Relationships In A Raisin In The Sun

Relationship dynamics are directly impacted from a multitude of contrasting forces, but external burdens and obstacles, arguably, shift the winding course of relationships exponentially. One unique relationship that is directly impacted by extrinsic occurrences is Walter & Beneatha Younger’s sibling dynamic in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Plagued by generational financial burden and poverty, the Younger family hopes to escape their squalid apartment and provide a sanguine life for the youngest member, Travis, through Walter & Beneatha’s recently deceased father’s insurance money. Yet, contrasting opinions on how to spend the money in the first place, in addition to internal battles with identity, defer the Younger’s dreams to a

The novel begins with a portrait of comfort yet financial insecurity: the Younger household’s apartment. They are living in a cramped apartment in the slums of Chicago’s South Side, accommodating the “living of too many people for too many years” (Hansberry 3), desperately awaiting the arrival of the insurance check to fulfill the long awaited dreams of many of the characters. Almost instantaneously, as audience members are quickly processing the disorganization and volatility of the Younger’s apartment, Ruth, Walter’s wife, and Mama, enter the apartment conversing casually. Conversations in the play mainly center around finances, and this one is no different. Yet, as they converse, Ruth offhandedly mentions that Walter “‘and Bennie was at it again,’” (Hansberry 12). While inconsequential, the subtle and casual nature of Ruth’s comment (while simultaneously using the word ‘again’ to mark repeated fighting and disagreements between the two) is indistinguishable from the tenuous yet comfortable stage directions displaying their financial insecurities. Moreover, the relaxed tone of Ruth’s comment, as well as the parallel of solace in the opening of the play serve as a reminder to the reader that Walter and Beneatha’s continuous fighting (and the continuous impoverished conditions of the Youngers) exhibits familiarity during times of