, Walter Lee dreams of opening a liquor store, so to reach his dreams he took his family is money trying to act like a man but then that money was stolen by his friend Willy

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699 Words | 3 Pages

Primarily, Walter Younger is an example of the struggle to achieve the American dream. His dream is to one day own a liquor store, become wealthy and successful a business owner. In other words, his ultimate goal is to provide his family with a better way of life. He hopes for his kids and his wife to have everything they will ever need. “Yes, I want to hang some real pearls’ round my wife's neck.”

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861 Words | 4 Pages

Although Walter eventually does the morally correct thing he still has bad morals. Walter does the right thing by standing up to Lindner. When Lindner actually arrives and Walter is about to disgrace himself and the black community by begging Lindner for the money he can’t do it. Instead he says, “We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors.

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466 Words | 2 Pages

Despite the fact that dreaming of a liquor store is shallow, Walter’s motivation to be able to support his family helps reconcile his somewhat immoral hopes. Later, Walter shows the idiocy of his plan to own a liquor store when he gets drunk. In act 2, scene 2, Walter borrows Willy Harris’s car and drives around Chicago for two days, then “just walked”, and finally “went to the Green Hat” (2.2 105). Through his actions, Walter shows that he is immature and cares more about pretending to be rich than his job that would allow him to provide for his family.

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365 Words | 2 Pages

Like many Americans, Willy works his whole life trying to be a salesman to be able to provide for his family. Willy unwillingness to change, and over-relying on his charisma to lead him to become prosperous is the one of the primary cause of his downfall. The ideals of success that Willy pushes onto his sons seem preposterous. In Willy’s mind, neither of his two sons were able to live up to the expectation he had for them. From my point of view, I believe he wanted live through his sons and actually, have them fulfill his belief of success.

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